PAUL KIDDIE

ABERDEEN manager Jimmy Calderwood today pleaded for calm from supporters as Hearts boss Graham Rix prepares to take charge of the team for the first time at Pittodrie on Sunday.

Concerned Dons officials are putting extra security around the visitors' dugout for the live TV encounter amid fears the home fans could turn on the new Tynecastle head coach.

Controversy has raged since the Jambos unveiled the former England star as George Burley's successor last week, the 48-year-old having been jailed for 12 months in 1999 for unlawful sex with a 15-year-old girl.

Calderwood, though, has urged the Dons faithful to lay off the Hearts boss, saying: "I played against Graham a few times when I was at Birmingham and he was with Arsenal.

"I've not spoken to him in a few years but it is great to see him back in the game after a spell out. Whenever I met him you could tell he was a real football man and he has been given a great chance at Hearts which I'm sure he'll grab. Sunday is all about what happens on the pitch and I hope the fans appreciate that and keep calm."

Rix, meanwhile, is eagerly awaiting his baptism of fire and insisted: "I can handle the pressure.

"Having people shout abuse at me is not the hardest thing I have had to deal with in my life. I have been through a lot worse."

He has pledged to stick with more or less the same team which has performed so admirably this season, although he has a slight concern over striker Edgar Jankauskas and he added: "If we approach the game well, I am confident we can get a result.

"Everybody wants to play in the match, and I mean everybody. That's what I want, to have them all chomping at the bit. They know that just because they are in the team one weekend doesn't necessarily mean they'll be in it the following week.

"There has been a great tempo in training, they have taken on board everything I have said and the response has been fantastic."

Rix has paid tribute to the help he has received from assistant John McGlynn, who has given him the low-down on Sunday's opponents. He said: "John knows Scottish football inside out and I have been relying on him a lot. I'd be foolish not to use a guy with his experience. He's been great with me and supported me wholeheartedly and he'll probably be chatting more to the players about Aberdeen than I will. But it is more about what we can do as opposed to what they do."

Meanwhile Hearts were today celebrating the SPL's decision to throw out Rangers' appeal over their Tynecastle ticket allocation for the league clash in March.

The Gorgie outfit had angered the Glasgow giants after slashing their number of tickets from 3600 to just 2100 to accommodate more of their own support.

Rangers appealed to the SPL in a bid to have the whole of the Roseburn Stand available to their fans but the authorities met at Hampden yesterday and voted in Hearts' favour.

The club has also confirmed to the London Stock Exchange that Vladimir Romanov has successfully completed the purchase of Scottish Media Group's shareholding.

UBIG, the Lithuanian investment company in which Romanov has a major influence, has purchased the 4.5 per cent convertible loan stock in the Glasgow-based media company.

The Baltic banker will imminently complete the purchase of the shares held by HBoS, and has had a verbal agreement from Leslie Deans and Robert McGrail for their 16 per cent stake as he approaches the 75 per cent he needs to delist the club from the Stock Exchange.

Taken from the Scotsman