Scala leads race to become Hearts coach

NEVIO SCALA could be Hearts' new head coach by the end of the week.

The Italian has another meeting scheduled within the next 48 hours with club owner Vladimir Romanov to thrash out the terms of his contract.

The pair held top-level discussions in Croatia on Friday, along with Romanov's son, Roman, as the Lithuanians attempted to clarify whether the Italian was capable of leading the Tynecastle revolution.

The other leading candidate is former Derby manager George Burley, with World Cup-winning German Lothar Matthaus also being considered as a replacement for John Robertson. Valdas Ivanauskas, the former coach of Lithuanian club Kaunas of which Romanov is a major sponsor, remains an outside bet.

Scala, the wily former Parma coach, is the man most coveted by Hearts directors however, and a further summit this week, likely to be on Wednesday, could see him confirmed as the new head coach at Tynecastle before the weekend.

The Italian, who narrowly missed out on the Scotland job three years ago when Berti Vogts was appointed, said: "I had a very interesting and informative meeting with Vladimir Romanov and his son in Croatia recently. We spoke about the way forward for Hearts. It's an exciting project.

"We agreed to have another meeting very soon and I am looking forward to it."

Scala already has in his mind plans to help Romanov realise his dream of building a realistic challenge to Rangers and Celtic, and has not ruled out the possibility of recruiting a Scottish coach to aid him with local matters. Initially, though, he would prefer three compatriots to help ease him into life in Edinburgh. "I would bring three Italians over to work with me in Scotland - an assistant, a physical conditioning coach and a goalkeeping coach," he said.

Training methods will be of vital importance to any new coach after the regime of Robertson came under fire from Lithuania boss Algimantas Liubinskas.

He blasted Robertson's schedules as "semi-professional" and has warned striker Marius Stankevicius, a reported signing target for Romanov, not to sign for the Gorgie club due to reports he has received from Hearts' on-loan Lithuanian triumvirate Saulius Mikoliunas, Marius Kizys and Deividas Cesnauskis.

Those three will stay in Edinburgh on loan deals for next season as Hearts continue to benefit from Romanov's influence at Kaunas, however that power may be set to be diluted by UEFA.

Europe's governing body are scrutinising the role of money men who have investments in more than one club and may impose new rules to prevent such a conflict of interests. Romanov is the largest single shareholder at Hearts and his banking company, Ukio Bankas, are major sponsors of Kaunas in his homeland and MTZ-Ripo in Belarus.

Taken from the Scotsman