Six players on Levein's list

HEARTS boss Craig Levein today revealed he has drawn up a shortlist of six potential new signings following a series of scouting missions over the past few months.

The Gorgie chief has half a dozen of his first-team squad out of contract in the summer and having admitted he will not be hanging on to them all, has been actively searching for possible replacements.

Spying missions have taken Levein and his backroom team throughout Europe and the Jambos manager already has a good idea of who he wants to bring in to Tynecastle.

Although his final moves into the transfer market hinge entirely on what his budget is for the forthcoming campaign - and that budget is reliant on what cash can be brought in via any television deal which has yet to be thrashed out by the SPL clubs - Levein has pencilled in the players he would like to sign.

"I have already said it is unlikely that I will be able to keep all the guys who are out of contract at the end of the season," he said.

"With that in mind we have been taking in a lot of games and watching a number of players and considering pre-contracts for people, although it is difficult to know just how many to look at.

"We have cast our net as wide as possible and looked at as many positions as possible in case of the worst case scenario that I can’t keep any of those whose deals are up in the summer.

"I have six names to move on once I know what the situation is as regards my budget but the whole thing is clouded at the moment by what happens with the TV deal.

"The reason it is so important is because it is a sizeable chunk of money for us and if we don’t get it then every department in the club will be affected with the football side the worst hit as that is what the most money is spent on."

He added: "There are two ways of looking at whatever budget I have. Do I get more players and suffer a wee bit with the quality, or try to go with a relatively small squad and hope to stay relatively injury-free?

"I made that decision this season and will do the same next season and rely on quality rather than quantity. We have to try to get the best 11 players as possible and then take what we can after that."

The Tynecastle outfit, meanwhile, hope to have the first team based at the proposed site of the club’s new academy by early next season.

Final planning permission for the building of the ambitious project at Riccarton on the western outskirts of the Capital was received earlier this week with work scheduled to begin later this month.

It is expected to be completed by early 2003, but with the football pitches already in place at the Heriot-Watt University campus, it is hoped to have the first-team using those renovated facilities by September.

"Having a regular place to train will, I am sure, help our performances on a Saturday," said Levein.

"Ever since I started in Scottish football as a player there have always been problems finding decent places to train in the winter."

Chief executive Chris Robinson was delighted to finally get the seal of approval for the work on the academy, saying: "The planning stage of our proposals took longer than anticipated but we were always confident that we would deliver.

"Once completed, hopefully early in 2003, the academy will enhance our already fine reputation in the field of youth development."

Taken from the Scotsman