Scala in frame
By Phil Gordon and Kevin Buckley
HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN are confident that they will be able to cherrypick a successor to continue the work that George Burley started and take the club into the Champions League.

Hearts said only that “irreconcilable differences” between the club, which is owned by Vladimir Romanov, a Lithuanian millionaire, and Burley had led to the departure of the manager, which left fans stunned. But suggestions that Romanov, who is investing heavily in the club, would not allow any manager a free hand do not appear to deter either of the men that the club pursued during the summer before appointing Burley.

Sir Bobby Robson and Nevio Scala have expressed interest already. Robson, the former England manager, said: “I didn’t take the Hearts job before for personal reasons but my circumstances are different now. It’s an attractive job.” He will be in Edinburgh this week for the funeral of Johnny Haynes, his former Fulham team-mate.

Scala, the former manager of Spartak Moscow, Parma, Borussia Dortmund, Besiktas and Shakhtar Donetsk, was apparently favoured by Romanov. “We had several conversations about it over the summer. He told me of his plans,” Scala said this weekend of his meetings with Romanov. “Everything was agreed. It’s not a question of money with these things. Going to Scotland would be wonderful. But I take my job seriously and to do it properly I felt I needed some time to improve my English and to study Scottish football. I said I’d start in January, but (Romanov) said he couldn’t wait that long.”

Another name in the frame is Valdas Ivanauskas, who guided FBK Kaunas to five titles in Lithuania and who has been at Hearts’ training academy, where he is taking a Uefa coaching licence.

Whoever takes the job will know that Romanov is hungry to transform Hearts into a side capable of winning not only the Premierleague but also the Champions League, a desire that saw him recruit players without Burley’s knowledge.

The majority of the 12 signings made since the summer were Burley’s choices, but the arrival of Samuel Camazzola, a midfield player from Brazil, and Ibrahim Tall, the Senegal defender, took the former manager by surprise.

The players overcame their shock at Burley’s departure to stay clear at the top of the table with a 2-0 victory over Dunfermline Athletic. It was sealed with goals from Rudi Skacel and Michel Pospisil, the former joining Paul Hartley, the striker, after the match in wearing a T-shirt emblazoned: “For the Gaffer”.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk