BURLEY'S DOUBLE RAID ON JAMBOS

HEARTS stars Rudi Skacel and Andy Webster could soon be teaming up again with former manager George Burley at Southampton.

The Jambos owner Vladimir Romanov last night confirmed the club are in negotiations with the English Championship side.

And that could end with both players being re-united with Burley, who was controversially dismissed by Romanov only a third of the way into last season.

Burley clearly sees Skacel, who has been a Southampton target for some time, and Webster as the kind of players who could help haul the club back up to the Premiership.

Skacel's terrific early form last season coincided with Burley's spell in charge of Hearts, but he was sacked with the Edinburgh club unbeaten and top of the SPL.

The Czech midfielder, who has declared an interest in playing in England, is formally contracted to Hearts for three more years but there has been talk of him being tempted to leave today.

This is the day his original loan period from Marseille was due to expire but Hearts took up an option on a longer deal. It was thought Southampton had backed away from the deal because of Hearts' £1.5million transfer demand but Romanov revealed last night they are back.

Webster, however, can sign on for a compensation fee because he used the rules to hand in his notice within 14 days of the end of last season. Under Article 17 a player can go down this route if he is in the third year of a four-year deal.

The loophole can only be used if the player is moving to a club within another association. The Scotland defender fell out with Romanov towards the end of last season when he spent his time watching from the stands.

Meanwhile, Hearts' operations director Campbell Ogilvie last night admitted his job is to keep a lid on Romanov's wilder excesses and act as his minder with the SFA.

Six months ago, Ogilvie left Rangers after 27 years' service and joined the club who have been at war with the SFA since the infamous night at Tynecastle when Saulius Mikoliunas clashed with assistant referee Andy Davis after the award of a penalty for the Ibrox side. But the man who's still a member of the SFA board denies there's any conflict of interest between his two posts.

Ogilvie said: "I'mnot compromised because I work for Mr Romanov and he's had his run-ins with the SFA.

"There are some things which might have been better left unsaid but football's an emotive game and I certainly don't feel uncomfortable in my dual role. Part of my job at Tynecastle is to highlight the rules to the Romanov family through Vladimir's son Roman because he speaks perfect English."

Vladimir has been a verbal sniper in the crossfire between Hearts and the SFA, driving the governing body to think about altering their constitution in order to punish 'Shadow directors.'

But Ogilvie believes his boss only ever acts out of a genuine concern for Hearts. He added: "I'm never suspicious of Vladimir's motives. There might have been concerns at the outset but there's no doubt in my mind Mr Romanov genuinely wants to see Hearts become as big as possible.

"The SFA might periodically have issues with Hearts but any club can have a fall-out with the ruling body."

Taken from the Daily Record