WE WANT ELVIS

PAUL HARTLEY last night called for the immediate restoration of Steven Pressley into the Hearts team as skipper.

The Scotland midfielder also wants summit talks with Vladimir Romanov when he arrives in Edinburgh later this week to end the civil war that is tearing the club apart.

Hartley, 30, spoke out yesterday in the aftermath of his side's 1-0 defeat to Rangers, the seventh match in a row since October 1 they have failed to win as they dropped to fifth in the SPL.

The echo of a fan protest involving about 100 supporters could still be heard outside as he called for an end to the bitter in-fighting that has thrown the Scottish Cup holders into turmoil.

Hartley reckons the first step the club should take is to announce they are bringing Pressley in from the cold, wearing the captain's armband, for next weekend's visit to Inverness Caley Thistle.

He also hopes showdown talks with the club owner can find some common ground in the dispute made public when Hartley, Pressley and Craig Gordon expressed the unhappiness of many in the Jambos dressing room at the way the team is being run.

Hartley was recalled to the top team against Rangers after being benched and handed only 33 seconds of action at Falkirk six days earlier.

As club vice-captain, he assumed the position of on-field leader as Pressley warmed the bench against his former club but has absolutely no interest in taking the job for good.

Hartley said: "I'm vice-captain, not captain. There's only one captain at the club and that's Steven Pressley and the sooner he is back in the team the better.

"I never ever wanted his armband anyway. Okay, if he's injured or unwell I'll step in and take over but there's only one real captain at the club and that is Elvis.

"He has been a great captain for the club in the last eight years. He's our main man, a fantastic leader. We want our best players on the pitch and the sooner he is back in the team the better.

"The situation is now getting out of hand and the sooner it is sorted the better. I don't know if Mr Romanov plans to meet with the players this week but we've got to move on.

"We had a great season last year and we want to keep challenging for honours and if we can get everything sorted that would be great.

"I think it's now a case of sitting down with Mr Romanov. He'll have stuff to say to us and it's important we start talking.

"We all want to move in the same direction - players and fans. We all want success for Hearts.

"The only way to do that is for us to get our points across and for Mr Romanov to do the same so we can stop making back-page headlines every day."

Hartley admits he feared for his place in the side after being dropped by Eduard Malofeev against the Bairns but is praying some kind of stability can soon be restored to the club.

He added: "You are always fearful when you are not playing.

"The last thing I want to do is sit on the bench and pick up money. It has never been me and I don't care about money. I want to play football and I'm here to play football and enjoy it. I was always going to be concerned if I played or not against Rangers but it was not my decision.

Other people make these judgments but if I'm picked to play for Hearts I'll always give it everything I've got.

"Confidence is not so good at the moment but it goes when you don't win football matches, simple as that.

"But we've got to roll our sleeves up and pick ourselves up and make sure we start getting good results again, starting at Inverness next week.

"We don't seem to be able to grind out results at the moment and I thought a draw would have been a fairer result against Rangers. You cannot fault our effort but we came up short in the end.

"It's a concern we're not winning games but we're still not far off second spot, only three points, and we're only one or two wins away from being back there again.

"Throughout the course of any season you are going to lose games and the confidence will go for a spell. It happened last season and we picked ourselves up and we can do it again.

"After all, we're not sitting bottom of the league, but we must win our next game as quickly as possible." Hartley also defended the rights of the fans to gather outside the front door at Tynecastle and make their voices heard against Romanov's running of the club.

However, he called on the supporters not to turn on individual players, especially the Lithuanians who were the subject of booing when the team was read out before the game.

Hartley added: "The fans are right to make their feelings known and put their opinions across.

"They don't like what is going on - a lot of us don't like what is going on - and they are right to go and protest.

"But I'll say one thing for them, they were right behind the players today and have been all season.

"There have been difficult times in the past as well but, one thing's for sure, the fans have always backed us."

However, Hartley reined in his opinion when it was pointed out players such as Nerijus Barasa and Saulius Mikoliunas had been the subject of booing when the teams were announced before kick-off.

Hartley added: "There's nothing we can do as the supporters are entitled to their opinion but I don't like supporters booing their own players and I condemn it.

"No one likes to hear that and we've got to get behind each other in difficult times such as this. I would urge the fans to get right behind the players."

'I think it's now a case of having talks with Romanov'

Taken from the Daily Record