Paulo Sergio left in limbo as Vladimir Romanov flies out before party

HEARTS manager Paulo Sergio broke off from yesterday’s Scottish Cup winning celebrations to offer perhaps the broadest hint yet that this famous victory will stand as his farewell gift to the Tynecastle club.

Sergio’s contract is due to expire at the end of this month, and, in an emotional interview yesterday he revealed some agitatation that owner Vladimir Romanov had swept in and out of Scotland without even discussing the manager’s future. Asked what his next move will now be, Sergio shrugged: “Now I go home to see the cup final of Portugal.

“I would prefer my last interview to end in a different way,” he added. Romanov did not even stay to see the end of Saturday’s 5-1 victory over Hibernian at Hampden Park, leaving the ground early to catch a flight to London, from where he caught another flight to Moscow. Romanov not only missed the celebrations at the end of the game but he was also absent from Tynecastle yesterday as the players were presented to the crowd following an open-top bus parade to the stadium from the city chambers.

Romanov holds the key to Sergio’s future, and the manager admitted it is “p***ing me off a little bit” that he remains in such an uncertain position after one of the most memorable weekends in the club’s history.

“It is not my decision to stay here,” said Sergio. “I have already said that I would like to stay. I don’t want to stay to any price but at this moment there is no price, there is nothing.

“Until this moment people have said they want me to stay but there have been no other talks on the table to fix things,” he continued. “We are losing too much time because normally at this time in the season, by the last game, I have things all done for the next season. At this moment I have nothing and that is bothering me and pissing me off a little bit at this moment. But, I am tough enough to deal with that. There is no point in me putting deadlines down because people are here and whatever is going to happen will happen.”

Sergio wnet on to pay tribute to his family, who remain in Portugal and have suffered his absence since August, when he was appointed as Jim Jefferies’ replacement. Tears welled in his eyes on Saturday night, during an interview aired on BBC Scotland’s Sportscene, as he discussed his parents, wife and daughter. His mother was in the stand at Hampden on Saturday, and this, he said, had meant everything to him.

“That [tears] always happens to me because I am very proud of my parents because they came from a very poor life and they raised two boys, me and my brother, and we are so proud of them,” he said. “My mother was in the stand and when I speak about them it breaks my heart all the time, more than the money or being a legend myself or whatever.

“It is knowing that my parents are with me in such a great moment. It is amazing and the most important thing I achieve here.”

“My daughter and my wife stay in Portugal and it is not easy,” he added. “We have to work and take the steps to achieve what we want to accomplish. I am sure that I made the right decision coming here.”

Taken from the Scotsman