'Frustrated' Hartley pleading for stability at Hearts

PAUL Hartley yesterday made a plea for stability at Tynecastle on the foundation of a settled team encouraged to win matches by a stable management.

Revealing he'd felt frustrated by the mood of upheaval at Hearts for some time, the Scottish internationalist expressed the hope his future lay with the Edinburgh club but admitted any decision on that front was probably outside his influence.

"Since I've been at the club, there's been a lot of turmoil and certain things have happened," said Hartley. "Now we've made our point and, hopefully, that will be the end of it and we can get back to trying to win football games, which is the most important thing for the club.

"We just want stability at the club. I don't think it's a good thing if you change managers all the time.

"I also think you've got to have a group of players who are pulling in the same direction. That's what I feel we need. I don't know about guys at other clubs supporting us, but I've listened to what the supporters are saying and they back us 100 per cent. I would like to stay here. But at the end of the day it might not be up to me."

After joining Steven Pressley and Craig Gordon to issue a statement of rebellion on Friday which revealed a mood of serious discontent in the dressing room, Hartley kept his place in the Hearts side which drew 1-1 with Dunfermline on Saturday.

Although Vladimir Romanov, the majority shareholder, did issue a provocative threat to place all the first-team players on the transfer list if they didn't defeat the Fifers, Hartley confirmed the decision to go public with their concerns about the running of the club had been taken earlier.

"We didn't know Mr Romanov was coming into a meeting with the players on Friday morning," Hartley admitted. "The statement was always going out.

"It wasn't the case that he came into the dressing-room and we then put it together in five minutes. Over a couple of days we'd discussed certain things and felt we had to get our point across about things we weren't happy about. A lot of thought went into it. We made a statement and we stick by it."

Given huge encouragement and backing by the club's fans for the stance they'd taken, Hartley insisted the only way forward for Hearts was to end the constant chopping and changing and allow a manager to manage.

"I can't speak for other players but there's been a certain frustration for myself for a long time," he said. "Hopefully, everybody will pull in the same direction. We're here to win games and we all want to be successful. We want to win silverware. And if you've got your best team, week-in, week-out, then you'll have a good chance of doing that."

This was a clear inference that Vladimir Romanov's direct meddling in team affairs has to stop. Before Hearts played Kilmarnock in what may have been Valdas Ivanasukas' last match in charge, it's understood the players expected Julien Brellier, Takis Fyssas and Bruno Aguiar to figure in the starting line-up. When all three were omitted and Hearts lost, Pressley, Hartley, Gordon and the rest of the non-Lithuanians in the squad knew the time had come to make their feelings known.

"Over the last year, it's been clear this is a team which can go places," added Hartley. "We have a lot of good players. I think we can do something, but I'm not sure what will happen now. I don't know if the team will stay together - I hope it does. But it will not be our decision.

"We felt things needed to be said and what had to be done. Now we've done it. We have a good group of players in that dressing-room and we've put our points across. We felt we had to make a statement, to say certain things, and we said them. There's no meeting planned with Mr Romanov and I'm not sure if he wants to speak to us."

Asked if the players wanted to speak to Romanov, Hartley acknowledged: "I think we got our points across in the statement."

If the threat to move players to Kilmarnock or any other club which would take them was typical of Romanov's blunt style of management, Hartley was ambivalent about the repercussions of recent events off the field. "We're under pressure to win games week-in, week-out anyway. But if he feels that wasn't good enough then fair enough. What he had to say raised a few eyebrows. But he has the right to say certain things. Obviously, certain players aren't happy with it. I think it's very serious if he's going to make these statements."

On the subject of whether he feared being dropped against Dunfermline, Hartley replied: "We felt strongly and we made our point. We stick by that. You always think you might not play at the back of your mind, especially when you go public. I was picked to play and I was delighted. If I'm selected, I will always give 100 per cent. But if you don't play, there's not a lot you can do."

Whatever else the future holds, Romanov is not about to walk away from Hearts. In a statement, he said: "I'm still on course and will not be blown off.

"I still believe in what I'm doing and will complete the task. I know my methods surprise some people in this country, but I'm still very committed and will complete the job."

Eduard Malofeev, in a cheerfully robust post-match interview noteworthy for its high decibel level, was quick to support the majority shareholder and claimed any suggestion he wouldn't manage without interference was mischievous.

Speaking through an interpreter, he said: "I want to tell you that Vladimir was never interfering in football matters and I don't know where this idea comes from. Let's take myself. I am the manager and I make the decision. I can take advice from people but my decision is the last word. People who gossip just want to show their weakness. What has it to do with Vladimir Romanov? I am the manager and I have to pick the team. I respect Vladimir as he is the owner of the club, but that is the end of the story."

Malofeev, who thought it was inappropriate to comment on Ivanasukas' future while absent on sick leave, also backed the club captain's right to express his views. "All I want to say is that it is a good player who worries about his team and team-mates."

With vital games against Celtic and Hibs away from home over the next two weeks, Hartley lent his support to the caretaker manager. "I don't know if playing three at the back will be permanent, it's something he [Malofeev] tried against Dunfermline because he's used to playing with that system. He's now the man in charge and has the right to pick his own team and his own system."

Taken from the Scotsman