Jefferies may stay with Bairns

RAY HEPBURN

28 Jul 1995

FOOTBALL ROUND-UP

JIM Jefferies' spiralling career swayed in the balance last night, but the scales were tipped decisively in Falkirk's favour.

The former Hearts central defender will make his big career decision this morning, having had extended talks with Hearts chairman Chris Robinson.

But the omens yesterday were that an astonishing five-year deal worth £250,000 at Brockville was outweighing his life-long ambition to be manager of Hearts.

Falkirk chairman George Fulston has battled tooth and nail to retain the man who took the unfashionable Bairns into the top half of the premier division.

His ambitious plans for a new £15m all-seated stadium are well advanced, and he wants Jefferies to stay and further develop a team to grace their new home.

Against all that, Jefferies has had to balance Hearts' horrendous debts, with an overdraft in excess of £4m and other smaller, pressing commitments.

He is also aware that there is a takeover scheme by property tycoon Jim Glass still on the back-burner, while potentially expensive litigation with former chairman Wallace Mercer and manager Tommy McLean is pending.

Jefferies spend 15 years at Tynecastle as a player and has never made any secret of his long-term ambition to sit in the Hearts manager's chair.

Turning the opportunity down could be the hardest decision he has ever made and last night he was still giving few clues.

"I'm going to take the time allowed to make this very important decision and I will have to weigh up every available factor," he stressed.

"Falkirk have been great for me and my affection for Hearts is well documented.

This set of circumstances has not been of my making and the decision will be made objectively."

If Jefferies, as expected, elects to stay where he is -- with players like Mo Johnston, Steve Kirk, and John Hughes -- it will represent a massive blow for the Edinburgh club.

Robinson made it clear throughout this week that there was a short-list of one for the post made vacant by McLean's controversial sacking last Friday.

And if he has to resume the search all over again, the status of Hearts' manager -- once one of the most sought-after in the Scottish game -- will be fundamentally damaged.

Three managers -- Joe Jordan, Sandy Clark, and McLean -- have all fallen in the last four years and the Edinburgh club's overall predicament appears to be worsening.

Jefferies has been at Brockville for five seasons and if he accepts the vast Fulston contract, it will keep the 45-year-old there into the next century.

However, there was some good news for Robinson yesterday when striker John Robertson signed a new two-year contract which effectively makes the 30-year-old striker a Hearts man for life.

Football today

Friendlies -- Ayr v Hartlepool, Annan v Prestatyn (7.0), Forres v Dundee, Motherwell Reserves v Caledonian Thistle (7.0), Peterhead v Hearts (7.0), Irish Amateur Select v Queen's Park.

Taken from the Herald