FEAR OF FAILURE WILL DRIVE US TO A CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PLACE

HEARTS owner Vladimir Romanov has created an environment at Tynecastle in which every head coach quickly learns to fear for his future.

Jambos midfielder Paul Hartley has revealed the dressing room is also riddled with trepidation - but it's being used as a driving force to ensure that a season which promises so much does not end in bitter disappointment.

Hearts' players have hauled them-selves to the brink of something special over the last eight months and are not about to see their ambitions sidelined at this late stage by off-field controversies.

They are, at most, eight games away from confirming their place in the Champions League qualifiers next season, starting today at Falkirk.

Potentially, they are also 180 minutes away from winning the Scottish Cup for the first time in eight years.

Hartley is 29, does not own a medal from his time in the senior game and was in danger of becoming a journeyman pro before his talent finally bloomed soon after his arrival at Hearts three years ago.

He knows opportunities like these rarely come along, especially as the Old Firm will be re-tooling in the summer, and the chance to split them, far less top them, will become even more difficult in future. Romanov's constant managerial meddling at a club that should be nicknamed FC Alton Towers would have drained the confidence from lesser dressing rooms long ago.

But it has become an occupational hazard in Gorgie, where Graham Rix was this week replaced by Valdas Ivanauskas.

Hartley greeted the news with a rue-ful shrug of his shoulders - the King of Hearts is dead, long live the King.

He said: "Every player wants stability at his club but we've not been left wearied by events of the last week.

"It's always something different to have four managers over a season but we're immune to it and we've got strong characters in that dressing room - not least myself, Steven Pressley, Takis Fyssas and Edgaras Jankauskas.

"It was strange to lose Graham but after a couple of days we've tried to forget it and do the best for Valdas and ourselves.

"Yes, it has been difficult but we have some massive games looming and we recognise we can go on to have one of the best seasons in the history of Hearts if we finish second in the SPL and win the Scottish Cup.

"We have everything in front of us and we don't want to throw it all away. We don't want to blow it and sit at the end of the season telling ourselves we wish we'd done this or that.

"Instead, we want to head off in the summer asking ourselves, 'How good was it to win the Scottish Cup? How good does it feel to have qualified for a chance at the Champions League?

"We've had such a good season until now and fear as a squad that we might not make it is driving us on.

"There is fear and pressure but that is good. Everyone in the dressing room wants the same things for our club."

Winston Churchill once described Russia as a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma and, almost 70 years later, his words could equally be applied to its countryman Romanov.

But for every accusation the Jambos owner faces about destabilising his club, Hartley acknowledges the counter claim that his financial backing has made them stronger than ever is a more overwhelming argument.

He added: "I wouldn't have signed my new contract at the club if it hadn't been for Mr Romanov and that also applies to other players in the squad.

"If he had not brought in quality players we would not be sitting in this position.

"There is enormous pressure on us, but we want it. It is far better the pressure is on us at the top of the table than at the bottom.

"Last season we finished fifth and it was an absolute disappointment and this year the expectations have risen.

"The club have never been under this spotlight before. Mr Romanov has spent a lot of money and the onus is on us to win every week. He is absolutely entitled to expect the best from the millions he has spent, and that includes a place in the Champions League and silverware in the trophy room.

"We want to deliver success and there are huge incentives between now and the end of the season.

"We might never have a better chance of winning the Cup or making the Champions League because we know Rangers and Celtic will be far stronger next season.

"Hopefully, we will also bring in even more quality players, but we'll never have a better chance of success than this season. I'm desperate for my first silverware of my career and I'm desperate to play in the Champions League.

"I've watched the competition and you want so much to be part of it. I've seen Rangers in the Champions League this year and thought, 'That could be us next season'.

"No one needs to tell us what we can achieve because it's there in front of us."

Of course, if Hartley's dreams of playing with the Jambos in stadia such as Old Trafford, the Bernabeu and the San Siro are to be realised they first have to overcome more humble surroundings. Hearts travel to Westfield today bidding to maintain their six-point lead over Rangers but it needed a last-gasp equaliser from Pressley to snatch a point from their previous visit to the ground.

Hartley added: "Falkirk might be thinking we're not up for this game after all that has happened this week, but we have to keep winning.

"It's a tough place to play and it could be another game in which we have to scrap for a result.

"They haven't won at home in the SPL this season and big Yogi will have his players fired up. But we can not lose focus on the goals we have set between now and the end of the season."

Taken from the Daily Record