Hearts speak to Ranieri and Robson as Ardiles applies for Tynecastle job

GRAHAM BEAN

CLAUDIO Ranieri, the former Chelsea manager whose penchant for rotating players earned him the nickname "Tinkerman", held talks with Hearts yesterday about taking over at Tynecastle.

The Italian was in Edinburgh to meet with officials from the Gorgie club who are searching for a successor to George Burley.

Ranieri, 54, has been out of work since being sacked by Valencia last season but is a vastly experienced coach who has worked with clubs such as Atletico Madrid, Fiorentina and Napoli.

Sir Bobby Robson, who was in Edinburgh for the funeral of former England captain Johnny Haynes, also spoke with Hearts yesterday as the club narrowed their search for a new manager.

Osvaldo Ardiles, the Argentine World Cup winner who has managed both Tottenham and Newcastle, is another to have applied for the post, it has emerged.

Speaking last night, a Hearts spokesman said: "We can confirm that the club have had talks with various applicants today, with both Ranieri and Robson being two of those applicants.

"That is in line with the type of pedigree that we are looking for and we are encouraged by the discussions so far."

Hearts dispensed with the services of Burley last Friday despite the Scot having taken the club to the top of the table. The side were unbeaten in the ten league matches Burley took charge of, but he was dismissed due to "irreconcilable differences" with the Hearts' majority shareholder, Vladimir Romanov.

Having worked at Chelsea under Roman Abramovich, Ranieri has experience of working under powerful, wealthy club owners. While Romanov may not have Abramovich's billions, he is a wealthy man whose lofty ambition for Hearts is success in the Champions League.

Ranieri went close with Chelsea, taking them to the semi-finals in 2004, before being sacked by Abramovich for failing to deliver a trophy despite spending £120million on players such as Damien Duff, Joe Cole, Wayne Bridge, Juan Sebastian Veron, Hernan Crespo, Claude Makelele and Adrian Mutu. He moved to Valencia - his second spell in charge of the Spanish club - but was sacked in February this year after his side were knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Steaua Bucharest.

Robson, 72, the former England, Barcelona and Newcastle manager, declined to answer questions on the Hearts job yesterday but instead, referred to Haynes' fondness for the Gorgie side. He said: "I believe he used to go and see Hearts from time to time - he told me that once or twice so he must have seen something that he enjoyed."

However, Hearts chairman George Foulkes confirmed the possibility of Robson arriving permanently in Edinburgh.

"I would prefer not to talk about the individual arrangements because we don't want it all to take place in the media - but Bobby Robson is one of the people we are looking at, there's no doubt about that," Foulkes said. "We've had well over 20 expressions of interest from top quality managers, household names with great experience which confirms what I said that this is a plum job."

The Scotsman has learned that Ardiles, 53, is one of the applicants. The former Tottenham and Argentina midfielder has been living in Spain since being sacked by the J-League side Tokyo Verdy in July but is keen to work again in Britain and agents representing him made contact with Hearts this week.

Known as a coach who likes to put the emphasis on attack, Ardiles had spells in charge of Swindon, Newcastle, West Bromwich Albion and Spurs before going on to work in Mexico, Croatia and Saudi Arabia, Japan and his native Argentina. He was a member of the celebrated Argentina side that won the World Cup in 1978.

Taken from the Scotsman