My Hearts pals were all set to wage war

By ROBERT MARTIN

MARIAN KELLO insists he has no problems handling Hearts' wage crisis — because he's been paid late by EVERY club he's played for so far.

But the keeper admits the Jambos' homegrown players could not deal with the situation at first, leading to a major split inside Paulo Sergio's dressing room.

Slovakian international Kello suffered for seven months without pay at his first club FC Kosice, who eventually went bust in 2004 because of their financial woes.

He experienced similar problems at his second club, Czech side FC Vitovice, who ended up withdrawing from their league due to insolvency.

This is the second time Kello has played for Vladimir Romanov after a brief spell at Kaunas where wages weren't always paid on time.

Heated dressing-room arguments at Tynecastle resulted as players debated how best to deal with the crisis.

The Jambos' form dipped, with just one win in seven games as they struggled to cope.

Now, though, they go into today's clash with St Mirren just two points off Motherwell in third place after picking up ten points from their last 12.

Kello said: "I have suffered pay delays at each club I have been at. And although that doesn't make it any easier if it happens to you many times, you learn how to cope with it. So when it happened at Hearts it didn't come as a great shock to me.

"But it was difficult in the dressing room because for the Scottish players this was not acceptable at all, it had never happened to them before.

"It was all new for them and that's why they needed more time to sit down and talk about it and that's why there was lots of frustration.

"On one hand we had some players who had experienced this before and who were convinced we would see our money eventually.

"Then there were the Scottish players, who were arguing more with the staff. But we were all fighting for the same thing.

"That's why it wasn't that good at the beginning.

"You would go into training and see the boys and know that some were thinking about things other than football.

"They weren't ready to deal with it and we didn't cope with it very well.

"Everyone had all this stuff going on in their heads and it was the same in games.

"You go into them wanting to do your best, but if all week you are thinking about other stuff you can't just switch off from that, it's impossible.

"I had been in similar situations before, so it wasn't a big problem for me. I was still able to motivate myself.

"It happened to me when I was younger in Slovakia, my club Kosice had very big problems and after a while they went bankrupt.

"I did not see any salary for seven months — and I haven't seen anything from them yet!

"In my country that can happen because we don't have powerful associations to deal with that kind of stuff.

"There is not a lot of money in Slovakian football so if a club goes bankrupt what can you do? But I don't think that will happen to Hearts.

"Recently the situation has settled down and things have got better.

"The boys have come together and started to work at training and we have shown that on the pitch when we have played.

"And we were told this week by the club director Sergejus Fedotovas that this month's wages should be on time so that will be a big help."

Kello's contract is up at the end of the season and it is highly unlikely he will sign a new one.

He admits he would love to leave Tynecastle on a high with the Jambos challenging the Old Firm at the top of the SPL.

But he concedes the financial circumstances mean that is unlikely to happen.

And boss Sergio has already admitted the rest of the season is now all about survival rather than success for the cash-strapped Jambos.

Now Kello, who has been linked with a move to Celtic, admits he would be willing to leave immediately if he knew Hearts were going to make money from his departure.

He added: "The best thing would be for Hearts to finish second in the league by winning every game and we have enough money to be okay for the next three seasons.

"But it's going to be very difficult. I don't think we have that target now, we can't aim that high.

"Maybe in two or three months if we do really well we can maybe consider attacking second spot. But right now I don't think that's our target.

"I just want to help the team. And if I can do that by raising money in a transfer then I am going to do it because Hearts need money.

"Hearts gave me an opportunity to come here and it has been an honour. If I can give them something back then I would definitely accept a move to help the team.

"I don't know what is going to happen. I am happy at Hearts, that's the first thing. I am not bursting to get away from the club.

"So we'll see what happens, I don't know.

"The situation is my contract is up in the summer and right now I am not concentrating on what happens then.

"All I am concentrating on is doing my work each day because each game is important."