RIX PLANS MORE McCANN TALKS

Graham Rix is hopeful that Neil McCann will be a Hearts player again by next week.

The Jambos boss is expecting to hold further talks with the former Tynecastle winger on Monday, after he was released by Southampton last week.

Rix knows he faces competition from other Barclays Premiership clubs for the signature of the Scotland international, with Wigan reported to be one of the teams interested.

But he is confident McCann will opt for a return north of the border instead.

"There are a couple of Premiership clubs in England who are after him," said the Hearts head coach.

"There are one or two details that we've got to iron out. I'm confident in the next couple of days those details will be sorted.

"But, until he has actually signed and it's 100%, I don't want to tempt fate. There are so many things that can go wrong.

"But he will struggle to get into the team after what I saw today, which is good."

While trying to strengthen his squad, Rix is keen to hold onto his current crop of players and insists he has no intention of selling Paul Hartley during the January transfer window.

The talented midfielder is believed to be attracting the attention of Southampton and Wolves but Rix played down Glenn Hoddle's presence at East End Park for their 4-1 win over Dunfermline.

"Glenn Hoddle is a good friend of mine and just wanted to see how I'm getting on," Rix insisted.

"Paul is a good player. I'm in charge at Hearts and I'm trying to bring good players in and every other coach is the same.

"I want Paul Hartley to stay at the club and be successful with Hearts."

Hearts skipper Steven Pressley grabbed the opener against Dunfermline, before Michal Pospisil bagged a double and Rudi Skacel completed the rout.

Mark Burchill briefly gave the Pars hope but his goal proved to be no more than scant consolation in the end.

Pospisil was back in the top team in place of the injured Edgaras Jankauskas and Rix was keen to play down speculation that he did not rate the Czech.

He added: "Big things have been made about a rift between Michal and myself but there is nothing further than the truth.

"He got a chance today and I have a witness, Miko [Saulius Mikoliunas], that I said to Michal, 'You're going to score today, I know you are.'

"I know now hard he has worked in training and his general play and movement today was excellent.

"I'm delighted for him and that's what I want - people who are ready to come in and do a job."

Even though Hearts look set to win the race for McCann's signature, Dunfermline boss Jim Leishman admits they made an audacious bid of their own.

He said: "We spoke to his agent about something else and asked what Neil was doing.

"But I think it was the 500 quid - I don't think he could cope with having the spare dosh, that put him off a bit!

"We were just two digits out, eh?"

Taken from sportinglife.com