Deans warns that young Hearts are tasty transfer fare

BARRY ANDERSON
VLADIMIR ROMANOV should be the embodiment of satisfaction over in Kaunas right now. Csaba Laszlo, the man he lured from an African backwater to rejuvenate Hearts, can literally do no wrong.
Five consecutive victories for the first time since the days of George Burley, a hard-earned win over Rangers in the process, several players revitalised after ambling around aimlessly on fat contracts for too long. Hell, Laszlo has even tamed the beast that is the SFA, witness yesterday's successful appeal against a two-game touchline ban.

All of the above will have his paymaster reclining in his chair bearing a smile as wide as the Baltic Sea. If it was "Csaba who?" back in July when Romanov appointed the Hungarian – then national coach of Uganda – there can be little arguing that Laszlo's name is now omnipresent within the minds of Hearts supporters.

For Leslie Deans, former club chairman and the man who sold Romanov his shareholding in Hearts, the Russian entrepreneur has every right to feel vindicated.

"He will be very pleased with this appointment," Deans told the Evening News. "Let's all remember, it costs a colossal amount of money to run a football club. Vladimir Romanov, in financial terms, has put far more into Hearts than he has taken out. He will be pleased to see players' values increasing as a result of what Csaba Laszlo has done.

"Christian Nade, for example, must have a considerably higher value than he did even in the close season. I've seen a marked improvement in Andrew Driver, who was watched by Stuart Pearce at the weekend against Rangers.

"Another who must have pushed his value up even more on Saturday is Christophe Berra. He stood comparison with David Weir and has surely edged himself closer to a starting place with Scotland. That's three players who have gone up in value, and they aren't the only ones."

Others displaying a marked improvement under Laszlo include Christos Karipidis and Lee Wallace, both benefiting from extended opportunities in the first team.

A natural consequence of increased productivity on the field is increased scouts from other clubs sauntering into the directors' box, a situation of which Hearts are well aware.

Berra, not for the first time this season, was watched by Fulham against Rangers and Deans accepts that outgoing transfers are inevitable come January. Nonetheless, he cautioned those reared by Hearts that the grass is not always greener. "I would hope the three I mentioned – Nade, Driver and Berra – will not depart in January and will form the core of Hearts' team for some considerable time," he said.

"If you look at the ages of these players, they are all in their early 20s. If you let someone leave at 29 or 30, that's maybe the way to do it.

"A lot of players in the past have left and it hasn't worked out for them. I remember Allan Johnston, who we brought through the ranks when I was chairman. His agent turned his head and he left to join a French club. He hated life over there and I don't think his form ever again reached the level of consistency he showed at Hearts. That was the best form of his career and he never got it back after he left.

"There is a salutary lesson here: young players should stay with their club and develop. Don't leave too early."

English Premier League sides waving serious readies are difficult to ignore for Scottish clubs who, in financial comparison, can be considered somewhat impoverished. Therefore, Deans believes Romanov should not be criticised if he opts to sell during the January transfer window.

"Players all have their price at every club in Scotland," he continued. "Rangers could not keep their top players when Aston Villa and Tottenham came calling for Carlos Cuellar and Alan Hutton. They might have wanted to keep them, but they couldn't.

"If someone from down south offered Celtic big money for McGeady or Boruc, they wouldn't turn it down either. Every Scottish club is technically a selling club, the Old Firm as much as anybody.

"Vladimir was astute enough and bargained hard enough to ensure Hearts got a good deal from Sunderland for Craig Gordon. I want to see that kind of thing repeated if other players were leaving.

"A few years back there was a spine to the Hearts team which read: Craig Gordon, Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley. For the first time since then you can see that coming back with some of these younger players, but this works both ways when it comes to the fans.

"Clubs need their supporters. I'm not criticising anybody but I'm just a little disappointed because there is very clearly a couple of thousand Hearts supporters who have decided not to come along this season

"We had the game of the day on Saturday, Tynecastle was rocking, the atmosphere was fabulous, but how many empty seats were there? A good couple of thousand. I know it was live on television, it was a 12.30pm kick-off, but this works both ways. That is a lot of lost revenue for the club and I would really like to see theses fans get back in there. They need to support the club because, if they don't, sales of players will increase."

Taken from the Scotsman