Ripping the hearts out OF the club

IN A case expected to be heard in the Court of Session in March, former Hearts manager Graham Rix will be claiming a £300,000 bonus which he says the Tynecastle club owe him for finishing second in the Premierleague last season.

Despite escaping from Ibrox with a rare draw yesterday, Valdas Ivanauskas can entertain scant hope of being similarly enriched in May.

The point kept the gap between the two sides at five, but if Rangers themselves do not inspire confidence they will surely, with their greater resources and under Walter Smith, pull away from both Hearts and Aberdeen, who yesterday dispossessed Hearts of third place.

All that was confirmed on Saturday is that Celtic remain in a league of their own.

With the last remnants of a Scottish spine at Hearts, Craig Gordon and Paul Hartley, apparently about to be sold along with Julien Brellier, it is asking a lot of Ivanauskas to secure a Champions League qualifying spot.

The kindest verdict on the further dismantling of the side is that Hearts are building for the future, a place some Hearts fans may fear visiting.

Yesterday, Hearts were competent and industrious. Their huge squad should ensure they remain a difficult side to beat, but without players such as Hartley, Brellier and Rudi Skacel much of the character will disappear.

A workmanlike performance was enough to secure yesterday's point, but that Hearts have gone backwards is beyond dispute.

Not only that, but in carelessly losing Steven Pressley to Celtic and with the possibility of Hartley and Robbie Neilson joining Rangers, the Edinburgh side are endeavouring to strengthen their bitter Glasgow rivals.

If there is a plan in place at Tynecastle, it is unfathomable to all but the Romanovs.

It is impossible not to have sympathy for Ivanauskas on these occasions. Yesterday he was in the unenviable position of trying to explain the omissions of Gordon and Hartley while having a gag in his mouth and his hands tied behind his back.

"It is football politics and I don't want to speak about it," he managed to squeeze out. "I can't say a lot of words but I can say football business."

The players, including Gordon and Hartley, were given the team lines at a 12.30pm meeting, but the wretched position Ivanauskas is in became clear when he was asked if he wanted to pick the two Scotland internationalists. "Yes," he replied, and hopefully it wasn't a P45 moment.

While the probable sale of Michal Pospisil to Bristol City will not cause any agitation in Gorgie, the club's bizarre decision on Friday to virtually advertise the fact they were in negotiations to sell Gordon, Hartley, Brellier and Neilson hints at a need to raise funds.

It would be no surprise if Hearts were struggling financially given the vast number of under-utilised players in the club's employ, but disposing of the stars while retaining the dross does not auger well.

If Hartley, who is believed to be also attracting the interest of Blackburn Rovers and Aston Villa, does end up at Ibrox - and yesterday Walter Smith did not deny Rangers have a bid in - it will be a huge swing in the midfield assets of the respective clubs.

The player would have to win over some very disgruntled Rangers fans who have taken umbrage at Hartley's reported disparagement of them in an off-guard moment when he played for Millwall, but his energy and goals would give the Ibrox side a huge lift.

Hartley played at the same boys club as Barry Ferguson, and the Rangers captain, who had a goal ruled offside yesterday, would undoubtedly appreciate a team-mate of Hartley's ability and quickness of thought.

In the absence of the two men who were briefly captain and vice-captain at Hearts, the armband went for the fourth time this season to Christophe Berra, who, despite his age and lack of experience, will presumably be given the role on a full-time basis if Gordon leaves for pastures south.

The central defender did his side a big turn yesterday with a tackle on Kris Boyd which prevented a certain first-half goal, but understandably he was less assured when having to deal with questions about his missing team-mates.

"They're quality players and they deserve a lot of credit for what they've done for this club but people move on," observed the young man who will be 22 on Wednesday.

"They might go to other clubs, I don't know what the situation is. The players who came in did a good job - we're all professional players and we just have to get on with it.

"This is a hard place to come, especially when they've got a new manager, but the boys worked extremely hard and deserved to get a point."

But, on a day when the club reacquainted itself with the headlines, surely nothing could have been more startling than the revelation that the long-term unemployed Rix was paid £7000 a week during his brief tenure at Tynecastle.

If true, is it any wonder that Hearts need a firesale of their best assets?

Taken from the Sunday Herald