Bulgarian duo shown the door at Hearts

BARRY ANDERSON
HEARTS have parted company with Bulgarian coach Angel Chervenkov and doctor Ivo Yakimov. The pair have had all outstanding monies paid to them by the club and are due to fly back to Bulgaria tomorrow.
Chervenkov had been responsible for Hearts' reserve side since returning to Tynecastle last summer.

He and Yakimov initially arrived in July 2007 from FBK Kaunas but Chervenkov was sacked six months later after an ill-fated spell working with the first team.

Yakimov remained in place and Chervenkov returned to Edinburgh last June, initially assisting manager Csaba Laszlo before assuming control of the reserves.

His latest departure leaves Hearts' under-19 coach Darren Murray temporarily in charge of the reserve side, which suffered a 2-0 defeat by Celtic in Airdrie yesterday.

Hearts have also confirmed that they will not be signing trialists Arunas Klimavicius and Graham Barrett. The Lithuanian defender was seen as a possible short-term replacement for Christophe Berra but has now left the club along with Barrett, who joined St Johnstone until the end of the season.

Bruno Aguiar, meanwhile, revealed he is likely to remain abroad rather than return to his native Portugal with his Hearts contract due to expire this summer. Aguair's agent, Paulo Barbosa, said last month that he was confident the midfielder would agree a contract extension but that has yet to materialise.

"The option is still there to play abroad," said Aguiar. "There are possibilities which I am looking at, but there is nothing concrete. I have settled well in the city, but I know that it is sometimes a little bit cold.

"We are still in third place, but Hearts are not able to match Rangers and Celtic."

Taken from the Scotsman