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Edinburgh team will be coached again by a Lithuanian - but it will not be Eugenijus Riabovas, as previously thought, but Valdas Ivanauskas, who returned to Scotland to take over as head coach after a month of vacation dedicated to rest and recovery.
The 40-year-old former Lithuanian national team player temporarily stepped down after losing to Kilmarnock on October 21st, and as the club and he himself stated, returned to Lithuania for some rest and recovery after the stress of leading Hearts with high hopes for this season.
"I needed to rest, because it was very difficult, but now I feel very good. I will start working with the team on Monday. My problems are my problems, but now I feel good and I am ready," V. Ivanauskas told the club's website upon his return to Edinburgh on Friday morning with club owner Vladimir Romanov.
While V. Ivanauskas rested, the Edinburgh team sank deeper into crisis - shortly after the departure of the coach at the end of October, team captain Steven Pressley, along with two other Hearts leaders, Craig Gordon and Paul Hartley, spoke about player dissatisfaction, which, according to the country's media, arose due to V. Romanov's interference in team selection and the threat to sell all players in case of failure against Dunfermline.
Shortly after, S. Pressley lost the captain's armband and did not play in the last two matches. This, along with the team's poor performance in the last six matches, where Hearts did not win at all, caused dissatisfaction among the fans of the capital's team, and after the defeat against Rangers last weekend, they staged a protest outside Tynecastle stadium.
Ten days ago, it was announced that E. Malofejev, while leaving for UEFA coaching courses, would be temporarily replaced by Eugenijus Riabovas, who led Kaunas to the Lithuanian championship this year. However, he did not begin to lead the team and eventually returned to Lithuania under unclear circumstances.
This caused speculation in Scotland that V. Romanov did not like E. Riabovas' statements to the press upon arriving in Edinburgh, and the unsuccessful leadership of E. Malofejev at Hearts also did not satisfy the businessman based in Kaunas. Additionally, Edinburgh team saw its assistant, John McGlynn, who managed the lower league Raith Rovers this week, leaving for them, further weakening the Hearts coaching staff.
However, all uncertainties were put to rest on Friday by the return of V. Ivanauskas, who met with the players and wished them luck in Saturday's match against Inverness. In that game, the team will most likely still be led by E. Malofejev while V. Ivanauskas will have to watch his players from the stands, but the Lithuanian strategist immediately expressed his determination to bring the team back to the path of victory.
"We need points now, the priority is the match against Inverness. The situation is not good, but I think there was something to learn from. Tomorrow we need three points and after the match we will see how things stand. Our situation requires points. I wished the players good luck and told them that we need points, fight, and that the match against Inverness will not be easy. I hope we will be ready," V. Ivanauskas said.
