Stephen Frail: Manager leaves Hearts by 'mutual consent'

Published Date: 09 July 2008
By IAN RODGERS
STEPHEN Frail has left Hearts "by mutual consent", the club have announced.
The caretaker manager was told to stay away from training when the players reported for pre-season two weeks ago.

The former Hearts player had been a constant presence among the coaching staff during the turbulent spell under majority shareholder Vladmimir Romanov. But Frail's exit was confirmed a day after Romanov criticised his spell in charge.

He was appointed interim head coach in January following an unsuccessful experiment with a coaching triumvirate also involving sporting director Anatoly Korobochka and Bulgarian coach Angel Chervenkov.

Frail had been the public face of the management team and was given apparent responsibility for team selection with Hearts in 10th place in the Premier League following a five-game losing streak.

The team moved up the table and were pushing for a top-six place before a 0-0 draw at Kilmarnock in the final game before the split. Hearts then finished the season in eighth spot after losing their final three games.

That led to criticism from Romanov, who appeared to rule out employing a Scottish coach in an interview with BBC Scotland on Tuesday.

He said: "Scottish people are part of the local footballing mafia, and it is very difficult for them to rise above that level.

"In the past I had experience of allowing people to run the club, allowing locals to run the club, but that really didn't bring tangible results. Even in the beginning of the year, the team was managed by local people. It was fully their responsibility, nobody interfered with them.

"You knew who was in charge of the team, Stephen Frail, so in the end that did not bring good results. They lost a lot of places in the table, nearly falling down to the lower league."

The club were more conciliatory in announcing the departure of Frail, who rejoined Hearts as under-19 coach in 2004 before being promoted to assistant coach.

A statement on the clubs official website, www.heartsfc.co.uk, said: "As a former Hearts player, having appeared 66 times for the Edinburgh football club, Stephen will always be welcome at Tynecastle, and leaves Hearts with everyone's best wishes for the future. Hearts will make an announcement on the appointment of a new football manager shortly."

Taken from the Scotsman