By STUART BATHGATE
HEARTS yesterday dismissed as "utter nonsense" a report which claimed that the club's entire first-team squad had been put up for sale.
The report said that Vladimir Romanov, Hearts' majority shareholder, had decided on the drastic move after becoming frustrated by the team's under-achievement this season, but a spokesman for the club insisted he had done no such thing.

"These kind of stories are just mischief-making in the extreme and are utter nonsense," the spokesman said. "To suggest that the entire first team has been put up for sale is simply not true, and the journalist concerned clearly has a wonderful imagination.

"It is interesting how these kind of articles invariably materialise before important games. Our caretaker manager Stephen Frail and the players will not be distracted by such nonsense and are fully focused on taking three points against Gretna."

Frail, who has been in charge since the turn of the year, acknowledged that the team had not done as well as expected this season, but insisted that was not going to lead to a mass clear-out. "The story is complete rubbish," he said. "All I am focused on is tomorrow's game against Gretna. We are going for our third league win a row and that is what people should be writing about.

"We have under-performed, it's no secret. But we have games left to claw it back.

"It's vitally important we reach the top six. If we win on Saturday and other results go our way, we can jump another place and remain within touching distance of the teams above us. That's our aim.

"It's been very disappointing this season and the players are well aware of it. But I think they have shown in the last couple of weeks, especially in the league wins over Hibs and Aberdeen, that they're wanting to finish strongly and as high up the table as they possibly can."

The one plausible aspect of the report is the assertion that any Hearts player "will be allowed to leave if the price is right". Such a statement of the obvious, however, hardly merits an 'Exclusive' tag, as it is well known that any club would sell any player if they deemed the price was right. In any case, had the Tynecastle club wanted to move players on they would have made more efforts to do so during the transfer window rather than waiting a week or so after it shut to put everyone up for sale.

Instead of jettisoning their best players, Hearts remain hopeful that with a strong end to the season they can salvage a place in Europe. They have not given up hope of qualifying for the UEFA Cup, but Frail accepted they would also consider applying for the Inter-Toto Cup.

"There's a possibility of us entering the Intertoto Cup," he said. "There's a good standard of opposition in the competition and it's something the club will look at."

Hearts' hopes of moving up the league could be dealt a blow if it transpires that their midfielder Laryea Kingston will be out for some time. Kingston injured his ankle while warming up for Ghana's African Cup of Nations semi-final against Egypt on Thursday night, and Frail is anxious to find out how badly hurt he is. "It's a concern," he continued. "We'll hopefully get him back in the country at the beginning of the week and assess it then. We've probably not seen the best of Larry this year, so we're looking forward to getting him back."

Kingston was out of action because of injury before he left for Africa, but one compensation for his absence was the form of two other midfielders, Ruben Palazuelos and Eggert Jonsson. The latter and Calum Elliot are doubts for this afternoon's match, while Christian Nade is out because of a virus, but Hearts are still strong favourites to record a first league win against the SPL's bottom side.

"It's unfair on Gretna to ask why we haven't bea
ten them," Frail added, referring to the two 1-1 draws from earlier this season. "We're a bigger club than them, with no disrespect to them, but they have got good players that want to win every game as well."

Gretna's recent loss of players, however, has reduced the quality in their squad, and even when they were at their strongest they could not compare to Hearts for ability. But they have matched the Edinburgh club when it comes to commitment and togetherness, while other teams have shown a lot more of such characteristics, which is why Hearts find themselves down in ninth.

If they win this afternoon, though, and other results go their way, they will be just two points below the top six. Getting into the upper half of the table may be a very modest ambition for a club with such a big wage bill, but it is surely a more rational aim than the desire to sell off the whole squad.

Taken from the Scotsman