Robbo's Miller G-Lee

GRAEME CROSER

JOHN ROBERTSON today confirmed that Vladimir Romanov has given him the green light to keep Lee Miller at Tynecastle.

The Hearts boss landed Miller on a loan deal from Bristol City during last month’s transfer window and the striker has been an instant hit, netting four goals in seven games.

Robertson was unable to broker a permanent deal for the player due to the financial uncertainty which surrounded the club.

However, now that Romanov has completed his purchase of Chris Robinson’s stake in the club and is in control, the manager has started to plan for the future.

Miller netted a wonder goal in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Kilmarnock and Robertson revealed that after the game Romanov spoke to him about putting together a package to keep the 21-year-old in Gorgie beyond the end of the season. Robertson said: "Lee scored a great goal at the weekend and has done very well since he came here - we want to keep him.

"Mr Romanov was at Saturday’s game and I know he was very impressed too. He spoke to me afterwards and said there will be money there to try and keep Lee.

"We would like to have done a permanent deal in January but there was too much uncertainty around the club. When we negotiated with Bristol their manager Brian Tinnion was very accommodating.

"I actually played with him at Newcastle a few years ago and it was through him that I first made contact regarding bringing Lee to Hearts.

"Mr Romanov has said we can start speaking to them again and we’ll be trying to get something done."

Miller moved to Bristol from Falkirk for a fee of £325,000 in the summer of 2003 and enjoyed a decent first season in England before falling out of favour when Tinnion took over from Danny Wilson as player/manager at the start of the current campaign. Any permanent deal with Hearts would involve a transfer fee but, with Romanov’s backing, Robertson is hopeful.

And he also revealed that Miller has expressed his desire to stay in the Capital. He said: "Lee loves it at the club and he is very keen to stay. He has been blown away by the fans and the size of the club and I think it’s clear to see how much he’s enjoying it here.

"Any deal would involve a fee and that’s obviously something we’ll need to discuss with Bristol."

Miller has filled both the boots and the No.9 jersey of Dutch striker Mark de Vries, who left for Craig Levein’s Leicester City last month. And Robertson is delighted with the way the deal has worked out for the Capital club not least because neither the fans nor the team appear to be missing their erstwhile targetman.

He continued: "We received an offer for Mark in January and, weighing the situation up, decided to take it. We felt that we would be as well letting Mark go, considering his injury problems and the fact his head was maybe drifting away from the club.

"We felt we could do better and I think in Lee that feeling has been justified. Lee is only 21 and therefore much younger. He is a very good player but we feel we can improve him.

"He has a lot of potential and I believe he can push himself towards international recognition. The likes of Garry O’Connor and Derek Riordan at Hibs have pushed themselves to the fore and I believe Lee has the ability to do the same."

Hearts face Killie again at Rugby Park tomorrow night as they replay their Scottish Cup fourth-round tie. The Jambos will have Andy Webster back from suspension while Jamie McAllister will miss out as he serves his own one-game ban.

Webster could dislodge Christophe Berra at centre-half but 17-year-old Lee Wallace is set to keep his place at left-back.

Assistant manager Donald Park has been cheered by the way the average age of the Hearts side has been brought down since he and Robertson, right, arrived earlier in the season and described 31-year-old skipper Steven Pressley as the ‘grandad’ in the Hearts defence.

He said: "We have become quite a young team and Elvis has become the grandad in the back four now. That’s a positive thing for us because we had two young kids playing at left-back and left centre-back at the weekend and they did very well.

"Circumstance has dictated that but there must always be a pathway for our young players to come through.

"Obviously, we’ve brought a few in from abroad and the arrival of the new regime at the club has allowed us to do that.

"It’s right that we take advantage of that but we must make sure we rear our own youngsters as well.

"If we don’t, the Scotland team will never get better and we will continue to be in the mess we are in now."

Taken from the Scotsman