A United Nations but one Heart

DURING his flying visit to Scotland at the weekend, Vladimir Romanov revealed his long-term desire is to have a Hearts team made up of at least 70 per cent Scotsmen.

But returning head coach Valdas Ivanauskas today admitted he doesn't care which country his players come from, just as long as they get the Tynecastle side back to winning ways. Ivanauskas was back in Edinburgh for the first time in more than a month after an enforced rest from his duties to resolve a health problem and took charge of the team for his first training session since that sabbatical.

The twinkle was back in his eye too, and his presence at Riccarton ensured an extra spring in the step of his players although he admits that the squad have some hard work ahead of them if they are to salvage their league campaign.

The Gorgie outfit lie fifth in the table and pockets of their supporters staged protests outside Tynecastle a week ago over the omissions of Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley, Robbie Neilson and Julien Brellier in favour of some of the club's Lithuanian players. That convinced Romanov to return to Scotland to try to win back the supporters, restoring Pressley to the starting line-up against Inverness on Saturday as captain and promising to bring in more home-grown talent instead of peppering the side with so many Lithuanians.

But Ivanauskas says he's more interested in quality than nationality, although he highlighted the number of promising youngsters already coming through the youth ranks. "I think in every good team there are a lot of foreign players and for me that is normal, you see it every week in countries like Germany, Italy and England, even here," he said. "Vladimir would maybe like 70 per cent Scottish players but I don't think you can count whether a team should have 50 or 70 per cent of players from one country.

"As far as I am concerned we need good players, no matter what their nationality. It does not matter where they come from, as long as they are good enough to play for this team.

"We do have very good young Scottish players at the club, though, and we want to build on that and bring them through, there were many who came into the first team last season, players like Christophe Berra, Lee Wallace and Jamie Mole, Calum Elliot.

"That is very good for our club, our football academy and we need to continue working that way because it is good for Hearts and good for Scotland also."

The Tynecastle side, however, have ensured that there will at least be a Scottish influence in the dug-out for the remainder of the season, confirming that Stevie Frail has been appointed as Ivanauskas' assistant.

Concerns had been raised that Hearts would be without an English-speaking coach as a result of John McGlynn's departure to become the new Raith Rovers manager last week however Frail, who had been coaching the club's Under-19s has stepped in as a ready-made replacement.

Ivanauskas was quick to thank McGlynn, a popular figure with the Hearts players, for his services and is looking forward to working with Frail by his side.

He added: "John was at the club for many years and I would like to thank him for the work that he did for Hearts, I called him to say so. But every assistant wants to become a manager and I don't think John was any different.

"He has been given a chance and I hope that he takes it. Stevie Frail was yesterday officially appointed my assistant and that is good for the club. We also have Tom Ritchie and Jimmy Stewart so there are still Scottish people involved."

One of Frail's first tasks will be to help Ivanauskas rediscover Hearts' form of last season - and to steer the club to their first win in eight matches. However, they face a difficult trip to face St Mirren on Saturday.

"Our first target now is winning games," added Ivanasuskas. " The fans are angry about the results and the situation and we need to change that. The supporters like this club, they would die for this club. I think they are the greatest supporters in this country.

"We want to change things, not just for ourselves but also for the supporters.

"This situation is not about Steven, Paul Hartley, Craig Gordon, Robbie Neilson or Julien Brellier, it is about the team, about the club and that is the most important thing in it all.

As for Ivanauskas himself, he has returned refreshed and rejuvenated and says he is ready to face the challenges ahead of him. "I feel very well and I needed the time off for personal reasons, now I am back though I am ready. A manager's life is not easy and I am sure that all managers have some problems but it was not only at Hearts that I had a problem, I also had a problem in my personal life which I don't want to talk about, that meant I needed some time off.

"I saw only two games when I was away, Celtic and Rangers, because the doctors told me that I had to have complete rest from my Hearts life. It wasn't easy.

"There is not a lot of work to be done, the only thing that we need to concentrate on right now is getting three points against St Mirren. I want the players to get a bit of self confidence back and feel the pleasure of winning again.

"If you can start to win games again then the problems always get smaller or go away."

In Ivanauskas' absence of course a trio of players, lead by captain Pressley, read out a statement revealing there was unrest in the dressing-room and a split among the players.

The head coach acknowledged there had been problems within the squad but insisted that he was simply concentrating on the next match, adding: "I didn't really follow the situation with the players who had been left out.

"Eduard was in charge and it was his decision not to play these players, he was the manager at that time and I don't want to argue about that decision. It was the players' decision to make the statement and at the moment we are trying to concentrate only on the team matters and on the St Mirren game and at the moment personal problems are away from the team.

"Yesterday I took training and I had many discussions, not only with Elvis. It was a very good discussion. For me the club is the most important thing in all of this and we must start to win matches, that is our priority.

"The fans want us to win but I think it is also important for us to show that we are a team, not just a group of players. We must prove that the players, the coaching staff, everyone is a team."

Taken from the Scotsman