Duffy's green days didn't put him off Hearts

HEARTS director of football Jim Duffy today revealed that his previous connection to city rivals Hibs was never a deterrent to him working at Tynecastle.

Duffy returned to football at the end of last month, initially as a coach with Hearts before his promotion to the director of football position on Monday.

His appointment raised a few eyebrows amongst football supporters in Edinburgh, where he spent 14 months managing Hibs from December 1996 to February 1998.

Not for Duffy, though, who instantly accepted the overture from Vladimir Romanov, Hearts' majority shareholder, to join his alluring revolution at Tynecastle.

He said: "I was at Hibs eight years ago, so it wasn't a brave decision to make. To me, it's only in Scottish football where people concern themselves with which clubs you have been at and the rivalry that may exist. I don't think anyone particularly bothers anywhere else.

"In Scotland, we tend to dramatise connections, perhaps because it is a small country and geographically we are all close together. If someone had said you could join a top club with great facilities and top players, which has the potential to be even better, then that's exactly what you want as a coach or manager in any capacity.

"For me, there were absolutely no doubts. It was just a case of timing. Obviously I was here a couple of weeks as a coach before being offered a different role, which again was completely out the blue. I don't usually get too excited about many things, but that made me smile and think, 'yeah, I quite fancy that'."

Duffy, who was dismissed by Dundee earlier this season, has already undertaken a considerable extra workload to ease the burden on head coach Graham Rix.

"I'll take my time in this job. I'll still coach, I'll still support Graham, but I'll be overseeing other things as well."

Outgoing Lithuanian director Liutauras Varanavicius sees Duffy as a vital bridge in smoothing communications between his compatriot, Romanov, and Rix.

Varanavicius resigned from the Hearts board yesterday due to a conflict of interest as he is also the president of the Lithuanian Football Federation, whom Scotland will meet on European Championship qualifying duty.

He has been impressed by Duffy's outlook and diplomacy since the Scot arrived. "I think there may be some communication problems which will be removed by putting Jim Duffy in place as director of football," he said.

Varanavicius will almost certainly be replaced on the Hearts board by Campbell Ogilvie, who joined the club as general secretary and operations director last December. And there could be an office-bearing role for Romanov himself in the near future.

"I think the club will soon see Mr Romanov's name on the club structure and perhaps also the board," continued Varanavicius.

Romanov's Lithuanian bank, Ukio Bankas, has applied for a licence to open branches in the UK and also plans to further reduce Hearts' £21.5 million debt in the near future.

Rix will have to wait to have his appointment as head coach officially rubber stamped by the SFA after the governing body yesterday deferred its decision on whether he is a "fit and proper person" to hold the post.

Meanwhile, Hearts have released an extra 450 tickets for this Saturday's meeting with Motherwell and are heading for their 14th consecutive sell-out at Tynecastle.

Taken from the Scotsman