Hearts boss wants Bairns to be given respect

COLLEEN PATERSON
HEARTS manager Csaba Laszlo insists his side must treat Falkirk with as much respect as they would the Old Firm – and pay no attention to their lowly league position.
Disgruntled Bairns fans have written an open letter to club chiefs demanding that boss John Hughes is sacked before tomorrow's match.

Falkirk currently sit four points adrift of nearest rivals Inverness and St Mirren at the foot of the table and, with only six games of the SPL season remaining, they look favourites to take the drop into the First Division.

However, Laszlo firmly believes the Bairns are a much better side than the table would suggest: "The table at the moment is not important for me, I do not look at who is at the top or who is at the bottom, either.

"For me, Falkirk are a team who are much better than their actual position in the league would suggest and it is very important to have the same kind of concentration as we did in the games against Rangers and Celtic. If we can have that kind of confidence and concentration, then I hope that we have a good result.

"If we can keep the five-point advantage this weekend then that would be fantastic for us.

"My team have worked hard. We have reached our first target, which was to finish in the top six and now, if we continue to do well, we know that we have the chance to play in Europe next season. That is very important to us, as
is getting three points from the game tomorrow."

With a place in the Europa League in mind, Laszlo and sport director Anatoly Korobochka will hand a wish-list of players to the board in the next few days in the hope that the club will be able to make at least five signings in the summer.

He believes that good progress has already been made at the club and is hoping to see the rewards over the next couple of seasons: "I don't think that in one season you can do anything apart from make good foundations. Now we have to stabilise these foundations and make everything even better.

"The signals from the players are that they feel good and I think that we can go into the next season with more confidence.

"At the moment I look for strikers but I also have to look at other areas and we have players who are out of contract.

"I am speaking with our sport director Anatoly Korobochka and we have a meeting with the board and a list of names for them. After that all we can do is wait and see what happens. I think every club wishes they had a better player, every club wishes that they have more success and every club in Scotland hopes that maybe next year it will not only be Rangers and Celtic who fight for the first two places and Champions League qualification."

Taken from the Scotsman