Don't lose Hart, urges McGlynn

HEARTS were today urged to thrash out star midfielder Paul Hartley's future as quickly as possible.

The 28-year-old Scotland ace is entering the last year of his contract with the Jambos and Tynecastle caretaker boss John McGlynn is keen to see the Scotland star tied down on a long-term deal to help ward off the attentions of any prospective suitors. Hartley's goalscoring exploits have seen him emerge as one of the Gorgie outfit's prime assets.

The club has already rejected a cut-price offer from Celtic during the January transfer window, the approach prompting the board to slap a £1 million price tag on his head.

With Martin O'Neill having made way for Gordon Strachan it remains to be seen whether the Glasgow giants will pursue their interest in the player, who made it onto the short list for this season's Scottish Professional Footballers' Player of the Year Award.

With efforts to unearth a successor to manager John Robertson currently consuming chief executive Phil Anderton and his fellow-directors, negotiations with players in Hartley's situation are unlikely to be deemed as imperative by the board.

They will address the situation in due course - and McGlynn hopes that will be as soon as the vacant hot seat has been filled.

He said: "We do need to try to extend Paul's contract and I think it has to be the next important thing after getting a new manager in. Appointing a new boss has obviously to be a priority but securing Paul's future at Hearts has also to be high on the club's list of priorities."

McGlynn conceded that the player himself would rather wait and see what develops on the managerial front.

But the youth coach and interim boss is keeping his fingers crossed the man who made his Scotland debut in the World Cup qualifier against Italy in the San Siro sees his long-term future in maroon.

"The player himself might want to wait and see who comes in and talk to the new man about his plans," said McGlynn.

"While I don't see anything immediate happening, it is something we should be looking at. We have been good for Paul and he has been good for the club. Hopefully we can extend that relationship."

The midfielder, poised to make his Hampden bow in a Scotland jersey in tomorrow's Group Five qualifier against Moldova, appears happy to wait for developments in the weeks ahead. He said: "I really don't know how I see things at the moment with Hearts. We don't have a manager. I don't know what the new owners are thinking and their priority has to be a new manager and then we'll take things from there.

"We desperately need a new boss as I think the uncertainty throughout the year was significant in us not finishing as high up the league as we should have. Hopefully we can get that all sorted out and get everything back to normal.

"Having said that the new manager will have his own ideas and may not see me in his plans. That will be up to him but I have another year left of my contract and I'll just have to wait and see what happens." Hartley conceded the Hearts players were expecting news of Robertson's successor before now. He said: "

I think the players expected some concrete news by now. After John left we thought someone would be in place within a couple of weeks but there doesn't appear to be much happening unless, of course they are working away behind the scenes."

Taken from the Scotsman