Apologies for not putting up an update since Monday. I’ve spent this time trying to put my frustration into words. So far all I’ve been able to come up with is a few mumbled expletives and some cursing. We head into the Scottish Cup 5th round without a striker or a replacement for Berra. According to the Scotsman, this was because of someone, (either in the higher ups at Tynecastle or in Slovakia) doesn’t know how to use a fax machine. In their defence, I wouldn’t know how to use a Fax machine as in the world of technology, it is officially “antiquated”. Why couldn’t they have sent the relevant paperwork by e-mail? I assume both clubs have a computer connected to the web, a printer and a scanner? It’s not really worth thinking about to be honest. All that we know is that Hearts and/or Slovakia made a hash of the Transfer proceedings and were stuck with what we’ve got.

Since the Transfer window slammed (with a disgustingly hollow clang) shut, the Scotsman hasn’t given a decent story about the JT’s all week. They seem adamant to repeat the same quotes and useless insight about Hearts failing to sign anyone and how this will be bad by the time May roles around. They were even forced to turn to a Hearts fan for some insight into tomorrows match against Falkirk, clearly the journalists have “better” things to do. However, I totally agree with his opinion about what Hearts need to be doing - an attacking mentality with a 4-4-2 formation and a positive attacking mentality. I couldn’t agree more with this analysis and I’ve been stressing the need for a 4-4-2 for months now.

Gary Glen is on the cover of the Souvenir Programme tomorrow. Could this be some sort of subliminal omen?

Not to toot my own horn, but I was right about Neilson becoming captain (yay me!). Despite having the slight ego boost of being right over a problem that had a pointlessly obvious solution, I’m still very disappointed that Berra left. It’ll probably be Jonsson replacing him in defence.

I’ll have a pre-match report ready for tommorow morning.

…Not very good at all. Hearts were beaten (maybe routed ist the better word) 2-0 by little upstarts Hamilton who extend their terrific form. Hamilton were all over the JT’s for almost all of the 90 minutes knocking in two goals and making Hearts look generally silly.

If any blame is going  to put anywhere, I’d put on the defence (not that the rest of the team were really much better). First, although MacDonald is a good young goalie, he hasn’t had the regular experience that Balogh has had and it appears his experience was missed today. The back 4 will have had their issues as well. Only Neilson and Wallace have had any regular first team appearances with Zaluikas and Jonsson filling in the gaps when they appeared. Not having Berra probably hurt, and the new defensive set up will need some time to gel, but this should get better over time.

This match is probably another in a long list of arguments for changing the set up of the squad. The 4-5-1 formation allows for dominance of the midfield and quick movement of the ball up into the opposition’s area. However, we only have one experienced striker to feed the ball to and he has a tendency to hang back a bit while the whole team have a reluctance th shoot the ball. We need a new striker with two up front, possibly working with the classic 4-4-2.

Their is some minor consolation (if you like that sort of thing). Our two main contenders for the European spot both lost today: Rangers 2-o Dundee United, Falkirk 1-0 Aberdeen with Hibs only scraping a draw with Motherwell. S0, even though Hearts suffered a bad loss today, the table stays much the same as far as Hearts are concerned.

With it looking likely that the captain will be leaving for pastures new, down at Wolverhampton, Hearts are going to need to work extraordinarily hard in the next couple days to sign in a striker, and maybe a replacement for Berra. If Berra does go, Csaba apparently has someone in mind: “I have one player, a very talented player, who is an international with his country, played Champions League and UEFA Cup and is 23 years old”

Maybe we could somehow label Vlad with the blame, as he decided to show his face at the match after arriving in Edinburgh for transfer talks. Maybe he jinxed it? You decide.

The next match is in a week against Falkirk in the 5th Round of the Scottish Cup at Tynecastle. Lets hope Csaba and the gang can get it together for then.

Scorers: Mensing 11, pen 52

I was hoping that this wasn’t going to happen (can’t understand the specifics myself) but Hearts have accepted an offer of £2.3 million for the JT’s Captain Christophe Berra from Wolverhampton Wanderers.

I have two points I want to raise over this. 1st, why have Hearts accepted an offer £700,000 below the original price tag? Probably because the rumoured interest from Fulham and Sunderland was only just a rumour. It can also be discerned that Hearts (or at least Vlad Romanov) are desperate to get a decent money boost.

As such, Berra will not feature in Csaba’s squad in today’s match against Hamilton as he travelled down to Molineux this morning to watch Wolves v Watford.

Those of you who were up early enough to cath the preceding article on the Scotsman, you would know that Csaba Laszlo was apparently in the dark over Berra’s future and had tried to keep the captain at Tynecastle. This obviously means that Vlad has set his clout to stealth mode and working in the shadows in the past few months.

Now, a quick quiz. Raise your hand if you think Wolves are a bigger side than Hearts? No one? Ok, who thinks that the Championship is bigger than the SPL? Yes I know it’s “bigger” because it has more teams than the SPL but that’s not what I asked.

What this does mean is that we need a new Captain. Who’s the new skipper? My money’s on Robbie Nielson. He’s been around the longest at Tynecastle and know how things tick. Also, it will probably be Jason Thomson to take up Berra’s position in the back 4 although Csaba hinted that he had an excellent replacement in mind just in case. Whether or not he meant Thomson is another question…

Well, Goodbye Christophe Berra, you will be missed.

Well, last time we were here was Wednesday 12th November at Tynecastle and it was a poor match to say the least as Hearts squeaked by 1-0 in a game which Hearts should have been comfortable in. However, that was over two months ago and Hearts are a now a better team with great results against Rangers and Celtic and a fantastic victory over the Hibees in the Scottish Cup. Hearts are currently 4th in the table, only behind Dundee United on goal difference with 38 points and Aberdeen sitting right behind with 37.

Hamilton Academical sit in 9th with 26 points behind Kilmarnock on goal difference and 2 points behind Motherwell. The Accies, originally predicted to be knocked back down into the First Division this season, have been on a stellar run of form recently beating Kilmarnock, Inverness and Aberdeen in their last 3 SPL matches (not necessarily in that order) with 4 wins out of the last 5 and a victory in the Scottish Cup over Ross County.

The BBC reports that the line ups will be:

Hamilton Accies: Cerny, Swailes, Neil, McLaughlin, Canning, Easton, McClenahan, McArthur, Mensing, Thomas, McCarthy, Murdoch, Gibson, Akins, Lyle, McGowan, Offiong, Deuchar.

Hearts: MacDonald, Neilson, Zaliukas, Berra, Wallace, Obua, Stewart, Karipidis, Driver, Aguiar, Nade, Kello, Kingston, Glen, Thomson, Jonsson, Cesnauskis, Mrowiec.

I’m going to agree with these line-ups (I don’t know much about the Accies so I can’t comment much on them) but the Hearts line up seems about right, much the same as last weeks. It’s unlikely that Hearts are going to get Ballogh’s signature so it’s probably going to be MacDonald in goal again because it’s unlikely that Kello has learnt to kick the ball in a straight line. It’s a safe bet to assume that Csaba is going to stick with the fairly successful 4-5-1 formation with Nade up front. Although it would be good to see Kingston start again in place of Karipidis (I’m I the only one who thinks he makes TOO many mistakes in a match?) but with the team gelling, it’s probably not going to change. Marius Zaliukas has returned from suspension, but with 2 red cards from only 19 appearances (not a great ratio), it *would* be likely that he would remain sidelined after recent match conduct. However, as Eggert Jonsson is currently ill, Zaliukas will be playing alongside Berra, Neilson and Wallace (The sending off against Aberdeen was highly dubious and I don’t think it deserved a sending off. To me, it appeared to be the Aberdeen player being an idiot).

I predict it to be a much closer match than it normally would be with the final score Hearts 2 - Accies 1. I suspect that David Obua is begging to find his feet in Scottish football and will probably get one of the goals. Bruno Aguiar with the second.

In other Hearts news, Csaba Laszlo is reported to be in talks with a striker playing in Europe whom Csaba calls “interesting”. Now, we must remember that Lithuania is also in Europe, so I wouldn’t rule out another Kaunus of Ripo loan but we can always hope it isn’t. What worries me is that this player is currently in Europe and as such, may need a period to adjust to Scottish football which is exactly what we don’t need. As you all know, we need John Robertson. But seeing as he’s not available, we need someone who can start scoring the moment he steps on the pitch. Just to let you speculate wildly - a representative of Vlad’s “Ukio Bankas Investment Group” has been sent to assist in the transfer negotiations…see it as you will

(Quick question…”with” is still a word in the English language? My word processor seems to have forgotten it exists)

Quick update, fresh off the Scotsman. Hearts have rejected a £2 million bid for Christophe Berra from Wolverhampton Wanderers as it did not meet the £3 million price tag.

There is a lot of speculation around the Jam-Tarts Captain. I’m not all that sure why Wolves made an offer lower than the 3 million price tag, which was made public a few days ago although I think it’s unlikely that Berra will sign with them if the offer comes through. He said recently that he wants to play for a “top-flight” team of which Wolves are not.

There is also a rumour that Premier League sides Bolton and Sunderland will be willing to pay the 3 million price tag for Berra who I imagine he is more likely to sign for (At least he knows someone at Sunderland). However, with both sides sitting precariously close to the relegation, Berra may thing twice.

If my opinion is worth anything (and seeing as this is my blog, its worth a lot), I think Berra should at least leave it until the season is over as it will be difficult for him to adjust to English Premier League or Championship football with the season in full swing. However, Laszlo has stated that if the right deal comes in and Berra leaves for pastures new, our fantastic manager already has a replacement lined up that could be signed imeadietly after Berra leaves. Lets just hope he has enough time carry out this plan if (God forbid) Berra leaves.

Albert Meyong Ze

In other Transfer news, rumours have gone around that Hearts are looking at Albert Meyong-Ze (Vlad’s just trying to make Mr. Scott Wilson quit with some of these names isn’t he…). From what I can pick up, its just another one of these transfer rumours that float about in the void around this time and that no one has spoken to him yet, but that British Football is beautiful…we’re talking about the same Britain are we not? The Cameroon Striker may be a good addition to the squad (God knows we need one) but it might be a good idea to find someone closer to home. We have seen in recent times that some foreign players have had difficulty adjusting to the Scottish game, David Obua for example is only just beginning to pay dividends.

Staying with David Obua, he has been linked with a move to Birmingham. If this rumour is true, I can’t see it coming to fruition, particularly as he has only just joined Hearts and enjoys an unusual relationship with Manager Csaba Laszlo.

Edit: After some digging, I have found that Manchester United, Chelsea, Rangers and Fulham are rumoured to be looking at Berra. The German team Schalke 04 may be interested in Larry Kingston. Also, Top flight German and Italian Teams are reported to be interest in Michael Stewart. It’s not very often that “Top” European teams take an interest in Scottish players outside the Old Firm, particularly players that don’t make many international appearances so this one should be watched with interest.

Good News! Bruno Aguiar, the Hearts resurgent midfielder and top goal scorer has signed a deal keeping him at Tynecastle through to next season. At least we’re keeping someone half decent around…

Bad (if its true..) News! According to the Scottish Sun (not a particularly reputable source I know) have reported that Vlad has slashed the budgets and sold off several players from FBK Kaunus and MTZ Ripo, the two other teams in Vlad’s football empire. Could this be the future for Hearts? Perhaps, but it’s a great argument as to why banks should not own football teams. Its unlikely that it will happen I believe. Hearts are a much bigger team than Kaunus and Ripo, the reaction to Kaunus beating Rangers is testament to that. Also, if things are to get bad money wise, Vlad would have cancelled the plans for the new stand. I would personally prefer keeping the current set up at Hearts rather than getting a new stand. Wouldn’t you?

Dynamo Kiev are supposedly in talks over a £1 million deal for Andrew Driver. This is from the Sun again (and I apologize a million times over) and I think, again, that it is trash. First of all, Driver is worth more than £1 million and if he has to go, he should go for a lot more,at least enough to get rid of a good chunk of debt. Second, we have here an excellent Striker who will grow into a goalscorer. What Hearts need is a goalscorer. Hmmmm, am I the only one who is seeing the logic in this one…