DANNY LENNON is smarting from the fact that Craig Beattie, a player he coveted for St Mirren, was signed by a financially stricken club who delayed the payment of wages to players on four consecutive months.
And it doesn't help that said player is tapping into a rich vein of form.
Hearts added the former Celtic, West Bromwich Albion and Swansea City striker to their squad last month despite taking action to reduce their wage bill by terminating the contract of Calum Elliot, loaning fellow forward John Sutton to Australia's Central Coast Mariners and allowing midfielder Ryan Stevenson to join Ipswich Town. On top of that, the Tynecastle club announced last week that monthly salaries were again being delayed.
Lennon, whose side face Hearts in Paisley this evening in their William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final replay, is bemused. "Beattie can now actually compete against a club that was in for him," he said. "It just doesn't sit right.
"It is a wee bit frustrating that Hearts are a club who can pay three or four times what we are paying and yet they can't afford to pay their players' wages at this minute in time. It is no disrespect to the Hearts management team or the playing staff, but they must get their house in order. It just doesn't seem fair."
St Mirren go into the game on the back of a 3-0 home defeat by St Johnstone last Saturday but Lennon insists his side can take inspiration from Kilmarnock's Scottish Communities League Cup final triumph over Celtic on Sunday.
"It really was a wonderful achievement by Kenny Shiels and his staff. You are envious as another manager, although you are delighted for them. You hope one day it's going to be your turn. We've all got dreams and ambitions. It gives everybody else big belief. It will give ourselves and Hearts the belief, after a difficult game tomorrow, for a semi-final against Celtic at the national stadium. Whoever goes through will take great confidence from the fact that Kilmarnock have already had a positive result."
Finding 'positives' is something that Paulo Sergio, the Hearts manager, has been working hard at this season. He must be wondering if the words "degree in psychology desirable" is something he missed when he perused the job description for the Tynecastle post.
His latest task is to lift his squad after an astonishing statement from the club just hours before Sunday's Edinburgh derby in which unnamed players were accused of refusing to leave during January's transfer window, instead "stagnating" and "taking the club's money while offering little or nothing in return".
The players' apparent intransigence was blamed in part for the on-going cash-flow troubles that are expected to mean the players having to wait until the end of the month to receive their March salaries.
Asked yesterday whether he felt the statement had been unhelpful, the Portuguese manager said: "I think it's one more thing that doesn't help. Is is frustrating? I can say 'yes'. Some things are not in my control.
"We spoke about it [with the players] and it's my job to guide their heads to the places I want. One thing our players know; things change very easily here. Maybe it's an idea, but at the end of the season we'll see what's going to happen.
"I'm just so focused on the Wednesday game. Last week was the derby, now it's St Mirren that's in my head. In football, we don't think in the long term – sometimes that's just a waste of time. We should be focusing on what we can control and what we can do."
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