Jambos must free up space for new stars, says McGlynn

HEARTS assistant coach John McGlynn today admitted that the club's playing squad must be reduced in size before any new recruits can be brought to Tynecastle.

McGlynn and interim head coach Valdas Ivanauskas have juggled with a gargantuan 35-man first-team squad at Hearts since majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov signed 11 new players during January's transfer window.

As Romanov considers moves for the kind of quality talent that will aid his club in their imminent Champions League campaign, it is not yet entirely clear which members of the playing staff will be retained for next season.

McGlynn is content to see new faces front up at Riccarton come the start of pre-season training on June 23 but he is conscious of the need to downsize first.

"Obviously now we have a lot of players, so to bring players in you would expect to have to release players and move some on who maybe aren't going to feature. It's a big squad we have and you wouldn't want it getting any bigger.

"While there is no positive decision on a manager it's difficult to know what will happen. It may well be that they will wait until they appoint someone before players' futures are decided.

"If it's Valdas they appoint then he will have a fair idea, but if it's another guy he'll probably need to be advised. We might have to pick up the pieces when we find out who is coming back, and at the same time there are some players who have gone that we may not see again.

"Any deals will be done by Mr Romanov and we'll wait and see. That's what happened at the beginning of last season.

"There will be new players coming in that will bring a freshness so everyone is looking forward to that side of it."

Taken from the Scotsman