Coach in good heart as he denies rift with Romanov

Yet the head coach might have been slightly uneasy about sitting next to Tiago Costa at a press conference at Hearts’ training complex at Riccarton, had he done a deep background check on the young Portuguese player acquired from Benfica. The fresh-faced full-back may only be 21 years old, but he saw eight managers come and go in his time with the Lisbon club.

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Costa counted them out and counted them in at the Stadium of Light. Even the best, from José Mourinho to Giovanni Trappatoni, failed to last long at the Eagles. Costa blamed all that background turbulence on his inability to win a first-team place and took flight for Edinburgh. With that sort of background, Tynecastle is the perfect place for him.

Vladimir Romanov sacked three managers in the space of 12 months before giving Ivanauskas the Hearts job last month — after a successful trial period that delivered the Tennent’s Scottish Cup and Champions League football — but given the abrupt departures of George Burley and Graham Rix last season, no one would raise an eyebrow now if Ivanauskas shared their fate. Romanov’s public criticism of Hearts’ unflattering 0-0 draw with NK Siroki Brijeg last Wednesday in Bosnia, which set up a Champions League third qualifying round tie with AEK Athens this week, was followed by reports that Ivanauskas feared for his future after an alleged row with the club’s millionaire owner.

“We never had any row,” Ivanauskas said, using his interpreter, even though he conducts all his own post-match interviews himself in English. “I would like to see the journalist who wrote that. It’s a non-story. How could Mr Romanov say anything if he left [the stadium] to go straight to the airport? In the Champions League, what counts are results. The performance in Bosnia may not have been the most beautiful, but what counts is going through.”

With a vital Bank of Scotland Premierleague encounter with Celtic at Tynecastle tomorrow, you would think that nothing would be done to disturb the equilibrium of the team. Yet, Romanov has shown precious regard for patience at Hearts. It’s his show, whether it’s firing managers or hiring players.

Which brings us back to Costa. The right-back became the 24th recruit since the summer of 2005 and signed a two-year contract — despite never playing for Benfica’s first-team and the fact that John McGlynn, the Hearts coach, said just a week earlier that Costa would not be offered a deal unless he turned into Cafu, the Brazil defender, overnight.

“I don’t think there’s much point signing someone if they aren’t better than what you already have and we already have two right backs,” McGlynn told the Edinburgh Evening News, referring to Robbie Neilson and Nerijus Barasa. “They are challenging for that position and it remains to be seen whether he’s better than them. If we are going to bring in someone like Cafu, then fair enough, but we also have young lads who might develop just as well.”

Costa’s own development at Benfica was blighted by the constant chopping and changing between managers. When he started out there as a ten-year-old, a certain Graeme Souness was in charge, last season it was Ronald Koeman. Costa decided to leave this summer, even though he claimed yesterday that the president had promised him a first-team place.

“The president?” an incredulous Ivanauskas interrupted. The Lithuanian thought Costa was referring to Romanov, instead of Benfica’s Luis Vieira. It took a minute of simultaneous translations in Portuguese and Lithuanian before the situation became clearer. However, quite how Neilson feels about a rival for his right-back place being fixed up just 48 hours after he was substituted in Bosnia, is another matter.

“So many new managers at Benfica affected me,” Costa said. “Each one has his own ideas. Benfica does not use their reserve players very much. They normally buy players from outside the country.

“This year, I was promised by the Benfica president that I would be in the first team. However, I spoke with Bruno Aguiar [the Hearts midfield player] who was my friend at Benfica. He gave me a lot of information about this club. Hearts are now very well known in Portugal because they have signed Takis Fyssas and Edgaras Jankauskas from Benfica and FC Porto.

“I have been here on trial for three weeks. I have seen what a great club it is and the fans were great at the Champions League match against Siroki [at Murrayfield].

“I am optimistic about Hearts and Edinburgh. I was at Benfica from the age of ten and it’s a great club. I learnt my football there but we could not agree on a new contract and then this opportunity came up.

“Even though all my games were for the Benfica B team, I still think I can work hard at Hearts and get into the first team. I have to wait for the chance and show the manager I can do well.”

Costa may need more patience at Tynecastle than he showed at Benfica. Many of the recent wave of recruits have failed to dislodge the first-choice players. Juho Makela and Mirsad Beslija have failed to feature in more than a handful of games, despite costing £1.2million in the January transfer window. And does anyone know where Martin Petras is? Aguiar also took his time to make an impact but the Portuguese midfield player is needed now that Paul Hartley is still out injured. The Scotland playmaker’s presence will be greatly missed against Celtic. Hartley inspired Hearts to their 3-0 success over the champions when the sides last met at Tynecastle last May. Yet, he will not be face AEK Athens either and Ivanauskas was reluctant to say when Hartley would return.

Hearts and Celtic shared a draining midweek travel schedule. The Tynecastle players did not return home until 6am on Thursday, after enduring a three-hour coach trip before their flight from Bosnia, though that was put into perspective by Celtic’s 15-hour flight back from Tokyo and the 20,000-mile round trip for a friendly defeat against Yokoham F Marinos that earned almost £1 million for the champions.

“The game in Japan was planned a long time ago and I am sure the reason for it was business,” Ivanauskas said. “Everyone is affected by flying. We were too, but I don’t think those trips will affect the quality of this game. Every contest between Celtic and Hearts last season was of a special nature.

I don’t know what to expect this time. Only the gods know that.” Presumably, he was not referring to Romanov.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk