Hearts owner Romanov declares his delight to JJ

The majority shareholder has been encouraged by an unbeaten league run which has propelled his club into contention for the title in Jefferies' first full season as manager.

The prosperity has come at a fraction of the cost of five years ago, when Hearts signed high-profile players and managed to reach the Champions League qualifying rounds and win the Scottish Cup.

Romanov and Jefferies also discussed arrangements for the remainder of this transfer window, which mainly involved contingency plans should they receive an acceptable offer for a current player and then have to replace him. Jefferies has some scope to bring players in but admitted he would likely wait until the summer when movement in the transfer market is more regular.

Overall, he received a huge pat on the back from Romanov for his work to date. "He's been pleased with everything that's happened," said Jefferies. "He's like every owner, he just asked me what happened last Tuesday night (against St Johnstone in the Scottish Cup]. You can't win every game and he understands that. We just didn't perform and if you don't perform you aren't going to win matches.

"I think he's excited that the team is playing a good brand of football and we've been scoring a lot of goals compared to that last couple of seasons. The crowds are coming back and there's a great atmosphere about the training ground. All these things that have brought a feel-good factor about the club, he's delighted with that. We talked mostly about plans for the transfer window. If anybody we've mentioned is available then we'll see if there's a possibility of getting him. If not then we're quite happy with the squad we have. If it's something that needs to wait till the end of the season then we'll do that."

Jefferies added that his remit at Tynecastle remains to continue challenging Rangers and Celtic.

"The goals were explained to me before I took the job," he said.

"It's nothing different to what I did here in the past, which was to try and make the team as successful as I can in the league and at the same time try and nurture and bring through some of the younger players into the squad with a view to doing well.

"Maybe they can then go on to bigger and better things. Is that not what you should be doing in the job anyway?

"There's nothing different. If it had been different I probably wouldn't have taken the job.

"Mr Romanov said before that they were trying to split the Old Firm and they did.

"With the results we've had we've put in a challenge and I think he will be delighted if we do manage to do it. But that's talking about it.

"You've got to step up to the plate and do it."

Jefferies dismissed suggestions of a move for the Burnley striker Steven Thompson, saying: "I don't know where it's coming from. I'm not surprised that we'll be linked with a lot of players from now till the end of this transfer window.

"What you get is an agent phoning you up, you say 'thanks for letting me know' and suddenly you're interested in them. You are not.

"You just pay them respect and say thanks."