Pressley's gone

STEVEN PRESSLEY will leave Hearts in the January transfer window after his eight-year Tynecastle career crumbled in one single meeting with the club hierarchy on Thursday.

The captain is virtually guaranteed never to wear a maroon shirt again after the breakdown of discussions with Pedro Lopez, Hearts' director of infrastructure, which were intended to clear the air between club and player.

Pressley was subsequently told "not to bother turning up" for training at Riccarton yesterday and did not travel with the Hearts squad to their pre-match base last night ahead of this afternoon's SPL meeting with St Mirren in Paisley.

The captain will now look for a move in the January transfer window. The players were given no explanation for the omission of their skipper, but it was confirmed that he was not injured or ill. "We haven't been told a thing," said one dressing-room source. "All we know is he isn't here but we don't know why."

Pressley had spoken out against the leadership of his club in an impromptu media statement last month, and later withdrew from the Hearts squad prior to a league match at Falkirk after uncovering a plan to depose him as captain. That led to him being left as an unused substitute in the club's next next match against Rangers, prompting supporters' protests outside Tynecastle against majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov.

At the age of 33 Pressley is now set to be transferred out of Edinburgh in January, however the Evening News understands there is virtually no chance of him returning to Dundee United in a player-coach capacity under former Hearts manager Craig Levein.

The latest developments in Pressley's battle with club management come just a week after Romanov labelled him "the cement in the team" at a meeting with leading supporters groups, and sport director Alex Koslovski was heard praising his contribution at Inverness last Saturday.

"Steven showed 100 per cent effort and attitude last week and showed Eduard [Malofeev] he is a high-quality sportsman," said Koslovski. "He deserved to be on the pitch. We always like the experienced players to play to keep the spirit high."

Pressley's omission has again angered supporters groups, who will now seek to meet with Romanov again to demand definitive answers.

Meanwhile, Valdas Ivanauskas is formulating plans to restructure the squad during January's transfer window in an attempt to secure second place in the SPL.

The head coach returned to Edinburgh on Monday following a month off due to a stress-related illness and has spent the week reorganising the football practices at Riccarton following the desperate reign of Malofeev.

One intended target could be the Icelandic international right-back Gretar Steinsson, with Hearts being credited by reports in Iceland with an interest in the player. However his Dutch club, AZ Alkmaar, are likely to expect a fee in excess of £1 million.

Ivanauskas will also welcome back Calum Elliot from his loan spell at Motherwell when the transfer window opens.

"I have my ideas and I have spoken to the club about them. In January we will change the situation," said Ivanauskas. "My first target is to find 14, 15 or 16 players. This is not easy because we have a lot of players here but it is my aim. Rotation is good but we need to be careful now.

"The squad is big but we have plans for the January transfer window. Our target is to win games between now and January and that gives us time. A lot of players need to play regularly, for example the young boys. It's possible some of them will go on loan."

Michal Pospisil has been one of many Hearts players dissatisfied with the player rotation policy employed by the club this season.

"Under Malofeev I was always in the stand," said the Czech striker. "I think the rotation was almost crazy. Maybe this can change under Valdas but at the moment I don't know."

Hearts are also understood to be unhappy with Mauricio Pinilla's decision to fly to South America to play for Chile when not fully fit. The striker was recovering from a calf problem but picked up a hamstring injury on international duty and is now unlikely to be back before the New Year.

Taken from the Scotsman