Internal strife continues to hinder Hearts.
Manager Paulo Sergio has revealed after the 1-1 William Hill Scottish Cup draw with St Johnstone that goalkeeper Marian Kello has been frozen out of the side by the club’s board.
Cillian Sheridan’s 77th-minute strike cancelled out David Templeton’s opener as 10-man Saints earned a replay at McDiarmid Park on February 14.
Slovakian Kello, who is out of contract at the end of the season, reportedly turned down a move to Austria Vienna on transfer deadline day last week, preferring to stay at Tynecastle.
However, his decision appears to have upset Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov and director Sergejus Fedotovas, and although Kello warmed up with the team, it was Jamie MacDonald who played in goal.
Sergio said: “There is an issue running between him (Kello) and our board, a political thing. It’s not up to me to explain that.
“I was told that because Marian is not committed with the future with Hearts, we should play the others. It’s a tough situation. It’s not a good thing for us.”
Sergio believes Kello – who was also made unavailable for selection last season under Jim Jefferies – will not be free to play against Celtic on Wednesday night in the Scottish Premier League, unless the issue is resolved.
With that game in mind, Sergio was frustrated by the scheduling of Sunday’s match.
The Portuguese could not understand why Hibernian’s Scottish Cup clash with Kilmarnock went ahead on the same day as the RBS 6 Nations fixture between Scotland and England, but Hearts were not permitted to play then as well.
However, Murrayfield and Tynecastle are in close proximity and policing issues meant it was not possible.
Sergio said: “It was better for us if we played yesterday, one more day to recover the team. Yesterday I was very surprised that there was a game at Easter Road.
“We were told because of the rugby game we couldn’t play on Saturday. I wanted to play yesterday, or even Friday.
“Now we’re going to play with two days recovery between two games.”
Sergio saw Templeton go off with a groin problem and believed his side should have had a penalty early in the second half for a handball against Dave Mackay, but accepted Saints were worthy of a replay.
He added: “Generally I’m not pleased with the performance. Maybe St Johnstone deserved the second game. We’ll get ready to go there and try to win.”
St Johnstone boss Steve Lomas felt his side deserved to remain in the competition.
Lomas said: “I thought it would have been a travesty of justice if we had gone out of the Cup today.”
Lomas lamented referee Craig Thomson’s decision to send off Mackay for two bookable offences 17 minutes from time.
Lomas said: “I thought it was one-way traffic second half until we got the sending off.
“I’m not here to criticise referees, they’ve got a tough job. I would just like Craig to come out and explain how, when somebody’s hooking the ball back over his shoulder and he can’t see the player coming in, how can that be deemed dangerous play?”
Lomas brought on Sheridan at halftime and was pleased with the impact of the striker, whose loan from CSKA Sofia was extended last month.
Lomas added: “When the big man’s fit, he’s got every attribute to be a top, top striker. It was a nice cool finish.”
