Hartley admits future in doubt

The Scotland midfield player was one of three Hearts players — the others being Steven Pressley, the captain, and Craig Gordon, the goalkeeper — who went public with their grievances about Romanov’s running of the Edinburgh club by hijacking last Friday’s pre-match press conference. Now Hartley fears that may have damaged his relationship with the club’s owner, and may hasten his departure from Tynecastle.

Hartley was angered by Romanov’s threat to sell the entire team if they failed to defeat Dunfermline Athletic but also knows that he is the most valuable asset, along with fellow rebel Gordon, if the Lithuanian owner decides to cash in.

“I would like to stay here,” Hartley said, when asked about his future. “However, at the end of the day, it might not be up to me. I think the situation is very serious if he is going to make those statements. There is not a lot I can do. Mr Romanov got his point across.

“He said those things and that is up to him how he feels. Obviously we are under pressure every week to win games but that raised a few eyebrows and obviously certain players were not happy with that.”

Hartley pointed out that the players’ decision to break their silence after the exit of Valdas Ivanauskas, the head coach, last week on sick leave because of stress, had been taken before Romanov issued them with their win-or-be-sold threat. The Scot also explained that the Tynecastle Three do not speak for everyone in the polyglot squad of more than 30 players.

“The statement was always going to be read out,” he explained. “We did not know that Mr Romanov was coming to Riccarton on Friday to see us. What we did was not scribbled out in five minutes after he came to the dressing-room.

“Over the last couple of days, we discussed certain things that we were not happy about. A lot of thought went into our statement and making our appearance at the press conference. I don’t know how all the players feel, but I have been frustrated for a while.

“We need stability at the club but we have not had that with changing managers all the time. We felt that what we did had to be done. I don’t know if it will have any effect. There is no meeting planned (with Romanov) and I think we got our points across with our statement.

“You worry when you go public like that, that myself, Steven and Craig might not play but we did. I think we all gave 100 per cent and the fans were great to us as they have been for the last couple of years. They are a very loyal support and their backing against Dunfermline was a great comfort after a really testing week.

“What this club needs is some stability and everyone pulling in the right direction. We all want to win silverware and I think we have a good chance. We have shown over the last year that this team can go places but we have to stick together.”

Taken from timesonline.co.uk