HEARTS were last night dealt another blow after Saulius Mikoliunas announced he wants to quit after a blast at Scottish referees.
The Lithuania winger has been a controversial figure since his infamous dive at Hampden Park to win his country a penalty in a Euro 2008 qualifier against Scotland. And he has now revealed he wants to leave the Edinburgh crisis club, who delayed
paying their players again last week.
Mikoliunas said: "Hearts have the perfect set up, Edinburgh is a lovely city and the Scottish people are mad about football. But I have been here for four years now and I feel the need for something new; new challenges."
Mikoliunas believes most Scottish fans have forgotten about his infamous penalty dive, but Scottish referees haven't.
He said: "It looks like the fans are starting to forget that incident. Last year I heard a lot of whistles and got a lot of abuse but now it's dying down. But the referees look at me through a magnifying glass.
"It's frustrating when you get booked for nothing, but I just accept it and carry on. I have no intention to whine that I am being treated unfairly. My job is to play and the referee's job is to referee."
Mikoliunas almost quit Hearts in the summer for a move to Greek club Larissa and is currently back home in the Baltics recovering from injury.
He reckons he will be back in action next month.
He said: "I will try to recoup for the time that was lost. Maybe a rest is what I needed, I will be back with more energy and hungry for football again."
• Alan Gow last night revealed he will return to Rangers at the start of next month. The on-loan Ibrox flop has been a revelation since joining Blackpool in August.
Gow was never given a chance at Rangers after making just two starts, against East Fife and East Stirling, last season after he moved from Falkirk. But since moving to Bloomfield Road, Gow has netted a string of important goals for the Championship side.
Although Blackpool want to sign him on an agreed price of £250,000, Gow says he is likely to come back north. He said: "Blackpool spoke to my agent last week and I know they want to sign me permanently, but I have not heard anything since. If nothing happens down here then I will just go back to Rangers on 1 January."
The full article contains 421 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
