GRAHAM RIX today moved to alleviate supporters' concerns over the appointment of Jim Duffy as Hearts' director of football, insisting that the Scot would have been his only choice for the role.

Duffy was officially promoted yesterday after secret discussions with Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov and chairman Roman Romanov on Saturday evening, however the news has received a lukewarm response from the Tynecastle support.

Rix is adamant that in time Duffy, who will direct the football operations at Hearts until the end of the season, will prove himself as a justified appointment.

"As soon as I walked in to Hearts, if somebody had said, 'you're going to be head coach and Jim Duffy is going to be director of football, I'd have snapped their hand off'," said Rix. "It is a great appointment. I spoke very highly of Jim when he was mentioned to me and his appointment has given me a great boost."

Rix recognises that the director of football title is slightly removed from the hands-on coaching positions held by Duffy in the past at Dundee, Chelsea and Portsmouth, and the one he has been operating in at Hearts since arriving at the club only two weeks ago.

However, there is no a doubt in the head coach's mind that Duffy will make his recent venture a success. "It is a new role for him, but I've said all along that the criteria for the director of football was someone who knew football, who understands the game and who is an honest guy. Duff fits all those criteria perfectly.

"Obviously he's a great ally for me because I've known him for a long time. I never mentioned any names to Mr Romanov when he asked me about a director of football. I just explained what I thought we needed."

Duffy revealed the nature of his promotion: "Mr Romanov asked me if I would like to take the job on until the end of the season.

"I wanted answers to some questions and he answered me. I asked if Graham would be here until the end of the season and he assured me that unless something very dramatic occurred then he would be."

The SFA's general purposes committee will meet at 10am tomorrow to continue its inquiry into whether Rix is a "fit and proper person" to hold the head coach's role at Hearts.

Taken from the Scotsman