HEARTS boss Graham Rix today insisted the delay in finding a director of football will not impact on the club's ability to sign new players next month.

Owner Vladimir Romanov has revealed that his exhaustive search for someone to fill the role may not be completed successfully until after the January transfer window closes, and Hearts are already making inroads towards new signings for the second half of the season.

Joe Kinnear, Craig Brown, Hans Krankl, Nevio Scala, Gianluca Vialli and Sir Bobby Robson have all been linked with the director of football post but the Baltic millionaire is determined to take as long as he needs to unearth the man he thinks is the right person to spearhead his Tynecastle revolution. That all means that Rix is probably having more input into transfer dealings than he first anticipated when taking the job as head coach.

"I am working work closely with Roman and Vladimir on bringing new players in," he said.

"I am not going to say who they are or what positions we are looking at. But the fact there maybe won't be a director of football in place until the end of next month won't affect our potential to sign new players.

"But we are not just going to bring in people for the sake of it and have to ensure they are the right ones.

"It would be helpful to get someone in as it would stop people asking me who the new director of football is. But apart from that it won't hinder our attempts to strengthen the squad."

Rix conceded his admiration for Liverpool's Darren Potter, linked with a move to Tynecastle yesterday. "He's a good player, definitely. There are a lot of people we are looking at and making enquiries about but it has the be the right player, the right deal, and it has to be right for Heart of Midlothian."

Rix's demands that Hearts adopt a more patient approach in their build-up play has left many fans frustrated after the successful high-tempo style favoured by his predecessor, George Burley.

However, captain Steven Pressley has requested that the support reserve their judgement until the squad has fully adapted to Rix's coaching methods. He said: "Maybe we are slightly more patient in our build-up, which is different to previously and it does take time to adapt when you've gone from one manager's methods to another's.

"You can't expect results overnight and I think it's testament to all the players that we have managed to keep our season on track through difficult times. We do desperately want to get results for Graham."

Pressley's experience and foresight allowed him previously to predict a slight dip in form at some stage in the season, if only because an emphatic start like the one Hearts had under Burley was never going to be sustainable through to the campaign's end.

He added: "It's important that we look at ourselves over the 18 games so far. It's been a transitional period with the new manager coming in and hopefully in the weeks ahead we will reap the rewards. If we look at the bigger picture, it's only one defeat in 18 for ourselves. That is positive."

Taken from the Scotsman