Riabovas position at Hearts now in doubt

DOUBTS emerged last night about the appointment of Eugenijus Riabovas as head coach at Hearts.

The club were unable to confirm Riabovas has taken over as interim head coach from Eduard Malofeev, and there is now a question mark over whether he will actually be installed.

Riabovas said last week that he would be in charge as of yesterday morning, but Hearts would do no more yesterday than stick to their initial line that the handover will take place by the end of this month.

Yesterday was a day off for the first-team squad following their 1-0 defeat by Rangers on Sunday, and there was no need for senior coaches to be in attendance at the club's training complex at Riccarton. With John McGlynn having left to become Raith Rovers' manager, however, Hearts' need for stability behind the scenes is greater than ever.

The Rangers match is still thought to have been Malofeev's last in charge, but Hearts, who have adopted a policy recently of minimal communication, would not confirm that the veteran coach had departed the Tynecastle club.

If he has gone, and if Riabovas is not in a position to take office this morning, training will be down to Stephen Frail, the youth coach, Tom Ritchie, the fitness coach, or Alex Kozlovski, the interpreter whose title is sport director.

There is understood to be a certain amount of dissatisfaction at Hearts with Riabovas for speaking out last week, when he praised his own abilities and outlined the timetable for his takeover.

"I think I am good enough to be the Hearts coach," he said. "I will start work on Monday after the match against Rangers. It is not a permanent position, only temporary."

There was no sign of Riabovas at the ground on Sunday.

Taken from the Scotsman