Pressley rejects coaching role as Frail steps up to assist Ivanauskas

VALDAS Ivanauskas is back as Hearts' head coach, Stephen Frail has been promoted to assistant coach and the club captain Steven Pressley has turned down an offer to join the coaching staff, according to Vladimir Romanov.

Ivanauskas, who returned on Friday after five weeks off because of illness and other problems, said he believed one win would do a lot to turn Hearts around. The team have currently gone eight matches without a victory, a run which includes every game played under Eduard Malofeev, the interim head coach.

A spokesman for Hearts said that Malofeev has left Edinburgh and will take coaching badges in Russia, but retains his title as adviser to the board on football matters. His influence has surely diminished, however, after a period of turmoil off the pitch as well as on.

Frail has been appointed assistant coach to replace John McGlynn, who is now manager of Raith Rovers. Darren Murray, the under-17s coach, moves up to take over the under-19s from Frail. Pressley, meanwhile, was back in the side on Saturday for the first time since declaring himself mentally unfit to play against Falkirk. That declaration followed the uncovering of a plot to turn the players against him - a plot which surely arose from his public statement criticising some ways in which the club was being run.

Romanov, the majority shareholder, has gone on record many times stating his admiration for Pressley's leadership qualities. He went further on Friday night when he met a group of Hearts supporters, claiming he had tried three times to get Pressley on to the coaching staff.

"I have offered him a coaching position three times," Romanov said through an interpreter. "He is doing his coaching certificates. I would offer him a five or ten-year deal tomorrow if he agreed to take on a coaching role." Romanov did not specify what coaching post was on offer.

Ivanauskas, meanwhile, was in an upbeat mood and apparently glad to be back from sick leave. "I feel very well," he said. "I needed that time off for my personal reasons, but now I'm back.

"The first reason I needed the time off was my health problem. The second was a personal reason which I don't want to talk about."

Ivanauskas said he was always confident he would return to his post at Tynecastle, but also admitted that before he went on leave he had contemplated giving up his job for good.

"The problem was before the Kilmarnock game," he said, referring to his last match before returning to Lithuania for treatment. "It was possible I would stop being a manager.

"I have a very good medical team, and they said maybe I take too much into myself. Maybe I love this game too much."

The coach declined to comment in detail on what happened in his absence, partly because he had deliberately minimised his involvement, but partly for diplomatic reasons. "I saw only the Celtic and Rangers games," he said.

"I had been advised by the doctors to try to get away a bit from Hearts life. It wasn't easy, of course, but I tried my best.

"I don't want to go into details of when I was away. Eduard was in charge, and it was his decision not to play these players," he continued when asked about the omission of Pressley, Paul Hartley and Robbie Neilson in recent matches. "His word was the last word and I don't want to argue about that."

It is unlikely, though, that Ivanauskas would wish to emulate Malofeev in some of his more drastic actions. "Steven Pressley is very important for the team and for the club," he continued. "How professionally he works is the best example for young players."

Ivanauskas's main message, however, was that there is not too much at Tynecastle that needs to be fixed - and that a win at Love Street on Saturday would go a long way to restoring harmony throughout the club. "There is not very much work to be done. The only thing we need at the moment is three points and we are looking for this from the St Mirren game. I want the players to get a bit of self- confidence and to feel again the pleasure of winning games.

"We need to change our table position. We need to change our game. We just need one win. I think if we win a game then all the problems come away.

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Ivanauskas added that he had not sought reassurances from Romanov about team selection. "You know Vladimir Romanov is a big man in this club, and every discussion he wants to know. It's normal in business. Everybody wants to know about team selection. The last discussion is the manager's."

Taken from the Scotsman