A petition for a 'wind-up' action was lodged against the Edinburgh outfit at the Court of Session this week on behalf of HMRC, who are chasing unpaid debts.

Hearts were forced to issue a statement on their own website in which they expressed shock at the development and insisted the outstanding bills would be paid on time.

Club director Sergejus Fedotovas said: "Hearts has been informed of the petition that has been raised and that came as a surprise as the club has a payment schedule in place with HMRC and this will be met in full and to the agreed timescales.

"The funds are available and sufficient to meet the obligations. We have made excellent progress recently as a club in cutting our costs and reducing our debt while delivering a winning team on the field.

"This will continue to be the case and, with continued effective investment, we are confident in our future direction."

Should Hearts fail to pay up, the action could see them forced to sell assets or even cease trading altogether.

Were they to go into administration, the club would face a 10-point deduction from the Scottish Premier League.

Confirmation of legal action comes months after the Jambos reported they had reduced their overall debt by 16% to £30.48million, largely thanks to the sale of big-name players.

Last season, Hearts twice failed to pay their squad on time, citing "technical" glitches for the delays.

Former Hearts chairman Lord Foulkes, an MSP, told the Edinburgh Evening News the latest development would "send shivers down the spine" of supporters and would further divide opinion over controversial owner Vladimir Romanov.

He said: "I think Mr Romanov and his colleagues have taken things to the wire before as far as paying bills are concerned.

"So far, the club has survived, but it's certainly not good for the nerves. Everybody just crosses their fingers and hopes it goes away.

"Most fans have always had mixed feelings about Romanov, but he has given (manager) Csaba Laszlo a relatively free hand to choose players and pick the team.

"We came third in the league and we're in the Europa League. If Chris Robinson was still there, we'd probably be in the First Division and playing in front of 5,000 people at Murrayfield."

Meanwhile, Hearts have suffered a major blow after confirming star winger Andrew Driver is out for six weeks.

Scans revealed the England Under-21 international has a problem with his heel, ruling him out of next month's Clydesdale Bank Premier League opener against Dundee United and the Jambos' Europa League play-off first leg on August 20.

Manager Csaba Laszlo, who has also confirmed his interest in Charlton striker Izale McLeod, said: "Andrew Driver is out for six weeks and this is not good.

"We don't like to push him into the wrong situation."

There was also bad news on striker Calum Elliot, with Laszlo saying: "The biggest problem is Elliot and his heel. He maybe needs an operation or an injection to get the inflammation out so Elliot is out for a long time."

Admitting his interest in McLeod, the Hearts boss insisted the striker was one of a number of targets.

He said: "We know this player but there are two or three other targets, too.

"We have two and a half weeks before the season starts and we are trying to do something."