Mikhailichenko earmarked to fill Hearts' director of football post

ALEXEI Mikhailichenko will be named as the head of a new coaching set-up at Hearts next week if ongoing negotiations between the Ukrainian and the Tynecastle club's owner Vladimir Romanov are concluded successfully.

The 43-year-old former Rangers and Sampdoria midfielder held talks with Romanov in Moscow earlier this week and has emerged as the clear favourite to take the reins at Hearts. He will be joined by his close friend and former team-mate Oleg Kuznetsov, also 43, in a backroom set-up which Romanov wants to retain the services of current caretaker head coach Valdas Ivanauskas and first team coach John McGlynn.

Romanov is expected to make a formal announcement next Friday, the day when Hearts will discover their opponents in the second qualifying round of the Champions League next season. It is understood negotiations between Romanov and Mikhailichenko were positive, although no deal has yet been struck. While Mikhailichenko would effectively be the club's new team manager, it is believed he will be given the title of director of football.

Mikhailichenko, of course, is no stranger to Scottish football after spending five highly-successful years with Rangers from 1991 to 1996. A gifted attacking playmaker, who won 41 caps for the Soviet Union and a further two for his native Ukraine after they gained independence, Mikhailichenko began his coaching career back in 1997 when he returned to his first club Dynamo Kiev and was appointed assistant to his mentor Valery Lobanovsky.

When Lobanovsky, one of the most successful coaches in European football history, died in May 2002, Mikhailichenko was named as his successor, winning the Ukrainian League and Cup double in his first season and then retaining the title in 2004.

He was dismissed in August 2004, however, after Dynamo lost to Trabzonspor of Turkey in the first leg of a Champions League qualifying tie. Later that year, Mikhailichenko was recruited by the Ukrainian FA to take charge of their under-21 side, the position he currently holds. He guided his squad to the finals of the European under-21 Championships in Portugal earlier this month when Ukraine eventually lost 3-0 to Holland in the final.

Kuznetsov, the former international defender whose career at Rangers was blighted by a serious knee injury sustained in only his second appearance for the Ibrox club, is currently at the World Cup Finals as part of Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin's backroom staff. Another disciple of Lobanovsky, Kuznetsov was previously head coach of lower division Ukrainian club CSKA Kiev.

Hearts, meanwhile, were facing the threat of a FIFA investigation if they failed to settle the outstanding payment due on the transfer of Bosnian winger Mirsad Beslija to Belgian club Racing Genk by close of business last night.

The 26-year-old joined Hearts in January for a club record transfer fee of £850,000 but has made only five first team appearances so far. Beslija is contracted until 2009 but Genk claim Hearts asked them to take the player back rather than pay the remaining 80 per cent of the fee they owe.

Genk sporting director Willy Reynders said yesterday: "If it is not sorted by the end of the day, we will take the case to FIFA in the first instance, but we are also willing to take further legal action if necessary.

"We don't want him back as we have a new player in that position and it would be just silly anyway. It is simple, the money was due on 31 May and has not been paid. If Hearts pay then there is no problem, if they don't then they know what will happen."

Hearts declined to make any comment on Beslija.

Taken from the Scotsman