Hard work starts now for Valdas

HEARTS' new head coach Valdas Ivanauskas today admitted that the nerves he felt when he first took over in an interim capacity last season have been replaced with excitement as preparations for the forthcoming season continue to gather pace in Austria.

The man who led the club to Scottish Cup success in May was announced as head coach on Friday to put an end to weeks of speculation regarding his future. Having returned to the Capital yesterday from Moscow fresh from negotiating the finer details of his contract with majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov, Ivanauskas was paraded at Tynecastle before boarding a plane in the early hours of this morning bound for Austria with the first-team squad - and he knows the hard work starts now.

Ivanauskas said: "After the Scottish Cup final I felt I was ready to take up the position of head coach. There has been speculation and we know the pre-season will be hard but it is very comfortable that Mr Romanov is of the opinion that I am the right man for the job and that he trusts me to take up this position.

"I have been discussing with Mr Romanov all the aspects of the job and it feels good that he trusts me and I am looking forward to a hard but exciting season."

In Austria, where Steven Pressley's men will face LASK Linz, Spartak Trnava and FC Cluj over the next nine days, Ivanauskas and the squad will meet up with Eduard Malofeev who was named as the club's sporting director on Friday.

Malofeev has an impeccable CV having arrived from Lithuanian championship leaders FBK Kaunas who have won 17 of their 18 league encounters so far this season.

The 64-year-old former Belarus national coach travelled to the pre-season camp from Moscow and Ivanauskas cannot wait to take advantage of his extensive football knowledge.

"Eduard is a specialist at what he does and he is a very good man to have at the club. He is a very experienced man with regard to football and we will be communicating regarding players, transfers and so on and I want to stress that he is a very big advantage for the club.

"I now have several people who I can communicate with and get advice from and the more information you have the better as you can select from the information what you think is necessary to make sure things go right," the 39-year-old Lithuanian said.

Malofeev's experience will also be put to good use within the youth ranks at the club and he is likely to help the club to select talented youngsters from abroad who he feels can help Hearts in the long run.

Ivanauskas wants quality youngsters from Europe and further afield to continue to come to the football academy at Riccarton and develop alongside home-grown talent. He sees Malofeev's role in unearthing the next Calum Elliot or Christophe Berra as crucial.

As a result of being happy with the advice he will receive from Malofeev as well as experienced assistant coach John McGlynn and youth coach Stephen Frail, Ivanauskas has announced that no further coaching appointments will be made prior to the start of the season.

However, on the playing side of things there is certain to be plenty of activity with the head coach admitting that he is hopeful of signing three or four new players in the next couple of weeks ahead of the friendly against Spanish side Osasuna at Murrayfield on July 19.

It certainly appears that Hearts' interest in South Korean World Cup striker Ahn Jung-hwan has been re-ignited and Ivanauskas stated: "The club has been interested in the player and the future will show. He is a good player but there are others and he is one of the candidates for a position in the squad."

All the players Ivanauskas wants to bring in to the club will raise the quality of the squad but equally important for the head coach is that new players must settle into their surroundings quickly and be able to adapt to the rigours of the Scottish game and the Champions League straight away.

This stance is understandable given that players such as Brazilian midfielder Samuel Camazzola, Slovakian internationalist Martin Petras and the Czech midfielder Ludek Straceny have all left the club after failing to impress during their time in Gorgie last season.

One foreign player who arrived at the club last season and became an instant hit with the supporters was Frenchman Julien Brellier and Ivanauskas is "very happy" that the 24-year-old's future, at least for the next 12 months, has been secured.

The former AC Venezia midfielder travelled to Austria with the squad but may miss the first couple of day's training due to an injury picked up last week during the training stint in the south of France.

Last season was certainly a roller coaster ride for all Hearts supporters and Ivanauskas has vowed his players will be raring to get the competitive action for season 06/07 underway when Bosnian champions Siroki Brijeg or Belarussian side Shakhtyor Soligorsk travel to the Capital for the first leg of Champions League second round qualifying tie on Wednesday, July 26.

"Pre-season matches are important for the players as we build for that match," he said.

"It will be a very interesting season for the players and the supporters as well as the coaches and we are looking ahead now that we are in a stable position to move forward.

"The Champions League will be hard as will the league with Rangers and Celtic along with other teams having got stronger, but it is all about setting targets and I am confident that, as we did at the end of last season, we can meet these targets," he added.

Tickets for the Champions League will go on general sale on Saturday from 10am at Tynecastle. Prices start from £12 for adults and £6 for concessions.

Taken from the Scotsman