Jefferies unfazed by wage-cut directive

15 April 2010 16:03
Jim Jefferies has claimed he could bring success to Hearts, even if he is forced to halve the wage bill by Vladimir Romanov.[LNB] Last week saw majority shareholder Romanov pay a surprise visit to Edinburgh, during which he and manager Jefferies discussed their plans for the future.[LNB]The latter confirmed this morning he was under orders to reduce the wage bill after the controversial Romanov warned he would no longer tolerate "mercenaries" at Tynecastle.[LNB]The vastly experienced Jefferies insists he has no problem with the Lithuania-based businessman's vision, claiming he had operated under far tighter constraints in the past.[LNB]"I've been in this game along enough," said the 59-year-old former Kilmarnock and Bradford boss.[LNB]"I keep going to chairmen and they keep telling me to cut wage bills![LNB]"So that's not a problem - this one's probably a little bit easier.[LNB]"Maybe that's one of the reasons I'm here, so that we can get the wage bill down and still bring in players and build a side that make us successful."[LNB]He added: "The wage bill will still be a good wage bill.[LNB]"Sometimes, you go to other clubs and you wonder how you're going to do it.[LNB]"But, in this case, even cutting the wage bill down will still be sufficient.[LNB]"That's the good thing from my point of view.[LNB]"Even if I halve the wage bill here, it would still be a decent wage bill to expect the team to do extremely well."[LNB]Romanov's directive casts further doubt on the futures of captain Michael Stewart, midfielder Laryea Kingston and striker Christian Nade, all of whom are out of contract at the end of the season and all of whom are thought to be among the biggest earners at the club.[LNB]Defender Jose Goncalves has already rejected a new deal and is set to quit Tynecastle this summer.[LNB]Jefferies said: "The ones who are out of contract, we can sit down in a couple of weeks and look at the situation and ask them what they're thinking.[LNB]"And if you have to cut the wage bill then you might not be able to afford them because they might get a better offer elsewhere."[LNB]Jefferies believes Romanov is as committed as ever to Hearts and insisted he had yet to suffer the kind of direct interference that irked his many predecessors.[LNB]"He's let me get on with it and he seems happy enough and hopefully that will continue," Jefferies said.[LNB]Sunday sees Hearts travel to Rangers in their first post-split Clydesdale Bank Premier League fixture.[LNB]Jefferies has challenged his players to finish the season with a flourish and snatch a Europa League spot.[LNB]"It's not like they can just play out time," he warned.[LNB]"There are teams above us that are catchable with the number of games that we've got.[LNB]"That's a great incentive for the players and us to go and win matches."[LNB]Despite being one of the winners when the post-split fixtures were announced, Jefferies today reiterated his call for league reform.[LNB]But he fears the number of votes from SPL clubs needed to scrap the split make it almost impossible for change to occur.[LNB]"It takes an 11-1 vote to change it and that's a problem," said the Hearts boss, who called for the voting rules to be relaxed.[LNB]"We have to decide if there's a better voting system because as long as any two clubs are in cahoots with each other then nothing can go ahead."

Source: Team_Talk