Paulo Sergio irked by Hearts’ disparaging statement towards fringe players

HEARTS manager Paulo Sergio has dismissed as unhelpful a club statement blaming fringe players for the current financial difficulties at Tynecastle.

He added, however, that after discussing the issue with his squad he was confident they would be in the right frame of mind for this evening’s Scottish Cup quarter-final replay at St Mirren.

The statement, posted on the Hearts website last Friday, said that rather than agree to leave, some players had “elected to stagnate, preferring to take the club’s money while offering very little or nothing in return”.

No names were mentioned, but it is known that Suso Santana, who scored his club’s second goal in their 2-0 Edinburgh derby win on Sunday, was one player who had been invited by the club to agree an early termination of his contract. “I think it’s one more thing that doesn’t help,” Sergio said yesterday. Asked if he had found it frustrating, he continued: “I can say yes. Some things are not in my control.”

Sergio’s squad have yet to receive their March salaries, which were due last Friday. But the manager believes that, having faced the same problem in the final three months of last year, they have learned to live with the uncertainty. “We spoke about that [the statement] and it’s my job to guide their heads to the places I want,” he continued. “One thing our players know: things change very easily here.”

Sergio added that the players had met on their own to talk about their financial situation, and that he believed club officials when they promised the money would be forthcoming by the end of this month.

“I think the players had another meeting yesterday, and I think the moment is to be focussed on the Wednesday match and not be thinking about other things that can take out our focus.

“The responsibles [ie club officials] ask us for a few days, so I don’t know when, but I believe the end of the month. I work with facts. Our board said to us that they need another ten or 12 days; we have to believe that.

“To be honest with you, I don’t have time to be thinking about all this. I’m just so focussed on the Wednesday game. Last week was the derby, now it’s St Mirren that’s in my head. In football, we don’t think in the long term – sometimes that’s just a waste of time.

“We should be focussing on what we can control and what we can do, and right now what I have to do is go to the pitch and prepare the guys to do a very good job in Paisley. Life is too short: we shouldn’t lose too much time thinking about those things. I’m not worried about my future, just about Hearts and the St Mirren game. My future comes next.”

Sergio’s contract expires at the end of the season, and although he has stated his desire to stay at Tynecastle, it is understood that he has not yet had detailed talks with the board about a new deal.

Sunday’s victory over Hibernian has left Hearts all but certain of a top-six finish in the SPL, which was the manager’s basic goal for the season, but the length of his stay at Tynecastle could now depend on what happens over what is left of the campaign.

Third-placed Motherwell are 12 points clear of Hearts with eight games to go, but Dundee United and St Johnstone are both just a point ahead, though the Perth club have a game in hand, at Inverness next Wednesday. Hearts visit McDiarmid Park on Saturday.

A sustained challenge for fourth place and a continued cup run would clearly do no harm to Sergio’s hopes of staying at the helm, while a payment of £85,000 from Sky for the rights to broadcast tonight’s replay will go some way to ensuring the Hearts board can keep their promise to pay staff salaries by the end of this month.

However, Sergio insisted he could not concern himself with the financial implications of a good cup run.

“All we know is that brings money, but my focus shouldn’t be on the financial problems,” he said. “My focus should be, and has to be, on football. If we were European champions, that would solve all our problems.”

The winners of this evening’s match will play Celtic in the semi-final on Sunday, 15 April, the day after Aberdeen meet Hibs in the first semi. The prospect of a fourth Edinburgh derby of the season in the final has already excited some supporters of both capital clubs, but Sergio refused to speculate on a fixture which at present is no more than hypothetical.

“I think I should respect Aberdeen and say nothing like that,” he said. “But that I would like to be in the final, I’m sure about that.”

Taken from the Scotsman