Romanov insists Hartley staying at Hearts

ROMAN Romanov, the chairman and acting chief executive of Hearts, yesterday described reports that the club were about to sell Paul Hartley as "total nonsense."

A Sunday newspaper claimed that Hearts had decided on an asking price of £1 million for the Scotland midfielder, and quoted "a club insider" as saying: "Paul is an excellent footballer, but business is business and the time is right to cash in on him." Another newspaper carried the same quote yesterday - but attributed it to first-team coach Graham Rix.

Romanov, however, dismissed the reports as unfounded speculation, and suggested they arose from an attempt to foment discontent among the squad. "The story relating to Paul Hartley leaving Hearts is total nonsense," the chairman said in a press release which was also published on Hearts' official website.

"It is a typical attempt to unsettle our team at a time when we as a club are working hard together in order to improve our current situation. Paul is a Hearts player now and will be in the future.

"He recently re-signed a contract with the club on renewed terms and he will be playing an integral part in our on-field development. The article featured no attributable sources and is simply sensationalist mischief-making."

It was only in August that Hartley signed a new three-year contract, apparently ending speculation about his future. At the start of the year he was the subject of a £200,000 offer from Celtic, and for a time he appeared set to join the team he supported as a boy.

At one stage he submitted a transfer request, but Hearts described the Glasgow club's offer as derisory. A price tag of £1million was put on the player - as a prohibitive fee rather than as evidence of a desire to sell - and Celtic declined to return to the negotiating table with an improved bid.

"We would not have been able to bring in new players and keep other players like Paul Hartley without Vladimir Romanov's financial assistance," George Foulkes, the then Hearts chairman, said when the player signed the three-year deal. "Hopefully this will put an end to any suggestions that we are prepared to sell players for less than they are worth. If someone was to come in with what we considered to be a huge offer for a player, then we would look at the situation. But there will be no more cut-price sales at Tynecastle."

Hartley joined Hearts on a Bosman free transfer from St Johnstone in the summer of 2003, and quickly became one of the most influential members of Craig Levein's side. He settled down again well last season after the projected move to Celtic fell through, and played a big role in Hearts' astonishing start to this season under George Burley. Both the 29-year-old and fellow- midfielder Rudi Skacel hit it off with Burley, and the two paid tribute to him after his enforced departure from Tynecastle by revealing T-shirts which bore the message "For The Gaffer."

In common with many of his team-mates, Hartley has played less impressively since the appointment as first-team coach of Graham Rix. Hearts, who were unbeaten in the league under Burley, have won only once in five attempts since the former England midfielder took charge.

Meanwhile, Hearts are to delist from the London Stock Exchange at the close of business on 19 January. The move, which will cancel trading in the club's shares and end its status as a public limited company, has been expected for some time and follows the acquisition of over 75 per cent of the company by Vladimir Romanov and his associates in Ukio Bankas.

It was announced on 2 December that the Ukio Bankas Investment Group (UBIG) either owned or controlled approximately 80.01 per cent of the club's shares. The offer to buy out shareholders - which had been on the condition that the 75 per mark would be reached - was then declared unconditional and kept open for a further 14 days.

When the offer closed UBIG's stake had risen to approximately 81.68 per cent. That is easily enough for Romanov to wield effective control of Hearts, but falls well short of the 90 per cent holding which would trigger a compulsory purchase of the remaining shares.

Taken from the Scotsman