FORMER Hearts winger Rudi Skacel has fired a parting shot at owner Vladimir Romanov after he was forced to give up his Scottish Cup win bonus to seal his move to Southampton. The Czech star, who was the club's top scorer with 16 goals last season, was unhappy at the way Romanov negotiated his transfer out of Tynecastle to follow former Hearts coach George Burley to England's South Coast.

"You could say that it was a really nice farewell," Skacel said with a strong dose of irony, "as they said 'Thank you' to me in a really nice way, by making me give up all my bonuses if I wanted to leave the club. That includes the bonus from the Scottish Cup final win over Gretna," he added.

"It was quite a lot of money, and on top of that, Southampton were made to raise their offer at a late stage of negotiations to sign me. I don't want to have to go through that kind of experience again. All the dealings were so drawn-out and stressful for me. I joined Southampton a week before the start of the new season, which is obviously a bit late. But the most important thing is that I am here."

Skacel became a cult hero at Hearts after an astonishing scoring run in which he netted in the club's first seven games of the season. He credited his success at Hearts to Burley, as once he left, Skacel's goals started to dry up. He scored nine of his 16 league goals before Burley quit in October. His scoring in 2006 has been far less prolific - his last two league goals coming back in January.

"When I was working under George Burley, I went through the most beautiful spell of my football career. My first four months at Hearts were amazing and I will never forget then, and that's why I wanted to work under George Burley again," said Skacel.

Skacel left Slavia Prague to join Marseille in August 2003 and then moved to Panathinaikos on loan before joining Hearts this time last year. All the moves have left him craving stability and he is determined to see out his four-year contract at Southampton. "For the last few years, I have spent one year at a club and just moved on," he said. "But now I want to settle down, and that was the reason why I signed a four-year deal."

Skacel sees his move to England's second tier as a step up in ability. "I did not see many Championship games last season but from what I have heard, the competition is a better quality than the Scottish Premier League. In Scotland, you have 12 teams in the league but only five are able to compete. In the Championship, there are a lot of famous clubs and we are looking to win promotion to the Premiership this season. This is our clear goal."

And although his time at Hearts turned sour as Romanov changed coaches twice during last season, Skacel retains fond memories of Edinburgh and made many friends at the club and in the city. "Everyone I met in Scotland was very nice to me and I made some good friends there," he added. "I hope I will be able to come back and visit them from time to time."

Taken from the Scotsman