Tyne is right for Big Ben

FORMER Lithuania coach Benjaminas Zelkevicius appears to be in pole position to be named Hearts director of football.

Hearts major shareholder Vladimir Romanov is believed to have drawn up a shortlist of names to head up a new coaching regime at Tynecastle and is close to making an appointment.

Zelkevicius, 62, nicknamed "Big Ben" by his players, has been working in Latvia for the last two years and led FHK Liepaja Metalurgs to their first-ever league championship title last season . He is already a friend of Romanov and interim first-team coach Valdas Ivanauskas.

According to reports Zelkevicius could be appointed as early as next week but he has refused to be drawn into the speculation, saying only: "I know Valdas well and he is a good guy. I wish him and Hearts all the best but it is difficult for me to talk about it right now.

"I have a contract with Metalurgs at the moment. We won the league last season, we are in the Champions League next season, so I can't comment on anything else." Meanwhile, Hearts and Gretna are attempting to continue their recently-fostered friendship by arranging a pre-season friendly in late July.

Ivanauskas has spoken provisionally with Gretna manager Rowan Alexander about a meeting between the clubs as Hearts prepare for a gentle introduction to the Champions League at the second qualifying phase.

After a tour of Austria in early July and a friendly with English Championship side Preston on the 15 of the month, the Edinburgh side enter the second qualifying round of Europe's premier competition on the 25th or 26th.

Ivanauskas is keen to maintain relations with Gretna, which were first cemented at the Scottish Cup final, and is looking to identify a date for the friendly at some point after the encounter with Preston. "We have mentioned it with a view to arranging a match in July, so it is certainly possible that we will play Gretna at some stage," he said.

"First we want to finalise our plans for the pre-season tour and after that there will be friendly games put in place."

Gretna owner Brooks Mileson has already been invited to attend Lithuania's European Championship qualifier with Scotland in Kaunas in September as a personal guest of Romanov.

Mileson is extremely receptive to the prospect of another meeting with Hearts on the back of the warm-hearted reception given to Alexander and his players after they took Hearts to a penalty shoot-out at Hampden.

"I know our manager has been talking to people at Hearts about this and we would be delighted if we can fit it in," said Mileson. "It would carry on the relationship between the two clubs.

"Our manager is keen for it to happen but both clubs are still planning our pre-seasons. Playing a friendly would be a great way of continuing this friendship that has developed."

The match would be most likely to take place at Tynecastle as Gretna's Raydale Park will be undergoing redevelopment this summer to ensure it is compliant with SPL criteria.

Taken from the Scotsman