THIS COULD HAVE BEEN BID FOR THE DOUBLE

PHIL ANDERTON last night insisted Hearts could have been on the brink of a historic Double if George Burley had still been in charge.

The former Tynecastle chief executive believes the club could have been heading into tomorrow's Cup Final as SPL champions.

Anderton was booted out last October by Vladimir Romanov and is still embroiled in a legal battle with the owner.

His departure came just 10 days after Burley's shock exit with Hearts unbeaten and at the top of the table.

Anderton said: "Only time will tell if this was the season they let a good chance to win the league slip away.

"Celtic were in a transitional season while Rangers were coming towards the end of the McLeish years with Paul Le Guen coming in to spend what will no doubt be an increased budget.

"My view is that had George and his team been given the authority to bring in the players they thought would be beneficial to the club they could well have challenged.

"Had George still been the manager with the talent at his disposal it would have been interesting to see what would have happened.

"The players did remarkably well to keep focused on the league despite all that happened but it must have had some kind of impact.

"Finishing second was a terrific achievement and the players who did it deserve enormous credit, particularly the likes of Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley and Craig Gordon.

"But you have to ask what might have been had they not dropped two points at Tannadice amid all the speculation about who was picking the team and had they not been defeated by Hibs just after losing a successful manager like George."

Anderton is now London based in his new job as chief marketing officer at tennis governing body the ATP. He'll be back in Scotland tomorrow, although he won't be at the Final.

Anderton said: "I'd like to wish Hearts all the best and hope they can go on and finish off what has been a very successful season with victory over Gretna.

"There is no doubt it would be a massive achievement for the team to win the Cup and while I won't be at Hampden, I'll be watching on TV to see if they can do it. I'd be very surprised if Hearts didn't win.

"People talk about the fact there is no Old Firm involved but that doesn't matter - you can only play what is put in front of you."

Taken from the Daily Record