The 28-year-old could be kicked out of the club next week, when Laszlo and the Hearts board meet to discuss what to do with him. He has had a number of injuries during his time at Tynecastle, but has insisted on reporting for international duty even when ruled unfit by club doctors.

"If the coach has a problem with me, he should simply say so and not use my national team commitment against me," Kingston said. "I have played for a lot of clubs, but I can play for only one national team. I am like a soldier who must stand up for his country at any time."

Kingston played in last weekend's win over Sudan which ensured Ghana of a place in next year's World Cup finals in South Africa. His Hearts contract expires next summer, though at present there is a strong possibility he will not play for the club again.

The Kingston row has been just one of the problems confronting Hearts in the early stages of the season, which have seen them pick up just one point from three league matches and also go out of the Europa League at the first hurdle. If they beat Kilmarnock today, however, they can kick-start their season, according to Ian Black.

The midfielder believes that if his team do get the win after two defeats and a draw in their first three league matches, they can soon be up towards the top of the table again, challenging for third place or even better.

Elimination from Europe at the hands of Dinamo Zagreb combined with losses to Dundee United and Rangers has led some to predict that Hearts could struggle to make the top six this season, but Black is convinced his team are not far away from hitting a good run of form. "We've had a wee bit of a rocky start to the season, but hopefully we can turn the tables round and collect three points," said the 24-year-old, who moved from Inverness in the summer to join the club he supported as a boy.

"The commitment and the work rate have been all you can ask for. It's just been that finishing touch in front of goal. Like I say, once we break the duck and get the three points on Saturday then I'm sure that will be the turn of the tables."

That finishing touch was also a problem for Hearts last season, but despite it they managed to come third behind the Old Firm. Black is confident they have the ability to do so again, or even go one better and finish between Rangers and Celtic, as they did in season 2005-06.

"There's no reason why not," he said when asked if he thought that splitting the two Glasgow clubs was a realistic ambition. We've proved that we can compete with them, against Rangers, and if we go out with the right attitude like we have done in the past, like I say there's no reason why not. I'd love to be third or maybe even first or second. Fingers crossed we can kick on on Saturday and hopefully that will be the turning point of the season." The fixture list handed Hearts a demanding start to the season, giving them five matches in 14 days. After losing the first three they had a morale-restoring 2-0 home win against Dinamo, although it was not enough to cancel out the four goals they had conceded in Croatia, and they then took a point at St Johnstone three days later.

It is arguable that with a different run of games they could be higher up the table than their present position of tenth, but Black sees no point in seeking excuses. "I wouldn't put it down to being hard teams," he said of those early results. "Everybody's hard nowadays. There's no team you can look at and say we're guaranteed points here or anything like that. We were unfortunate in a couple of the games, but we know what we have to do on Saturday. If we go out with the right attitude then I'm sure we'll be fine. Everybody goes through a bad spell. I just hope that's us getting ours out the way just now."

Taken from the Scotsman