Hearts close in on Burley

HEARTS hope to name George Burley as their new manager within the next 48 hours after major shareholder Vladimir Romanov positively identified the former Scotland defender as the man he wants to fill the vacancy. Subject to personal terms being agreed with the 49-year-old, it is understood Hearts are ready to make a formal announcement to the Stock Exchange on his appointment either today or tomorrow.

Burley, the former Ayr United, Colchester United, Ipswich Town and Derby County manager, made a favourable impression on Romanov during two days of talks between the pair in Lithuania earlier this week. Discussions continued yesterday between Phil Anderton, the Hearts chief executive, and Burley's agent, Athole Still, in an effort to reach an accord over the financial details and length of contract on offer.

The move is also dependent on deals being struck with two of Burley's colleagues who have worked with him previously, his assistant and chief scout, Simon Hunt, and his goalkeeping coach, Malcolm Webster. The upheaval of relocation for all three men and their families remains an obstacle for Hearts to overcome. All parties have agreed that if full details cannot be concluded over the next two days, then negotiations will be called off and Hearts will look elsewhere.

If Burley is formally offered and accepts the job, he will be in sole charge of first-team affairs at the club. Suggestions that Nevio Scala, the veteran Italian coach previously interviewed by both Romanov and Anderton for the position, may still take up a director of football role in tandem with Burley were dismissed by well-placed sources at Tynecastle last night.

While Hearts are still wary of the possibility of Burley turning them down, as he did to Millwall earlier this month when offered the manager's job at the London club, they are quietly confident they have finally got their man eight weeks after John Robertson's dismissal as head coach.

"We are getting very close to making a decision and an announcement," said Hearts chairman George Foulkes last night. "It's not quite at the stage of George having the job and there are still other options, but we are getting near the end of the process."

Burley entered the frame for the Hearts position following his resignation as Derby County manager on 8 June and is believed to have been given a glowing reference by his mentor Sir Bobby Robson, who earlier turned down an offer to take charge at Tynecastle.

An integral part of the hugely successful era overseen at Ipswich Town by Robson in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Burley made more than 500 first-team appearances for the Portman Road club. An adventurous full-back, he was part of the side which defeated Arsenal 1-0 in the 1978 FA Cup final but was deprived of a UEFA Cup winners' medal three years later by injury. Capped 11 times by Scotland, he was part of Jock Stein's squad in the 1982 World Cup finals in Spain but did not play in the tournament.

After continuing his playing career with Sunderland, Gillingham and Motherwell, the Cumnock-born Burley returned to his roots for his first managerial appointment in 1990 when he became player-manager of Ayr United. While he kept the Somerset Park club in the First Division, his tenure was not well regarded by many of the club's supporters and he was dismissed on Christmas Eve 1993 after a run of just one win in eight games and replaced by Simon Stainrod.

Burley briefly resumed his playing career with Falkirk, before returning to England as player-manager of Colchester United in June 1994. Just six months later, he resigned to succeed John Lyall as manager of Ipswich but was unable to stave off relegation from the Premiership. Burley's reshaped young side then suffered the disappointment of semi-final defeat in the Division 1 play-offs on three consecutive occasions from 1997 to 1999, before he finally took them back into the top flight in 2000.

His first full season as a Premiership manager was a major success, Ipswich confounding expectations by finishing fifth in the table and securing a place in the UEFA Cup. Bringing European football back to the club for the first time in 20 years earned Burley the Manager of the Year awards from both the League Managers' Association and the Carling Premiership.

It proved an impossibly hard act to follow for Burley. A third-round exit from the UEFA Cup at the hands of Inter Milan was no disgrace, but a dreadful run of just one win from their last 13 Premiership fixtures saw Ipswich slide from mid-table comfort to relegation on the final day of the 2001-02 campaign with a 5-0 defeat by Liverpool at Anfield.

The Ipswich board initially backed Burley to immediately restore their fortunes, but he was sacked in October 2002 with the team in 19th place in Division 1. He repaired his reputation when he was named interim manager of Derby County in March 2003, replacing the sacked John Gregory and saving the Pride Park club from relegation to Division 2.

After the financially stricken outfit struggled in 2003-04, Burley took them into the play-offs last season, where they lost to Preston in the semi-finals before his unexpected resignation earlier this month. He now appears poised to start the next chapter of his career in Gorgie, although until the move is signed and sealed, the book cannot be closed on the saga of replacing John Robertson.

Taken from the Scotsman