MACLEOD: BURLEY'S DESIRE TO RETURN TO ENGLAND WAS BEHIND SPLIT

HEARTS' loss will soon be a Premiership club's gain because George Burley is the hottest manager in Britain and the league leaders have just let him go for free The next big job that becomes vacant in England could be George's for the taking becausehe's made the SPLamore talkedabout league than the Premiership.

I come into contact with a lot of people in the game down south and all they talk about is the Burley phenomenon at Tynecastle.

Hearts have made a mistake by letting go the man who turned the club round when he replaced John Robertson in the manager's office.

The fans must be sick over what's happened and they didn't even get the courtesy of a decent explanation from the club's owner Vladimir Romanov.

Hearts should have tried harder with their official statement released after the game against Dunfermline on Saturday.

They're not some small club nobody cares about - they're a big institution within Scottish football and yet the fans don't know if their manager resigned or was given the sack.

I don't go down the line that George left because Romanov constantly interfered in his business.That was happening from day one in their uneasy relationship.

Something bigger has happened to split them and my guess is it was George's desire to get back to England.I was surprised he chose Hearts in the first place after leaving Derby County.

Now I'm convinced he's been looking at another club,and it's definitely not Rangers. Those rumours are unfounded and unfair on Alex McLeish.George has his sights set on something in England,I'm convinced of that.

Once you're on the managerial merry-go-round down South, it's normal to flit from job to job.

I thought he would only be here in the short term and now his stock has risen to the highest point it's enjoyed during his managerial career.

The only manwho could rival George for the title of most-talked-about manager is Paul Jewell at WiganAthletic, now they're second-equal on points behind Chelsea in the Premiership If a job was to comeup at Aston Villa or Everton or Newcastle,George wouldhave to bea candidate becausehe's proved himself to beaman of the highest calibre.

I was at Tynecastle to see Hearts on Saturday and the sense of shock could be felt everywhere inside the ground once the news broke that Burley was no longer in charge of the team.

And the problem Hearts have now is finding aman of substance to accept a job at a club where he can't possibly have100 per cent control of team matters.

The job has added spice because Hearts are top of the league table,but some of the top men in the game wouldn't touch it with a bargepole because of the circumstances that led to George leaving.

However,there will always be those managers who believe they can overcome any problems that exist with a club owner, which is why there will beno shortage of takers at Tynecastle.

The board just better hope their decision hasn't derailed the club's championship aspirations.

The next few days will help give the answer to that,because the games against Kilmarnock at Tynecastle and Hibs at Easter Road are a real examination of Hearts' mental toughness.

If they can take six points from those fixtures their championship challenge will have survived crisis and be alive and well.

Maximum points and then the appointment of a new manager who captures the imagination of the public could see Hearts kick on from the depths of their disappointment at the weekend.

Dunfermline were beaten in the way Celtic or Rangers would have relieved them of three points.Hearts took a stranglehold on the game early on,scored twice then shut out the opposition.

All that remains to be done is to take a stab at who'll succeed Burley.My instincts tell me he'll be an Eastern European who can speak Romanov's native tongue and accept the working conditions laid down by the club's owner.

That's not a set of circumstances to suit Sir Bobby Robson or Nevio Scala,the front-runners before George took over at Tynecastle.

The Romanov revolution will be spearheaded by another visitor from the east

Taken from the Daily Record