Hearts loan deals pave way for January fire sale

By Ewing Grahame

Forwards David Smith and Jamie Walker plus midfielder Jason Holt have been loaned to First Division Raith Rovers until the transfer window reopens in January.

The move has been made with a view to providing the trio with some competitive senior experience before they are thrown into the deep end at Tynecastle.

Goalkeeper Mark Ridgers, 21, and forward Robert Ogleby are already loaned out to Second Division East Fife, where they faced SPL opposition in the Scottish Communities League Cup, beating Aberdeen and losing to Kilmarnock.

Owner Vladimir Romanov, who has publicly declared that he has tired of football and wants to sell Hearts, will struggle to find someone prepared to take control of an institution which has run up debts of £35 million and which is unable to develop its stadium.

However, the days of selling players for big money (Sunderland bought goalkeeper Craig Gordon in a deal worth up to £9 million, Celtic paid £1.1 million for Paul Hartley and Andrius Velicka cost Viking Stavanger £1 million) are long gone and there will not be a huge queue of potential buyers for the current squad.

Goalkeeper Marian Kello, defender Eggert Jonsson, midfielder Ryan Stevenson and winger David Templeton are the only players likely to attract significant interest and none of them would attract a seven-figure bid.

"We have several players that have reached the peak of their career at Hearts and are ready for a move," said Lithuanian director Sergejus Fedotovas on the club's official website. "Whether this will be January or the summer – we will need to see what options will be available to us. Our priority remains on escalating the rise of the young players in our squad.

"We have some very talented young players and we are now entering a transformational time for the club on field. Our strategy involves bringing through the best young players while selling or releasing some of the senior and fringe players.

"The board's view is that Hearts not only should be a very different team next season and thereafter, but also [that] it will be a very different team.

"We are confident that we can mix the right blend of senior players with aspiring and talented younger players then we should still be in a position to challenge at the top end of the league and in cup competitions."

The bad news for the senior professionals at the club continued with the news that Monday passed without their monthly salary being paid into their accounts, five days after it was due.

Only the youth-team players have received their money thus far but Fedotovas insists that the issue will be resolved. Eventually.

"I think it is important, at this stage, to credit the players for their professionalism in the matter," he said. "I do believe they understand that when we say we are doing everything to source funding for their salaries then they accept that we are.

"We have paid 33 of our players already and looking forward to catching up at some point soon. However, it is perhaps one of the clearest indications yet that football clubs all over the world are facing severe challenges financially.

"A quick snapshot of clubs elsewhere shows the extreme measures some clubs are taking to maintain a viable business. Despite a sporadic delay at times, we have always paid our players and we fully intend to continue to do so."

Taken from telegraph.co.uk