Rix aims to win offer to extend stay

HEARTS boss Graham Rix today vowed to use the games between now and the end of the season to win himself a longer deal at the club.

The former Chelsea coach was handed a contract until the end of the current campaign when he was unveiled as the surprise choice to succeed George Burley last November.

He has endured a difficult time in the Tynecastle hot-seat, winning just six of his first 14 matches in charge on top of reports that club owner Vladimir Romanov picked the team for a recent 1-1 draw away to Dundee United.

However, the club are still looking to challenge for the SPL title and are one of just three top-flight teams left in the Tennent's Scottish Cup.

And, with 11 new players signed during last month's January transfer window, and close friend Jim Duffy appointed as director of football, Rix insists he wants to earn a longer stay in Edinburgh.

"Every manager and every coach is under pressure to win matches," said the former Oxford United manager.

"If we can manage to do that between now and the end of the season then hopefully my stay here will be extended because I'm enjoying my work here.

"I want to stay here, there's no doubt about that. It's a great club and a great job. A few months ago if somebody had said to me you can have the Hearts job and you can have Jim Duffy as your director of football I would have snapped their hand off straight away."

And Rix would also like to see Duffy earn an extended stay at the club describing him as "invaluable".

"Everyone knows what I think of Jim Duffy. He's a top guy and I think he is a great addition to the club," he said.

"He's helped me no end already and is proving to be invaluable. There is a lot that goes into running a football club and he's helping to take a little bit of that pressure off my shoulders.

"Hopefully, like me, he'll be here beyond the end of the season as I have a very good working relationship with him."

Meanwhile, Rix has revealed that Hearts fans won't see some of the club's new signings in action again until they have undergone an intensive fitness programme.

Mirsad Beslija, the club's record signing at £850,000, Juho Makela, Ludek Straceny and Martin Petras are among a group of players who have been told that they aren't yet up to the rigours of the Scottish game.

They have been working closely with coach John McGlynn in a bid to help them adapt and aren't expected to feature until after the Scottish Cup clash with Partick Thistle.

"It has been explained to them that I don't think they're ready and that I don't think they've done themselves justice so far," said Rix. "For the next ten days or so they will undergo quite an intensive fitness programme."

Taken from the Scotsman