Hearts players try to stop rot as pressure mounts on Rix

ROB ROBERTSON December 26 2005

Hearts face two vital home matches against Falkirk today and Celtic on New Year's Day which will make or break their hopes of winning the Bank of Scotland Premierleague.

Their recent slump in form has called into question the ability of Graham Rix, their manager, but events over the past few days have shown the players believe they should bear the brunt of the criticism.

Rix is under severe pressure and friends in Scotland have suggested that interference from Vladimir Romanov, the club owner, and an SFA inquiry into his conviction for under-age sex have made his position

difficult. Bad results in his next two games could prove to be the final straw.

Rix and his players spent Christmas morning on the training ground. "The players realise how important the matches coming up are," said Rix. "The lads have been responding very well and will be going into the matches in a positive frame of mind."

Paul Hartley, the influential midfielder, said the players were fully behind the manager and accepted they had to take the blame for their recent poor form. To that end the first-team squad held a meeting in the run-up to this afternoon's game to work out how to get their season back on track. Neither Rix nor any of his coaching staff were invited to attend.

Hartley said the players had held the meeting as a signal to Rix that they realised they had to improve their performances if they wanted to win the league.

"All the players sat down and had a good chat," said Hartley. "We discussed what has gone wrong and how we had to get back to the basics. We must play at a high tempo and we agreed we haven't been starting games well.

"We have fantastic team

spirit and experienced players here. We have not become a bad team overnight and we realise that ourselves. At the meeting everybody, including the foreign players, had an input and everybody got their points across."

Hartley said the squad felt re-energised following the get-together and realised back-to-back wins would breath new life into the side. "The matches against Falkirk and Celtic are massive games and if we beat them both we could go into the New Year just one point off the top of the league," he added.

"Our early season form was magnificent and although we haven't been playing well recently we are still just four points off the top of the table and we can get that back.

"Two defeats in 19 games isn't a bad record but we set standards earlier in the season and people are looking for a reaction from us to our recent poor form. It is important we get our confidence back on the park and a win over Falkirk today will help us on our way."

Speculation is growing that Hartley may leave next month with Darren Potter, the Liverpool midfielder, replacing him. Roman Romanov, the club chairman, denied the rumours but has not spoken to the player since reports surfaced.

"I signed a new three-year deal in August, have a rapport with the fans and am enjoying my football," said Hartley.

Activity during January will also greatly influence Hearts' season. Hartley hopes new players are brought in but he admitted that George Burley was likely to cast an eye over the Tynecastle first-team squad when the window opens.

"He might come for players as he obviously knows a lot of us here," Hartley added. " It is good to see him back in football with Southampton as he did a great job at Hearts."

Taken from the Herald