By Ronnie Esplin, PA Sport

Jim Duffy has hit back at Hearts majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov following an attack by the Lithuanian on himself and former manager Graham Rix.

Both Duffy and Rix were sacked by Romanov in March, and after the Edinburgh club secured a place in the Champions League for the first time this week the Gorgie chief claimed his "driver back in Kaunas could have done a better job" than the pair.

But Duffy challenged Romanov to prove his theory and told the Scottish Sun: "Maybe he should just give this guy the manager's job and Hearts will be able to drive all the way to the Champions League final.

"The fact is that I was only at Hearts for two months and in that time we only lost one match.

"I don't think that's too bad but maybe his driver will have a more impressive CV than me and be encouraged to apply for the job."

Duffy is still trying to come to terms with the unprovoked attack by Romanov.

He added: "Of course I've not been happy about any of the comments he's made which are derogatory to me.

"He's attempted to ridicule my integrity, that's not something anyone would want.

"Yet that's the road he's decided to go down and I suppose that's his prerogative."

Taken from sportinglife.com