Ex-Rangers star Kris Boyd has launched a blistering attack on Hearts' chiefs after they called on their staff to take a whopping 50 percent pay cut to help the club deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

Ann Budge released a statement regarding the financial implications the outbreak is having and will continue to have while Scottish football is shut down by the SPFL and SFA.

Players, coaches and club staff have all been asked to slash their wages in half or accept their own release from the Jambos as the crisis worsens. But a furious Boyd reckons the club are to blame for handing huge cash contracts to 'bang average' players.

READ MORE: Hearts owner Ann Budge admits £1m lost revenue is "a serious situation" for the Tynecastle club

The former Scotland striker, writing in his Scottish Sun column, also says it was only a matter of time before Hearts "had the begging bowl out" and that mismanagement at the top would have him saying cheerio if he'd been at Hearts. "Given their fairly recent administration, Hearts have an absolute cheek asking staff to take such a savage reduction in their wages," Boyd said.

"This is a club who have had a financial meltdown within the last ten years and promised not to make the same mistakes again. Clearly lessons have not been learned.

"Instead of watching every penny they spend, they have once again spent well beyond their means. The Jambos have offered too many bang average players ludicrous long-term contracts on crazy money. It is total insanity.

READ MORE: Hearts boss Daniel Stendel working for FREE amid coronavirus outbreak as Ann Budge cuts wages

"Now, as they stand on the brink of relegation, the panic button has been pressed. Coronavirus or not, it was only a matter of time before Hearts had the begging bowl out.

"The pandemic sweeping the globe has only served to bring forward their perilous plight by a couple of months. When Hearts were busy splashing the cash, not once would it have entered the thinking of Ann Budge or Craig Levein to insert relegation clauses in any of the players’ contracts.

"Coronavirus has exposed the total mismanagement of a club who now want players to suffer for their mistakes. If I was an older player at Tynecastle, I’d clear out my locker and say, ‘See you later’."