WE NEED TO TALK

HEARTS captain Steven Pressley wants showdown talks with club owner Vladimir Romanov in a bid to end the Tynecastle turmoil.

Pressley spoke out following the 1-1 draw at home to Dunfermline and made it clear he wants to go head-to-head with Romanov to discuss several serious issues.

The Jambos skipper spoke on behalf of some of the players on Friday when he told of unrest in the dressing room due to the way the club was being run.

Pressley's prepared statement came in the wake of Romanov's outrageous threat that he would axe the entire team if they failed to beat the Pars yesterday.

Now the Scotland international defender hopes to create some unity at Hearts by meeting Lithuanian businessman Romanov.

Elvis said: "I'm sure things will progress in the weeks ahead and I will look to have a meeting with Mr Romanov. I just want a positive outcome for the sake of the football club.

"The situation with the players is an issue that needs to be resolved so I'd imagine we will meet up. I'm sure Mr Romanov will also be keen to do that."

But the defender, who was told an hour-and-a-half before kick-off that he was in the starting line-up despite going public with his criticisms of the club, refused to blame Friday's events on the loss of two points.

Instead Pressley reckons it actually helped spur the team on with Hearts taking an early lead through Andrius Velicka only for Jim Hamilton to score an equaliser in the second half.

Pressley also heaped praise on the Tynecastle fans who gave the team tremendous backing - and almost reduced the skipper to TEARS.

Dunfermline also had a traumatic week with Jim Leishman stepping down as manager at East End Park and Pressley admitted they faced a pumped-up Pars.

He said: "Sometimes issue like the ones this week can galvanise a team and bring them together and I felt a good spirit within our side in this game.

"There was a real togetherness which was really pleasing.

"I thought we started very well and after scoring the early goal we hoped we could get that all elusive second because we were pressing at that moment.

"But considering what Dunfermline have experienced this week I thought they showed great resilience themselves and probably in the end the result was a fair reflection on the game.

"The reception from the crowd before the match brought a lump to the throat, they were fantastic and I thought they were a credit to the football club.

"I'm not looking to influence them with words, I really thought they were a credit and I'm sure the players themselves tried to respond in the right manner.

"I thought as a team we showed great spirit, even prior to the game in the dressing-room there was a positive feeling and unfortunately we just couldn't get the result.

"It was quite an emotional day for us all and we were delighted with the response of our supporters in terms of getting behind the team.

"But, despite events, it was just a normal pre-match preparation for ourselves. Eduard Malofeev spoke about the team and the manner he wanted us to perform and everything else was pretty much as normal.

"I thought we played with great spirit, nobody could point the finger at the players for their effort.

"In terms of our quality we have to continue to improve but we did our utmost to try to get a result for the fans.

"We're disappointed because that's two games I look at - Kilmarnock at home last week and Dunfermline - and with all due respect to both sides these are games you look to win when you play for Hearts."

Taken from the Sunday Mail