McGowan forced to consider Hearts exit, cautions agent

Thursday 27 September 2012

THE agent representing Ryan McGowan has warned he may have no option but to seek a move away from Hearts for the Australian.

Ryan McGowan is out of contract next summer

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Lou Sticca has grown frustrated at the lack of progress being made on a proposed new deal and has called on the Tynecastle club to emulate the loyalty shown by his client when McGowan ignored the overtures of Rangers in August.

Hearts have made an offer of a new contract, with the defender's deal due to expire at the end of the season. Sticca feels those terms are "demeaning", though, and is feeling compelled to gauge interest from other clubs.As McGowan has turned 23, Hearts will not be entitled to any compensation should the player they signed as a teenager choose to leave. He is free to sign a contract with another club as of January."Hearts made an initial offer which was not much better than he is on at the moment. You could describe it as demeaning to Ryan," said Sticca, who is also concerned about discussions involving the future of Dylan McGowan, Ryan's younger brother, who is also at Hearts. "I'm a bit concerned with the lack of progress on that front. We have invited Hearts to put something else forward but they don't seem to be treating it with any great urgency. "From January 1, Ryan can sign with another club. We're not the typical agents that look forward to January 1 to get players moves but Hearts are putting us in a situation that we will have to start looking at other options."Ryan loves the club and he would like to stay. The player turned down a very lucrative offer to go to Rangers, it would have set him up [for] life. The player showed his loyalty to the club but so far it's not been reciprocated."One instance of reciprocation at Tynecastle involved McGowan's defensive team-mate Danny Grainger, the full-back celebrating his goal in Tuesday night's Scottish Communities League Cup win over Livingston by going to remonstrate with a fan.Grainger scored the first goal in a 3-1 – the Englishman directing a powerful shot past Livingston's Andy McNeil, albeit with the aid of a deflection – but dedicated his long-range strike to the Hearts supporter that had been giving him grief earlier in the tie. He had darted towards the Wheatfield Stand to exchange "pleasantries" with him first, though."There was a bit of banter between me and one of the fans, but these things happen during the game," said the Hearts defender. "He had an opinion that I didn't like, and after I scored he held his hands up. I'll put it all down to him. If it wasn't for him then I wouldn't have scored. He can have the credit; I'm sure he'll love that."

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McGowan forced to consider Hearts exit, cautions agent

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