Paulo Sergio deflects questions on Craig Beattie future at Hearts

By STUART BATHGATE
Published on Saturday 18 February 2012 00:00

HEARTS manager Paulo Sergio insisted yesterday that he has yet to give any thought to how Craig Beattie might fit into his squad.

The 28-year-old striker, a free agent since being released by Swansea City last month, has had preliminary talks with the Edinburgh club, but Sergio had yet to play a part in those talks when he addressed a press conference at Riccarton yesterday.

“He’s not my player,” the Portuguese coach said. “Why should I talk about him?

“If he comes to Hearts, then I’ll talk about it. I don’t know if that will happen or not. I’m interested only in the players who are in the squad.”

Former Celtic player Beattie had appeared close to signing for Kilmarnock, but he turned his attention to Tynecastle instead. Now 28, Beattie was Swansea’s record signing when he moved from West Brom for £800,000 in 2009. His contract was until this summer, but, having failed to make an appearance in the Premier League this season, he agreed to an early termination of it.

Hearts allowed John Sutton to go on loan to Australian club Central Coast Mariners last month, despite a conspicuous lack of strikers, and Sergio has often fielded squads in which Stephen Elliott was the only recognised front man. Sutton’s release was seen as part of the club’s essential cost-cutting programme, but their progress to the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup has allowed the board to loosen the purse-strings a little.

Sergio, however, was unwilling to discuss the issue of strikers. “Do I need to bolster my strikeforce?” he asked. “Yes. I tried Ronaldo but he didn’t want to come.”

The manager’s preference to concentrate on today’s match at Fir Park and the players he has available is understandable. It will be Hearts’ fifth match in a fortnight and Sergio has seen signs of tiredness in his squad.

“The last games, playing every three days, we miss a bit of freshness in front – to be explosive, to create more chances. But it’s the way we have to manage the team during this period of important games. I was very pleased with what the players did during this period.”

The manager will be all the more pleased if his team get the win today which would take them to within three points of Motherwell. Such a result, coupled with the ten-point penalty imposed on Rangers for going to administration, would increase Hearts’ hopes of challenging for second place in the SPL.

But Sergio tried to downplay that possibility, suggesting that it would be too much to ask of a squad which suffered significant losses during last month’s transfer window.

“Nobody can be asking for us to be second or third this season after what we’ve been through,” he said. “You can forget it. We lose three or four important players in the transfer market: Eggert Jonsson, Ryan Stevenson, Sutton. Important players for us, so we’re not looking at the game this way.”

Having said that, Sergio added that he expected his team to compete fiercely today. “Everybody can be sure we want to win. We recognise that Motherwell are doing very well.

“We know they are a strong side with very good organisation, but we believe we can go there and beat them. I believe it’s going to be a very competitive game, with both teams looking to take three points.”

Although Motherwell have been in the driving seat for some time in the race for third place, they do not have a massive squad, and so could suffer badly in the run-in to the season if their injury list begins to lengthen.

In normal circumstances, Hearts would be favourites to overhaul them, but Sergio’s squad suffered a lengthy dip in form towards the end of last year as their salaries were delayed and uncertainty set in over the club’s financial future.

Because of that, the manager thinks even holding on to their current place would be a significant achievement by Hearts, although he believes his players, not himself, should be the ones to receive most credit. “I’m not a guy who wants to be in the spotlight speaking about myself. If we achieve third or fourth place at the end of the season it will be a great result after a hard season like this.”

Asked whether he thought he would still be at the club next season if Hearts did finish third or fourth, he replied: “It doesn’t depend on that.” Asked what it did depend on, he implied that he would definitely stay if it was up to him, but said that other, unspecified factors had to be dealt with.

“I’m happy here,” he said. “I love the club, I love the city, and I’m involved, committed with the club. But the future depends on lots of things.”

Taken from the Scotsman