Gagging orders are sign Hearts are hiding something

FORMER Hearts star Lee Johnson today claimed the club's insistence on getting previous employees to sign a confidentiality agreement shows they are "trying to hide something".

John McGlynn became the latest in a long-line of former Tynecastle staff asked to put pen to paper on a legal document prohibiting him from speaking publicly about Hearts' business when he opted to take the manager's job at Raith Rovers.
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He followed in the footsteps of ex-chief executive Phil Anderton, head physio Oliver Finlay and former manager Graham Rix who were also asked to agree a vow of silence.

However, as revealed yesterday by the Evening News, this practice has now also extended to the players with Portuguese full-back Tiago Costa penning a similar agreement when he had his contract terminated by mutual consent last month.

With Hearts continuing their policy of offering only limited co-operation to the media, it means supporters are effectively being kept in the dark regarding what is going on at the club.

And Johnson, an outspoken critic of the way Vladimir Romanov has run the Gorgie club, admitted the practice of gagging former staff is a worrying one.

"I've never heard of anything like that happening to players and it seems very, very strange," said the Bristol City midfielder.

"I wasn't asked to sign a confidentiality agreement but the club didn't seem to be doing that then the way that they are now.

"It just shows they are trying to hide something. But almost nothing that comes out of Hearts now surprises you and I almost expect something day on day."

The final straw for the majority of the club's supporters appeared to be when Steven Pressley declared himself "not mentally attuned" to take part in a clash with Falkirk last month after learning of a plot to oust him as captain. Romanov appeared to bow to fans' wishes for Pressley to be re-instated to the team for a trip to face Inverness Caley Thistle yet the skipper was again omitted from the weekend game with St Mirren and now looks as though he has appeared in a maroon jersey for the final time.

"Most of the fans seem to have now twigged that things aren't right but for those that haven't I don't think they ever will," said Johnson. "It really is a shambles."

Despite turning in some eye-catching displays during his time in Gorgie, Johnson was rarely selected for first-team action and spent most of his time in the reserves. The little midfielder was eventually forced to quit in the summer and return south where he was re-united with dad Gary, who is manager at Bristol City.

Johnson's departure from Edinburgh helped him to secure regular top-team football again and, just weeks later, he was joined at Ashton Gate by another ex-Hearts player, Jamie McAllister.

This season the duo have helped to push the League One outfit into contention for promotion to the Championship and Johnson believes Hearts' decision to allow McAllister, pictured left, to leave Tynecastle has proved their loss and Bristol's gain.

"Jamie's doing really well here and has actually been our stand-in captain a few times when our regular skipper's been out injured," he said. "He's settled in great here and the fact that he's a really good player means all the fans have taken to him.

"He's virtually an ever-present in the team and I think he's showing the kind of form that everyone always knew he was capable of. Him being allowed to leave Hearts has definitely been to the benefit of Bristol, that's for sure."

While ex-Yeovil playmaker Johnson was quick to praise team-mate McAllister he also revealed he's loving being able to concentrate on purely footballing matters.

Johnson's time at Hearts was almost constantly plagued by off-field turmoil and the amiable midfielder revealed his game has improved from plying his trade in a more settled environment.

"I'm enjoying the football again and things have definitely got better for me since I came here," he said. "We had a good result in the FA Cup recently and in the league we are flying, just a couple of points off second place.

"I don't think we've really hit top form yet either and that has to be a good sign for us seeing we are in a play-off spot not far off second place.

"Automatic promotion is our aim this season, however, as the play-offs are always a bit of a lottery and you don't want to go through them unless you really have to.

"We've got seven of our next ten games at home so we're approaching a massive spell that could really make or break our season."

Taken from the Scotsman