Riled Paulo Sergio scores in battle of insults but needs win on pitch

MATCHES between Kilmarnock and Hearts were friendly, almost fraternal, affairs when Jim Jefferies was manager of either club. Not so these days.

With Kenny Shiels in the home dugout and Paulo Sergio in charge of the visitors, today’s league match at Rugby Park could be venomous. Shiels has openly criticised several clubs this season, but his attack on Sergio earlier this week was perhaps his most personal – and it received an equally personal response yesterday when the Portuguese manager offered a withering assessment of the Kilmarnock boss.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference yesterday, Sergio began by suggesting that the Northern Irishman’s comments did not merit the dignity of a reply. After some prompting, however, he launched into a lengthy response, delivered in a deadpan style that had his audience laughing in appreciation.

“He’s like a clown, I’m saving money every single day when I open the newspapers instead of going to stand-up com edy and buying a ticket,” Sergio said. “Every day in the newspapers, the manager is speaking about the others – he’s not speaking about his team or his job. With all the titles and the leagues he has won in the past, he has this right. Everyone in football should learn from him.”

That “everyone”, Sergio went on to explain, included everyone in the game, not just in Scotland but further afield. “I’m sure that Sir Alex Ferguson, every single day, is reading these things, because it’s a lot of things to learn. I’m so proud to work in this country and respecting everybody, a country that has Ferguson, [Martin] O’Neill.

“In England the bigger number of managers are Scottish, and in Portugal I think we have around 100 coaches working abroad, a record. I think everyone in football is wrong – we should go to Northern Ireland and find these specialists. There is a No 1, [Jose] Mourinho, has a lot to learn with him.”

Sergio’s last word on Shiels came when asked if he would shake his counterpart’s hand, and he replied “His hand, his neck. . . ” Before that, though, he said he might still speak to the Kilmarnock boss after the game, but could not resist another dig. “Yes, maybe he has another joke for me,” he said. I like a lot to laugh. Of course I’m there side by side – if he wants to tell me another one I will be ready to take a big laugh.”

If Shiels’ aim was to get under Sergio’s skin, he seems to have succeeded. But there was also a serious issue behind his remarks, which the Hearts manager did address straightforwardly.

Referring to the ruling by the Hearts board that goalkeeper Marian Kello should be dropped from the team after refusing to move to Austria Vienna on transfer deadline day, Shiels said Sergio should have stood up to club owner Vladimir Romanov, said “back me or sack me” and demanded to pick the player. It was Sergio himself who made the Kello situation public after Hearts’ 1-1 cup draw with St Johnstone last Sunday, and appeared unhappy over the loss of his first-choice No 1. But yesterday he emphasised he was in agreement with the board, saying Kello’s decision to leave Tynecastle in the summer justified dropping him.

“Nobody is putting a gun to my head saying Kello can’t play because of this or that. Of course we discuss it, myself and the board, about the problem. We arrive at a decision that we’re thinking is the best for the club.

“We lose 4-0 against Celtic and, if Kello was in goal, what would people write after the game? ‘He’s not focusing on Hearts’. This measure protects Kello and the club. Kello is a fantastic goalkeeper, but he has chosen his way.” Hearts could do with a win today after that midweek defeat and their previous loss at Inverness, and full-back Jamie Hamill said they were not going to be diverted from that aim by Shiels’ remarks. “I don’t know if Kenny is trying to play mind games but they certainly won’t work here,” said Hamill, who was a Kilmarnock player before being signed for Hearts by Jefferies last summer. “We just brush it off and we’re hopefully going to go down to Rugby park to get a result.

“He is one of those men who sticks to his guns and goes for it, and sometimes I don’t think he thinks before he speaks. He’s a nice guy, but you just have to brush off some of his comments.

“I’m not going to sit here and say it’s right or wrong for other managers to be saying things, but with the situation we’ve been in you are going to get people talking about us. It’s not ideal but everybody is hammering us saying the dressing room is gone and things like that. But if you were to come into our dressing room you would see the boys all get on really well.

“When we go to Rugby Park it doesn’t make a difference whether Kenny has spoken about us or not, we want to go down there and beat them. You thrive on games like this. We’ll go down there and, hopefully, give a good account of ourselves and, hopefully, come away with the three points.”