ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

STEVEN PRESSLEY could have kicked his last ball for Hearts after being SUSPENDED by the club.

Pressley was nowhere to be seen at the Jambos' Riccarton HQ yesterday, 24 hours after showdown talks at Tynecastle on his future.

It's understood Pressley was physically and mentally fit to take part in the last training session before today's SPL clash at St Mirren but was ordered to stay away from the club. Team-mates were stunned when he did not appear at the designated meeting time of 1pm and the team bus pulled away for their pre-match base late in the afternoon without the skipper on board.

Sources say he was told to stay away after failing to resolve his issues with the club during talks with director of infrastructure Pedro Lopez on Thursday evening. The talks continued yesterday morning, after which Pressley was told his services were not required for Love Street, which marks the return of Valdas Ivanauskas as head coach after a month on the sidelines through ill health.

Hearts and Pressley refused to comment amid claims the club were planning to fine the Scotland star for making himself unavailable for last month's game against Falkirk.

Pressley declared he was mentally unfit after uncovering a plot to undermine him as club captain. It came two weeks after, speaking on behalf of many of the first-team squad, he effectively passed a vote of no confidence in Romanov's running of the club.

Pressley has been unhappy on a range of issues affecting him recently and has voiced his concerns to Romanov via Lopez.

However, it's clear his paymaster isn't interested in listening and if Pressley isn't moved on in the January transfer window he could even face spending the rest of the season on the sidelines.

Pressley has been linked with a move to Dundee United and while Craig Levein is an admirer of the man he made captain at Hearts his budget is stretched.

However, Pressley may now feel he has no option but to cut his losses after almost nine years at Tynecastle, even though he is due a testimonial next season.

But insiders also fear Romanov could take revenge and play hard ball by refusing to sanction a move elsewhere or price him out of the market by quoting an inflated fee to interested buyers.

Taken from the Daily Record