Duffy promoted over Rix in the latest Tynecastle reshuffle

Duffy insisted that his promotion by Vladimir Romanov, the owner, will help Rix, the head coach, to focus all his energy on looking after the first-team. The former Hibernian and Dundee manager has been appointed in his role until the end of the season in a bid to “provide stability”, in Hearts’ own words, after a turbulent week.

The decision over Duffy was taken by Romanov after his meeting with a deputation from the Hearts team on Saturday. Steven Pressley, the captain, and four players met the Lithuanian millionaire after the home defeat by Aberdeen to discuss fears of interference from Romanov after Rix’s disclosure to the squad that he did not pick the team for last week’s game with Dundee United. The cloud over Tynecastle led to Hearts dropping five points in those two fixtures and they are now 13 adrift of Celtic in the Bank of Scotland Premierleague title race.

Duffy, 46, was out of work after being surprisingly sacked by Dundee last September. Rix was also unemployed until Hearts jettisoned George Burley a month later and it was little surprise that Rix would choose Duffy as his No 2. The pair have also worked together at Chelsea — where Duffy was youth coach while Rix was assistant to Ruud Gullit and Gianluca Vialli — and at Portsmouth, with Duffy again playing the subordinate as assistant to Rix’s manager.

“Hearts should have a strong framework in which everyone is allowed to truly concentrate on their individual roles,” Duffy said yesterday. “Graham can now concentrate solely on the coaching of the first team squad.”

Duffy has now been elevated to “a role that encompasses all player contractual, development and communication matters”, according to a club statement.

The director of football vacancy has been a source or embarrassment for Hearts this season. It was being earmarked for a top European name, according to Romanov, but that ambition quickly went the way of Bobby Robson, Claudio Ranieri and the other notable figures who were approached about becoming Burley’s successor.

Romanov promised that he would have a new director of football within two weeks after unveiling Rix as head coach in early November. Then his son, Roman Romanov, the chairman, caused confusion when he said that a well-known figure was already “working incognito” for the club.

Rix, who is also under contract until the end of the season, is delighted to be working with Duffy. “Jim is a great asset for the club,” he said. “He knows the game inside out and can be fully trusted with all footballing matters here. I can now focus on coaching and developing the first team after a couple of testing weeks.”

A Hearts spokesman said that Duffy’s switch would “provide a stability to the footballing operations”, adding that Duffy would embrace “a role that encompasses all player contractual, development and communication matters in relation to the footballing aspects at Hearts. “Graham Rix will now have the opportunity to concentrate on his role as head coach for the first team squad including all the day-to-day training and coaching for Hearts’ first team,” he said.

“The appointment of Jim Duffy as director of football follows a meeting with Mr Romanov on Saturday where it was agreed that the size and stature of Hearts necessitated the appointment of an individual who had direct responsibility for all footballing matters. Jim Duffy will now ensure a stability in all football related matters at the club and will report directly to Mr Romanov.”

It would appear that Duffy will probably replace Rix as the man at Hearts who deals with the media. Duffy, who has always earned a reputation for blunt honesty as a manager in dealing with the press, has worked a lot for the BBC as a football analyst.

He also knows a great deal about contracts, having spent most of his time at Dundee dealing with the administrators who were called in after the club ran up debts of £20 million.

Rix’s position at Hearts will also be scrutinised further by the Scottish Football Association tomorrow. An investigation as to whether the former Arsenal player is “fit and proper” for involvement with a football club, Article 10, will will be considered by the general purposes committee.

DUFFY’S DIARY

1959: Born April 27, Glasgow.

1988: Appointed Falkirk manager, leaves in 1989.

1990: Becomes Partick Thistle manager.

1993: Takes over at Dundee.

1996: Appointed Hibernian manager.

1998: Dismissed after 13 months.

June: Becomes youth team coach at Chelsea.

2001: Joins Portsmouth as assistant manager to Graham Rix.

2002: Returns to Dundee as manager

2005: Sacked.

2006: January: Joins Hearts coaching staff

Taken from timesonline.co.uk