Bednar becomes Hearts' latest loan signing

GRAHAM BEAN

HEARTS defended their signing policy yesterday after Roman Bednar, a Czech Under-21 international, became the fifth player to join the club on loan.

The striker has signed for FBK Kaunas, the Lithuanian team owned by Hearts' major shareholder Vladimir Romanov, and has been loaned to Hearts for the season.

Bednar, 22, who played previously for the Czech side Mlada Boleslav, becomes the fourth Kaunas player on the books at Tynecastle, joining Saul Mikoliunas, Deividas Cesnauskis and Edgar Jankauskas, the former Porto striker who joined this week. The fifth loan signing is the Czech midfielder Rudi Skacel, from Marseille, and more are likely to follow.

Phil Anderton, Hearts' chief executive, said the policy is being driven by financial necessity and warned that new manager George Burley would not be able to bring such high-calibre players to Tynecastle any other way. Anderton also claimed that if it hadn't been for Romanov's involvement, Hearts would be selling players, not signing them.

"Not all the players we bring to the club are going to be loan deals, some will be signed directly to Hearts," Anderton said. "The reason we're looking to loan deals is that normally Heart of Midlothian would not be able to go out and sign players directly, given our financial position. Financially it makes sense for us to have other investors and other clubs signing the players and then loaning them out to us.

"There are other advantages. George is able to assess their quality and if the player is delivering we are able to extend the loan. If the player is not delivering we are able to pass him back without having the burden of a multi-year contract."

Burley, a keen student of Czech football, said he was delighted with the acquisition of Bednar and may give him his debut in Saturday's league opener against Kilmarnock if he can shake off a slight hamstring strain. "He's a young player but he has a lot of qualities," said the manager. "He's 6ft 3in, has a good touch, is mobile and can score goals. I think he'll be a tremendous asset for the club."

Burley is battling against time to strengthen the side before the season begins. He arrived at Tynecastle less than a month ago and inherited a squad shorn of a dozen first-team players. He has brought in Skacel, Jankauskas and Bednar and hopes to add another two or three before the weekend.

Anderton denied that having so many loan players gave the team a transitional feel.

"On the surface it may appear like that," said the chief executive, "but if you consider the examples of Mikoliunas and Cesnauskis - they came on loan last season but the manager wanted to keep them and the loan was extended. If the players are good enough they'll stay.

"With George Burley coming in relatively late we needed to get in players quickly in order to hit the ground running. We've had to bring them in at short notice and what we don't want is to sign a player for three years and find out in six months that he's not as good as we wanted and we're stuck with him.

"Better in these circumstances that they are loaned and if they are of the requisite standard we can have the loan extended."

Anderton played down fears other clubs could poach the players if they impressed at Hearts. "That makes the assumption Kaunas would want to sell. Now I'm not saying that could never happen but we have a close relationship with Kaunas and some other clubs in Eastern Europe because of Vladimir Romanov."

While the chief executive envisages a day when the club will be able to buy their own players, he was honest enough to admit it is simply not possible at present. "Hopefully we will get additional investment into the club from the business community and drive up the commercial income and then Hearts will be able to stand on its own two feet and go out and purchase players," said Anderton.

"But at this stage we've got £18-19million of debt and are losing money. That's the cold reality. So without Vladimir Romanov's investment and without these loan deals George Burley wouldn't be here and we would be selling players not signing them. We would be selling the likes of Craig Gordon, Steven Pressley, Andy Webster and Paul Hartley."

Taken from the Scotsman