Cowdenbeath chairman Donald Findlay blasted the 'petty and pathetic' possibility that Hearts would not loan players to his club after they voted against league reconstruction.
Findlay and former Hearts manager Craig Levein clashed on the radio earlier this afternoon when the latter suggested the Jambos would not loan any players to the Blue Brazil.
The chairman and his club voted against league reconstruction which ultimately helped doom Hearts to relegation along with Partick Thistle and Stranraer.
But Levein - in conversation with Findlay and BBC's Tom English and Kenny Macintyre on Sportsound - suggested that "people won't forget" the vote and that it could work against Cowdenbeath should they wish to do business with the Gorgie outfit in future.
That prompted a furious response from Findlay.
"People won't forget this," Levein warned. "The next time Cowdenbeath are looking for a player on loan from Hearts, what do you think their chances are?"
Findlay responded: "Well I think that would be very sad and I never thought I would hear from somebody like you saying that, Craig. It's petty and it's pathetic. If that's what is going to happen and that's who is running Scottish football then it doesn't say much for our game."
The QC went on to explain that he had sympathy for the relegated sides only for Tom English to reply: "If you feel for them, vote with them to right a wrong."
But again, Findlay refused to accept that reconstruction would right any wrongs, instead claiming it would merely serve Hearts. Though he admitted talks of a restructuring could be brought up again in future. "That is not going to right a wrong," he added. "That is going to benefit a small number of clubs.
"I don't see how it's going to benefit the game as a whole. I don't suggest for a moment that the game is perfect, far from it. And it may well be that some form of reconstruction thought out properly down the road can work. But you don't do it in this ad hoc fashion.
"You bring in everything, the financial aspects, standards of youth development, stadia. Everything to try and improve the game as a whole. Look at the problems it is causing in the game because so many people are taking different views.
"If it is the case that Hearts would turn down a request from Cowdenbeath for a loan player simply because we did what we believed to be right, I don't believe that's you [Levein] saying that, I think you're a bigger and better man than that."
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