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Hearts and Partick Thistle say they are "incredulous" that the Scottish FA has charged them for taking legal action to overturn their relegations.

A court referred their case against the SPFL to arbitration which is due take place in the coming days.

The SFA says that by not using arbitration in the first instance, the clubs breached its rules.

Hearts, relegated from the Premiership, and Thistle, from the Championship, want SFA proceedings to be delayed.

The governing body has set a date of 6 August for the disciplinary case to be heard.

"We are incredulous to have received a notice of complaint from the SFA in the circumstances," their

"It is oppressive of them to require submissions from both clubs by 20 July when we are, in terms of their own articles of association, actively engaged in arbitration.

"As our focus must be squarely on that, we have already requested the SFA to review the timing to allow us to be properly prepared and represented. That is the very least we should expect from the process."

Hearts and Thistle initially went to the Court of Session after their relegations were not prevented by the SPFL's failed proposal for league reconstruction. The proposal would also have given Stranraer a reprieve from League One relegation.

At an initial hearing, Lord Clark decided the rules of the football authorities mean the case must be heard by an independent tribunal set up through the SFA rules.

If successful, both clubs will be reinstated in their original divisions, and the promotions of Dundee United, Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers will be prevented.