Future still bleak for defiant Robertson

By Michael Grant

JOHN Robertson last night insisted he would never walk out on Hearts, but had the dis pirited look of a man resigned to being forced out of the manager’s office within days.

Robertson has been asked to meet chief executive Phil Anderton and possibly other members of the Tynecastle board tomorrow, at which his position should finally be clarified. His prospects seem bleak.

It had been thought the club’s decision on whether to retain Robertson would be announced after yesterday’s match at Ibrox – which Rangers won 2-1 to return to the top of the SPL – but at the club’s behest the situation remains unresolved.

Given the simplicity of announcing that Robertson was to be kept on though, he can interpret the delay as being ominous.

Robertson’s bleak demeanour inside Ibrox could not be attributed only to the 13th defeat of his 35-match, six-month reign. His position has seemed vulnerable ever since Lithuanian banker Vladimir Romanov became majority shareholder, and last week he sought clarification.

It remains elusive. “There is a delay again,” said Robertson. “I will have a long chat with my fiancee to decide my own future perhaps, because it is dragging on. But I would never walk away from Hearts. I have too much respect for the football club, my players and the fans to do that.”

He claimed that neither at the monthly board meeting he attended on Friday, or at any other time, had the club’s eight-man board expressed dissatisfaction with his work as manager.

He has continued on the assumption he will be manager next season, until being told otherwise. “Everything is in place for next year. The pre-season matches are all arranged and I gave the board a list of potential targets and a list of players potentially leaving the club.

“Phil Anderton has been great as chief executive. He has been fine, very supportive, and he has been handling the negotiations.”

Rangers had taken only one point from a possible nine in their last three SPL matches at Ibrox, but goals from Thomas Buffel and Marvin Andrews returned them to the top of the table by a point. Celtic will reclaim league leadership if they defeat Aberdeen at Parkhead this afternoon.

Taken from the Sunday Herald