Burley pips Hearts to Potter
STUART BATHGATE

DARREN Potter, the Liverpool player who had been a target for Hearts, has joined Southampton on loan until the end of the season. The Tynecastle club had been keen on signing the 21-year-old midfielder, who made his comeback from injury this week with an outing for Liverpool reserves.

Potter's decision to join up with the former Hearts manager George Burley on the south coast appears to have ended the Edinburgh club's long-standing interest in three Liverpool players. The 18-year-old Francis Smith had been earmarked as a makeweight in the Potter deal, while the other potential signing from Merseyside, Neil Mellor, joined Wigan last week.

Hearts' attempt to sign Bosnian winger Mirsad Beslija remained in the balance last night, with the Racing Genk player's agent suggesting the deal was off again. "I spoke with Genk on Wednesday night and they haven't heard anything from Hearts, so it looks like it's not going ahead," Mark Talbot said.

The first attempt to sign Beslija broke down after several individuals all claiming to represent the player tried to get a cut of the deal. While that problem appeared to have been rectified, the attempt to get a work permit for Beslija has yet to bear fruit.

There have been no apparent obstacles to the signing of Chris Hackett, who underwent a medical at Tynecastle on Wednesday. However, there was no official announcement yesterday of his signing from Oxford United.

While the transfer market remains a turbulent area for Hearts, the 100th annual general meeting of the club is expected to be tranquil by comparison. Indeed, compared to agms in the recent past, when the previous board of directors were trying to force through the sale of Tynecastle, this meeting, which begins at the ground at 10am, should be a model of serenity.

The agm will be chaired by Roman Romanov, the chairman and acting chief executive, although his father Vladimir, the leading influence in Hearts' principal shareholders Ukio Bankas, may be absent on business. The formal agenda for the meeting consists largely of a series of votes to re-elect the board, although the audience is expected to have the chance to raise other matters once that agenda has been gone through.

Taken from the Scotsman