Ivanauskas says Hartley needs to leave Hearts for 'last big contract'

HEARTS' head coach, Valdas Ivanauskas, said yesterday he believed Paul Hartley would leave the club before the closure of the transfer window tomorrow, and suggested it would be for the player's own good.

While there was no visible activity on the transfer market by Hearts yesterday, the coach's comments strengthened the impression that the club want to trade the international midfielder as soon as possible.
"There are two days until Wednesday, but my feeling is that Paul will change club," Ivanauskas said. "I think it would be good for him to move clubs, because he is 30 and this would be his last big contract."

Hartley and Craig Gordon, Hearts' most valuable player, were both omitted from the team which drew 0-0 with Rangers in Glasgow on Saturday. Ibrox still appears the most likely Scottish destination for the midfielder.

Hearts still appear intent on making quite a lot of money out of Gordon now instead of waiting until the end of the season. Romanov's reported attempt to sell the Scotland No1 to a leading Russian club would be a non-starter, as the goalkeeper would almost certainly turn down a move away from western Europe.

Fulham bid £2.5 million for the 24-year-old earlier this month, but their offer was turned down and they switched their interest to Carlo Nash from Preston North End. Hearts would not tell Gordon's agent which clubs had gone so far as to make a bid, but Gordon insisted he had no desire to leave at present.

"I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but it looks as if Hearts would prefer it if I left - but I don't want to go," he said. "If there's an offer for me that I couldn't turn down, that's fine. If not, I want to stay where I am. If another offer has come in from Fulham then I'll consider it. But I'm doing nothing for the time being except getting ready to play for Hearts."

Gordon also explained that, contrary to Ivanauskas' claim on Saturday, he had not been omitted because of a groin strain. "The reality is that, as with Paul, I was told I wouldn't be playing because the club was in discussions with a view to my transfer," he said. "It's nothing to do with a groin injury, and they haven't told me who they are speaking with."

When Gordon was left on the bench for the match at Dundee United last month, Ivanauskas claimed it was because he had not been feeling well. Gordon said privately then, too, that there was nothing wrong with him, and made that clear by warming up on a chilly day in a short-sleeved T-shirt.

Gordon was also omitted from the team which beat Falkirk 1-0 ten days ago. He believed then he was fit to play, but Ivanauskas selected Steve Banks instead, again citing a groin strain as the reason for the omission of the Scotland player.

Hartley, Gordon, Robbie Neilson, Julien Brellier and Michal Pospisil were the five players named on the Hearts website on Friday as the subjects of transfer negotiations. While no club has made public its interest in Brellier or Neilson, the League One side Bristol City remain hopeful of persuading Pospisil to join them.

"He's a player with Championship quality, a superb finisher and an experienced lad," said the City manager Gary Johnson, father of the former Hearts player Lee. "We've spoken to Hearts and that's all OK.

"We've been speaking to Michal and now we have to convince him that Bristol City is the place for him. He's got some personal decisions to make. He's still got 18 months left on his Hearts contract and may decide to stay there."

Meanwhile, Hearts have asked Dunfermline for more tickets for Saturday's Scottish Cup match, having sold out their entire 5,200 allocation. That figure was increased from the initial 4,100, and a spokesman for the club admitted that their request for a second increase might well be turned down.

"We have asked Dunfermline for more tickets, but we accept that, having already had an allocation in excess of 5,000, this may not be possible," he said. "If there is an opportunity to do so we will take them, but at this stage it might not be possible."

Taken from the Scotsman