Burley: Hartley's short-term future safe

IN HIS attempts to reinforce a Hearts first-team squad seriously reduced by defections over the past few months, head coach George Burley has quickly become re-acquainted with an old, disconcerting truth.

It is that, in the matter of acquiring players of a certain standard at an affordable price, ideals - as in every other area of the business world - invariably come a poor runner-up to practicalities.

Responding to media probing at the end of the first day on which he has had a full complement - including the international players who were allowed to miss last week's return to training - Burley outlined the complexities of recruitment and of extending the stay of sitting tenants, with particular emphasis on Paul Hartley.

Hartley's progress at Tynecastle in the past year or so has been sufficiently impressive to make him a Scotland player. While that may be a badge of honour that has lost some of its glitter in recent years, it remains a sound enough gauge of his value to his club to have Hearts fans anxious about his future.

This concern was deepened in January, when an approach by Celtic was rejected. With just one year left on his contract, Hartley's future at Tynecastle has been the subject of speculation. Burley gave an assurance that the player will remain with Hearts at least for the remainder of his contract, but demonstrated his own familiarity with reality when he added a proviso.

"Hearts are not a selling club at the moment," said Burley. "And we certainly wouldn't want to be selling players to our strongest rivals here in Scotland. But, of course, if somebody came in and offered, say, £10million for a player, you'd have no option but to accept.

"Paul Hartley came in this morning and, although we didn't have much time to talk, he was very bubbly and keen to get on with his work. All the players in his situation will certainly be remaining here in the short-term, although it's impossible to say what will happen in the long term.

"I have to assess all these things in the coming months and I won't be making hurried judgments. Paul, like others, is contracted for another season, so there's no need to make those judgments immediately. But I'm sure he and the others will enjoy working here. It's my job to see that they do."

Looking at the broader perspective, Burley, conceded that, with only "13 or 14" recognisable first-team players, his immediate priority lies in that direction. It is here, however, that his own preference for British players - even more specifically, Scots - is likely to be tested.

"Ideally, we would want a 20-man squad," he said, "so it's obvious we're looking for around half-a-dozen to make that number. I've already made approaches for a lot more than that. My first choice would always be British players, or, even better, Scottish if possible.

"But getting players in Britain can be more complicated than bringing in foreigners, not least because clubs in this country tend to ask inflated prices. There is also the influence of agents, which can make things tricky. We won't pay anything above our valuation of a targeted player. We have a budget, it's not a bottomless pit, and we have to work within that.

"In my time as manager at Ipswich and Derby, I made a lot of contacts, people who can be trusted, and I will refer to them to help evaluate somebody I may fancy. If what is being asked exceeds that valuation, we won't play.

"Foreign clubs tend not to ask as much as British clubs and, of course, in the past few years, Britain has become very attractive to foreign players, and I mean Scotland as well as England. But there are all manner of difficulties in getting players from any source.

"Perhaps his current club doesn't want to let him go, or we can't afford his wage demands, or he basically doesn't want to move. But the loan system is becoming ever more popular among clubs and that is also something that can be utilised.

"Ideally, I want to keep the best of our players here. Everybody starts with a clean sheet, it's all fresh and my judgments will be made on what I see, rather on what I've heard. As I've already said, we're still a million miles behind the Old Firm, and we have to bring players in if we are to begin a challenge that will take some time to become the real thing.

"Vladimir Romanov, our major shareholder, agrees with that and is being very supportive. As a manager, I tend to look at the whole picture of a club, from the community work, to the academy, the young professionals all the way up to the first team.

"Of course, the aim is to bring through more academy players, and we have a lot of promising youngsters here. In these early stages, however, the first-team squad has to take priority."

Taken from the Scotsman