BDO partners Bryan Jackson, James Stephen and Trevor Birch have been appointed joint administrators of Hearts, officially known as Midlothian Football Club.

The appointments were made at the request of AB Ukio Bankas, a Lithuanian commercial bank which is itself in administration and is a major creditor of the club with a floating charge over the assets. The Hearts board had originally requested KPMG to be appointed administrators but the Court of Session in Edinburgh selected BDO.

The Edinburgh club owes around £15m to Ukio Bankas, two thirds of its total debt. It failed to pay wages to players last week, and has a six-figure owing to HMRC which is due for payment tomorrow but there are insufficient funds available. There is also a VAT bill due at the end of the month, plus the balance outstanding from the previous month's PAYE payment.

Bryan Jackson, business restructuring partner at BDO, said: 'Fans will, inevitably, be concerned about these developments and none of them will have wanted this moment to arrive. We will now undertake an urgent examination of the company's records prior to making any further announcements. We are acutely aware of the need for speed in this process given the uncertainty of the last few weeks and the proximity of the season's start.'

The team is set to start next season with a 15-point deduction, while the player registration ban imposed by the Scottish Premier League for failure to pay this month's wages will remain in place until the period of administration is over.