HEARTS MUST BEAT STRONG - RIX

Hearts head coach Graham Rix insists significant investment at Rangers will not necessarily mean a return to Old Firm domination in the Bank of Scotland Premier League.

The Tynecastle club have broken through the duopoly of the Glasgow giants to put themselves in a strong position to claim a Champions League berth next season.

The Ibrox club were beaten in the competition this week by Villarreal but that disappointment was tempered by the announcement of a deal with JJB Sports worth a minimum of £48million over 10 years.

The first payment from JJB will arrive in the summer in time for outgoing manager Alex McLeish's successor - expected to be Paul Le Guen - to strengthen the squad ahead of next season.

The Jambos, who travel to Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Bank of Scotland Premier League, are 13 points behind leaders Celtic and eight points ahead of Rangers.

However, Rix refuses to accept the coveted Champions League place must be claimed now before the Ibrox club regroup for the new campaign.

He said: "Money doesn't come into it. Yes, Rangers will have more money, but it doesn't really put pressure on me, not at all.

"Having money and spending it in the right fashion is not always the same thing.

"How do you know we are not going to invest heavily in the summer and be a stronger force next season?

"The first thing we have to do is get to the Champions League this season.

"There is no point in saying 'Next season we are going to do this or that'.

"Our main objective is to earn a Champions League place this season and, if we lose against Inverness, everybody will be writing us off. So we have to take one game at a time."

Rix has now called on his players to put aside thoughts of the Tennent's Scottish Cup semi-final against Hibernian to one side and focus on the SPL.

The Scottish Football Association will stage the tie at Hampden Park after a request by the Jambos for Murrayfield to be used.

Rix said: "I'm not saying I'm disappointed about the outcome because Hampden is a fantastic stadium.

"When the issue first came up, my main concern was the supporters of both clubs and I just thought it made sense to play it at Murrayfield.

"I didn't make the decision, the SFA did and Hampden is what they came up with.

"It doesn't matter where they play, we have to be ready for it, but the later we start the build-up to that game the better as far as I'm concerned."

Hearts striker Calum Elliot reiterated the desire of the Tynecastle club to focus on the league for the moment.

The 18-year-old said: "Being an Edinburgh boy, I would rather the semi-final had stayed in Edinburgh but I'm not really bothered where we play.

"It will be the same 11 players we will be playing against.

"But to be honest, we have to try and concentrate on the matches before that and then we'll take the Hibs game when it comes.

"It won't be easy to keep concentration on the SPL, but we have to and the most important game now is the game against Inverness."

Taken from sportinglife.com