Change of heart as Levein senses move to keep Fuller

HEARTS may yet find the money required to keep Ricardo Fuller at Tynecastle, despite having earlier seemed resigned to losing the striker. Speaking after he and Fuller were named Bank of Scotland Manager and Player of the Month, Craig Levein said the feeling at the club had changed.

"I detect a willingness at the club, a movement towards trying to do something," the Hearts coach said. "It’s not a definite no and it’s not a definite yes. I know it’s vague, but I don’t want to comment further."

Having weathered the storm caused by bad results a few months ago, Levein has taken Hearts back up the table over the last few games, helped in no small part by the goalscoring exploits of Fuller. While making it clear that much work remains to be done, the manager is convinced he is moving in the right direction.

"This is one piece of good news," Levein said about the awards. "And there are other things happening at the club which are very positive."

Hearts’ financial position remains negative however, and it was the size of the debt which made it seem unlikely they could afford the £1 million which Fuller’s club, Tivoli Gardens of Jamaica, are set to ask for the 22-year-old.

‘I detect a willingness at the club, a movement towards trying to do something’ - CRAIG LEVEIN

If, however, a way could be found to generate new funds for the specific purpose of keeping Fuller at Tynecastle, Levein would be delighted. Sponsorship money would obviously be one way, and raising the amount - or part of it - from the supporters would be another.

Leslie Deans, the former chairman, said yesterday that he "would consider financial help to enable Hearts to secure the services of Fuller", but a club spokesman stated they would be unlikely to entertain such a bid. Deans has been at loggerheads for some time with the chief executive, Chris Robinson.

So the Fuller situation remains hypothetical for the moment, and the picture is further muddied by the fact that Levein’s budget for next season is dependent on the SPL’s forthcoming TV deal. But there is definitely a far more optimistic feeling at Tynecastle, which contrasts sharply with the discontent which was manifest not so long ago.

"It was a distressing time for us, and the Livingston game here was the low point," Levein said of the period earlier in the season when a series of defeats led to heated protests by supporters against the board.

"We hadn’t been focusing properly as a team, but over the past two or three months we’ve turned things around. We knew if we could win games the protests against the board would disappear. I would never say we’ve got anything right, far from it, but there’s a good feeling at the club."

After encountering some scepticism in his initial appearances, Fuller has won the Hearts fans over in record time. "His first couple of games were difficult, but since then he’s proved a revelation," Levein added.

"The most pleasing thing for me is his willingness to listen, to work hard and realise he’s part of a team. He’s settled in very well with the players, and they appreciate his talent."

Fuller’s form has proven to be something of a double-edged sword. Without a precise budget, and with five players out of contract, Levein is left with the near-impossible task of trying to do a sum in which virtually every figure is a variable.

"We’re trying to get the finances under control," he continued. "Ricardo has probably done better than expected, and we probably didn’t expect to have to pay £1m for him."

Levein has opened discussions with Thomas Flogel and Stevie Fulton, two of the five whose deals run out in the summer. While those two are known quantities, the trouble with Fuller is that if he continues to make such rapid progress his price will also keep going up.

The player himself refused to speculate about where he would be playing his football this time next year. After years of struggling to get over the effects of a back injury, he prefers to concentrate on the here and now, and is glad to be somewhere close to optimal fitness again.

"It takes a month to get fit and a week to get unfit," Fuller said. "But I knew if I kept going I’d get back to where I was.

"I didn’t even know I had the back problem until I had a medical with Charlton. Then I went back to Jamaica to wait for the operation. That was between two-and-a-half to three years ago.

"I was out for nine months, then I played a reserve game but was still shaky. It took me a year really to get back."

Although still under contract to Tivoli, Fuller has not played for that club since before the operation. He has, however, turned out for Jamaica in World Cup qualifying ties, as well as having loan spells with first Crystal Palace and then West Bromwich Albion before agreeing to head north.

"It’s still early days," he insisted of his spell with Hearts, which has only stretched to 13 games so far. "I just want to continue to play week in, week out. My original aim was to be back where I was, scoring goals, scoring goals. I just want to play. It will get me wherever."

Fuller’s strength on the ball, he reckoned, owes something to his early days as a player - and something to his footballing hero. "Argentina is my team, even though I’m Jamaican, and Diego Maradona is my idol. He could score, he could create, he’s in a class of his own.

"In Jamaica, football is the craziest thing. You have, like, 50 kids chasing the one ball, so you have to try to get as many touches as you can."

Unfortunately for Hearts, if Fuller keeps scoring we may soon have 50 clubs chasing the one player, but at least they are now showing they have the ambition to hold on to him despite their straitened circumstances.

Taken from the Scotsman