Hearts back Gary Locke and Darren Murray

By BARRY ANDERSON
Published on Friday 1 March 2013 12:00

SERGEJUS FEDOTOVAS 
today urged Gary Locke and Darren Murray to seize their moment in charge of Hearts and pledged to give them all the support necessary during their interim management reign.

The Lithuania-based director explained it was a straightforward decision to place Locke and Murray in temporary control after manager John McGlynn left the club by mutual consent yesterday. Locke was McGlynn’s first-team coach, whilst player development manager Murray is responsible for producing many of the current first-team squad in his role as youth coach.

The pair take charge of Hearts for the first time against Motherwell tomorrow with Fedotovas eager for them to utilise the opportunity. They will guide the Tynecastle team until further notice while Fedotovas and Vladimir Romanov, the club’s majority shareholder, search for a permanent replacement for McGlynn.

“I think this is a great chance for them to step up and feel the importance of how this job is; feel how it is when you are responsible and when things depend on you,” said Fedotovas, speaking exclusively to the Evening News. “It is good practice for them and this is something they will experience over the next shorter or longer period. They are part of the club. We will be working together as long as is required and we will be looking for the best solution.

“They have worked with the team, they are there every day and they know the players. It is a straightforward, natural decision. Things change quickly and you have to take a decision. We don’t have time to look around and consider what is happening for a few days because the players need training sessions, they need to be prepared for the next game and the next game comes quickly. We have put our trust in these guys and we really believe they will do what they can do best. We will be behind them to support them and continue working with what we’ve got.”

Hearts sit 11th in the Scottish Premier League after a run of four successive defeats. The last was Wednesday night’s 2-0 loss at

St Mirren, which proved to be

McGlynn’s last game in charge.

Despite leading the club to the Scottish Communities League Cup final during a season of turmoil,

McGlynn accepted league results were below standard.

He expressed his gratitude for the chance to manage Hearts after leaving Raith Rovers for Tynecastle last summer. “I was very grateful to be given the chance to become the Hearts manager as it was my dream job,” he told the club website. “It was an honour and privilege to serve the club in this capacity and I thoroughly enjoyed working with the players, who have been top professionals.

“It is unfortunate that things didn’t turn out the way I wanted them to and I am gutted about that.

“I don’t think I could have done any more but I know it is a results-driven business. We had a lot of difficult circumstances to deal with and they have taken their toll in the end but no-one will be more

delighted than me if the team can go on and win the League Cup.

“I would like to thank all the backroom staff – the physios, medical staff and video analysis department – also the club’s media department and everyone at Tynecastle for

being good fellow workmates.”

Taken from the Scotsman