Hearts have asked the SPFL board to schedule their opening matches of the 2017/18 season away from home as redevelopment work at Tynecastle continues.

Expansion work on the club's new £12m main stand started earlier this year as the Gorgie men increase the stadium's capacity to more than 20,000.

The project is due to be completed in early September and owner Ann Budge hopes the club's opening three or four league matches can be scheduled away from home to avoid any complications.

She told STV: "I don't anticipate any problems with the SPFL in terms of asking to use the wildcard to postpone a game so we will definitely do that.

"I have already discussed with them the possibility of scheduling the first two or three fixtures away from home and, in principle, as long as it doesn't screw everything up for everyone else then they have no problem."

Should Hearts repeat last season's third place finish and qualify for Europe then home qualifiers, due to take place in early July, would have to be scheduled away from home.

If work should fall behind then Hearts would be left with the choice of either playing a full round of Premiership fixtures, 11 in total, at an alternative ground next term or simply open the three available Tynecastle stands.

Selecting the latter option could cost Hearts as much as £150,000 per game in revenue but Budge believes that would be preferable to an extended stay elsewhere.

She added: "The key decision for us is whether we decide we want to play any of our home games at a different registered ground and that's where the problems come in.

"If you play one then you have to play everybody. I'd like to think the supporters will be understanding of the fact you can't make a cake without breaking eggs."

Budge was elected on to the SPFL board this summer and she still believes Scottish football is capable of change.

While admitting juggling matters with the league body on top of her Tynecastle responsibilities has been a challenge, the Hearts supremo says she has enjoyed being at the heart of discussions about key elements of the sport.