Life goes on

HEARTS assistant coach John McGlynn today lamented the loss of both Rudi Skacel and Andy Webster - but insisted both players would be adequately replaced as he and Valdas Ivanauskas set about moulding a team for the Champions League.

From the club's pre-season training base in Austria, McGlynn spoke out after Skacel and Webster failed to turn up for yesterday morning's flight from Edinburgh airport. As their seats on the plane lay empty, so a gaping hole has emerged in the Hearts team.

McGlynn is adamant that new players would fill the void come the first leg of the Champions League's second qualifier against either Shakhtyor Soligorsk of Belarus or the Bosnian side Siroki Brijeg later this month.

However, he could not help but mourn their absence as Hearts prepare for their first pre-season outing against LASK Linz in Windischgarsten tomorrow evening.

"You can't hide from the fact that they were two influential players," said McGlynn. "Rudi scored a lot of goals last year and Andy's an international centre-back. Whether it was Celtic, Rangers, Inter Milan or whoever, all clubs would miss players of that quality.

"We have yet to play any games so we haven't missed them from that aspect, but you can imagine we will miss them if they aren't there."

Skacel and Webster have depicted themselves as a pair of contract rebels by refusing to undertake official club business whilst still technically contracted to Hearts.

Scotland defender Webster took advantage of FIFA legislation on July 1 to free himself from Tynecastle with a year of his contract still to run. Hearts will be compensated to the tune of around £200,000 when he signs for another club.

Skacel, however, can prepare to have a lawsuit taken out against him by Hearts, who maintain that the Czech midfielder is theirs on a three-year contract from the French club Marseille. He walked out of Tynecastle on Friday, June 30 - the date his original loan deal from Marseille expired.

Hearts have reported both players to the SFA and FIFA for breach of contract.

Chairman Roman Romanov said: "In breach with the agreement they had with the club, these two players did not go to pre-season training and in order to protect the interests of the club we have reported the matter to both FIFA and the Scottish FA.

"We will not comment on the matter further until it is resolved."

McGlynn's task over the next ten days in Austria, though, is to source ample replacements.

"There is competition for places even though one or two players may not be available because of contract situations or injury situations," he said. "We have a lot of depth and I wouldn't be surprised to see some new signings also.

"We are a lot better off than we were last year because we have more or less a settled team, but we do need to add some really top quality players. If we have ambitions to win the title and qualify for the Champions League group stages then I think we need to add three real quality players."

In particular, McGlynn believes that the Austrian trip could see the uprising of a few products from the Hearts youth academy. "Lee Wallace showed up exceptionally well in France, Calum Elliot is doing well as usual, and Andrew Driver was in a few first-team squads towards the end of the season although he never got on the park, so the platform is there for these lads. "Our young goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald has deputised for Stevie Banks as the second-choice before. They are all here on merit. If they are showing form we won't be turning a blind eye to that."

Taken from the Scotsman