Hearts close in on their man at last as Csaba arrives

LASZLO Csaba is expected to be appointed the new manager of Hearts early next week after the Ugandan international coach held talks with the club in Edinburgh yesterday.

The 44-year-old toured the training facilities at Riccarton and was also at Tynecastle, although it is not the first-time the much-travelled Csaba has visited Edinburgh.

Hearts fans will remember him best from the time he clashed with then manager John Robertson during a Uefa Cup tie between Ferencvaros and the Edinburgh club at Murrayfield in 2004. Csaba was in charge of the Hungarian side at the time and claimed Robertson had kicked him after the match, which Hearts lost 1-0. Robertson countered by saying Csaba had stood on his foot.

Vladimir Romanov, the Hearts owner, has proved more interested in other details of Csaba's career, however.

He has impressed in his present role as Uganda coach and narrowly failed to lead the Cranes to the African Nations Cup, which was held at the start of this year. He has also held coaching posts with Borussia Mönchengladbach and assisted Lothar Matthäus when the German was manager of Hungary.

Csaba acquired a diploma in coaching from Cologne University after his playing career was ended by a knee injury when he was only 27. He went onto become a distinguished manager of Hungarian club Ferencvaros, where he won two league titles.

Csaba can speak English, German, Hungarian, Spanish and also French. He is known to be a hard worker and reacted enthusiastically to the challenge of managing Uganda on his arrival in 2006.

"I was born in a time of insurgency," he said, having agreed to succeed Tomislav Sivic – who had resigned before even leading Uganda in a single match. "I have got enough experience so nothing can intimidate me."

Such bravado will come in useful at Hearts and in his dealings with Romanov. Csaba has declared himself keen to manage Hearts and take up another exacting assignment in Edinburgh. He is set to be unveiled at the start of next week, and his first match in charge could be Monday's friendly against Glentoran in Belfast.

Hearts fitness coach Tom Ritchie and sports director Anatoly Korobochka have been in charge of pre-season training since the players returned more than a fortnight ago.

The last Tynecastle manager to have started and finished a league campaign was Craig Levein, in 2003-04. Romanov arrived the following season and another seven managers have come and gone, with the latest, Stephen Frail, having ended his association with the club on Wednesday. Just 24 hours later the Hearts official website confirmed the club had been granted permission to speak to Csaba.

It means the long process of appointing a permanent manager at Tynecastle is drawing to a close. The search began in January after a poor sequence of results over Christmas and earlier this week Romanov said it was unlikely he would be Scottish, since it was difficult for them to excel in their country. Now it seems Romanov has got his wish for a worldly manager unaffected by local issues.

The Ugandan FA has reluctantly accepted that Csaba will move to Tynecastle after two years in Africa. "We know he will leave but what can we do," said Ugandan FA general secretary Charles Masembe. "He has done a very good job here and we wish him well in Scotland."

But not everyone in Uganda is convinced he is making the right career move. "I told Csasba that it would be a wrong move for him, but you could see his heart is elsewhere," said Ugandan FA president Lawrence Mulindwa. "His heart is not fully with us and I cannot force him to stay. Maybe it is the money factor."

Hearts have already agreed compensation with the Uganda FA for Csaba, who had two years still to run of his four-year deal.