Craig Beattie deal a sign of better times at Hearts

By STUART BATHGATE
Published on Friday 24 February 2012 03:23

NO MATTER how well or how badly Craig Beattie performs on the field, his signing certainly represents one kind of good news for Hearts.

After months of being unable to pay staff salaries on time, and unsuccessfully trying to offload more players during the January transfer window, the Tynecastle club appear to be enjoying a modest yet nonetheless welcome relaxation of budgetary restrictions.

Former Celtic striker Beattie, who has signed on at Tynecastle for the rest of the season, is in fact just the latest example of a more generous approach by owner Vladimir Romanov. The Kaunas-based businessman’s announcement last autumn that the club would receive no more money from him precipitated three months of late payments to players, and last month’s salaries only arrived more or less on time thanks to the sale of Eggert Jonsson to Wolves.

But, although staff expressed concern about how or when the February wage bill could be paid, it was paid – in full and on time. That was just a few days after Hearts had settled a tax bill of around £150,000, for which Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs had issued a winding-up order against the club. Previously, those inside the club thought that the tax payment would have to be made at the expense of the wages.

Romanov has never spelled out exactly what he meant when he said that Hearts had had enough money from him. But, while cutbacks have undoubtedly been made, he appears to have accepted that, if he wants to sell the club as any kind of going concern, he needs to keep it in relative health. And so, besides meeting his financial commitments, he has also agreed to augment manager Paulo Sergio’s squad with some much-needed firepower.

Twenty-eight-year-old Beattie, who has seven full Scotland caps, was a free agent after negotiating an early release from his Swansea City contract. Hearts completed his signing yesterday in the face of competition from Kilmarnock, St Mirren and St Johnstone, and although the player insisted he had not opted for Sergio’s squad on financial grounds, his recruitment is obviously going to cost the club something.

Sergio would not reveal any details of the deal, but did respond positively when asked if the signing meant things were getting better at Hearts. “I hope so,” the manager said. “I believe people are working for that and I hope that is the case.

“When John [Sutton] went it was to save the money of his wages, I believe,” he explained, referring to the striker’s release on loan to Australia. “Now it’s a different deal with Beattie. That’s the kind of thing we don’t want to speak about personally. But the reason John went was because of that.”

Beattie, who is short of match practice and is likely to be on the bench against Dundee United tomorrow, said he was not worried by his new club’s previous problems. “No, not at all,” he said. “Whatever has been happening off the field is certainly not a concern of mine or of any of the lads. We’re football players and we turn up every day, train as hard as we can and try to get three points at the weekend.

“It’s something that excited me,” he continued when asked why he had opted for Hearts. “I know how big the club is having been in the league before with Celtic and played at Tynecastle, so it was just something which appealed to me. I’ve had options, and I’ve weighed those up. It wasn’t a financial decision to come here. It was a football decision and something which interested me – that’s the long and short of it.” Beattie has fond memories of the atmosphere at Tynecastle, but admitted that some of the supporters could be a touch hostile. “I just hope the same kids who were giving me pelters are now cheering me on, hopefully be a bit wiser and not so aggressive towards me. It’s a tough, intimidating place to go, and hopefully between now and the end of the season we can make it a bit of a fortress.

“You’ve got to enjoy that, even if the kids are trying to jump over and burst you. It is enjoyable – because I always knew I was quick enough to run away from them.”

Beattie appears to have been identified as a target by Hearts director of football John Murray rather than Sergio, and the manager was noticeably downbeat in his comments about the first signing made by the club since he took up his post last summer. “He was a solution as he was a free player,” Sergio said. “He needed a club to do his job and maybe we needed a player up front too. So we made this deal and I hope he’s going to be happy at Hearts.

“I saw footage of the player but I trust Lockey [assistant coach Gary Locke] and John Murray and he is a player that was available. So we’re going to work together and I told Beattie he’s not come here to solve everything alone, he is working for the group and I hope he can be happy here. I’m not signing Beattie to solve our problems.”

Even so, the signing of Beattie does suggest that those problems are not quite so acute as they were.

Taken from the Scotsman