Hearts joy at Ogilvie snub

HEARTS manager Jim Jefferies has welcomed the news Campbell Ogilvie has ruled himself out of a move to the Scottish Football Association.

Hearts chief executive Ogilvie, an SFA vice-president, had been among the favourites to succeed Gordon Smith, who resigned on Monday. But it is understood that at an SFA board meeting on Wednesday the Hearts official said he did not want to be considered for the vacancy.

"Campbell has been terrific with myself and Billy (Brown, Hearts' assistant manager] since we came here," Jefferies said. "I have known him for a long time and he was at Rangers and he is well respected in the game and his strengths appear to lie in being a general manager and not the overall football side of things. I would love for Campbell to stay at this club for the work he does and the way that he conducts himself."

Meanwhile, Jefferies has insisted that nothing will be decided about bringing new players in for next season until it had been determined which out-of-contract players will agree new deals to stay.

"I will tell everybody when I make my move to sign players," he said, "and a lot will depend on what I decide with the players I already have here."