Levein backs Murrayfield trial

KENNETH STEPHEN AND DICK DONNELLY

CRAIG Levein, the Hearts head coach, is relishing the prospect of a game at Murrayfield and praised the Tynecastle board for taking the decision to try out the 67,500-capacity stadium.

Dundee will take part in a closed-doors friendly against Hearts today, a match which is expected to take place at the home of Scottish rugby.

Chris Robinson, the Hearts chief executive, is keen for the club to leave their Tynecastle home and Murrayfield appears to have supplanted Straiton at the top of his agenda.

The Scottish Rugby Union has invited Hearts to try out the ground as they examine the pros and cons of a possible flit. Levein said: "It makes sense more than anything else. If it turns out that it is something we want to do, the players have got to be positive about it. The point is to try it out and see what the players think. The players are looking forward to it, and so am I."

Hearts have been examining several city sites, including the controversial £20 million ground-share proposal with rivals Hibernian at Straiton, Midlothian, for some time.

Levein says he will be guided by the practicalities for the players and the club before evaluating what his chosen option would be. "When I knew the opportunity was there to play a game [at Murrayfield], I thought it was the right thing to do. It is a chance to see what the pitch and the dressing-rooms are like and get a feel for the place."

The match also gives Levein the chance to give winger Jean-Louis Valois and striker Gary Wales a run-out.

Dundee’s new signings, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Craig Burley, have shrugged off bugs and will take part in the closed-doors friendly.

Both players, who are ineligible for Wednesday’s UEFA Cup match against Perugia in Italy, were laid low by a virus earlier this week but will now bid to return to match fitness.

The game was also fixed up to allow both sides to get in some action in view of this weekend’s SPL break.

Hearts are in UEFA Cup action on Wednesday, with a first round, second leg tie against NK Zeljeznicar in Sarajevo

Taken from the Scotsman