Hearts are aiming to exit administration in the next fortnight as the anniversary of their descent into financial difficulty nears.

BDO joint administrator Bryan Jackson is hopeful that the process will be signed off by an Edinburgh court within two weeks.

The club, relegated to the SPFL Championship after failing to overcome a 15-point penalty, are under an SPFL transfer embargo while they remain in what is deemed as an 'insolvency event'.

Exiting administration will allow new head coach Robbie Neilson to start his bid to rebuild a squad after players including Jamie MacDonald, Jamie Hamill, Dylan McGowan and, more recently, Ryan Stevenson were all released.

Meanwhile, the club's Scottish Cup-winning former manager, Paulo Sergio, has returned to his homeland to manage Academica FC.

The Portuguese was in charge at Tynecastle for a season, which included their 5-1 Hampden win over Hibernian, after being appointed in 2011.

He has since been in charge of Romanian team CFR Cluj and Cypriot side APOEL FC, but was fired from both posts. However, he has returned to Portugal to replace Sergio Conceicao, who has been appointed manager at SC Braga.