The manager picks the team at Hearts, Jim Jefferies warns Vladimir Romanov

Jim Jefferies has warned Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov that it is the manager who will have the final say on team selection.

Jefferies reasserted his authority after Rudi Skacel's return to the club this week and said that regardless of how many players are parachuted into his squad, he will be the one deciding the starting line-up.

The Czech Republic midfielder was brought in by Romanov without the manager's say so, scuppering Jefferies' hopes of bringing in a signing of his own. It is a scenario that has provoked frustration among his predecessors in the Tynecastle hotseat and led to their positions becoming untenable. Jefferies also finds the situation far from ideal, but made it abundantly clear that he will not relinquish his autonomy on team selection.

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"Everybody knows that (the club] has access to players all over the place and they send them over and I have never complained about that," said Jefferies. "What I will say is that if they come in, I will have a look at them and assess them and it will be me who decides if they are good enough to play or not. Nothing has changed. I will go on record saying that it doesn't matter where they come from, it will be me who decides if they are good enough or not to get in the team.

"It was the same with (Adrian] Mrowiec. He came over and I have the same attitude to Rudi that I had to Adrian. (Mrowiec] came over and I thought he was a good lad and he could be a useful addition and he has started a couple of games because I think he can do well. Hopefully (Rudi] can have the same kind of impact he had here the last time, but that is up to him because he has competition for places."

The tension was palable as the club announced the signing of Skacel during the manager's weekly press conference, with Jefferies unable to express great enthusiasm for a player he has not seen since his career stuttered at Southampton and who has played just 12 games in a year. He was also uncomfortable as he was quizzed on who decided to bring Skacel back to the club he last played for during the memorable 2005-06 season when his 17 goals helped Hearts to second place in the SPL and Scottish Cup success.

However, he was unequivocal when it came to what will be expected of the player, who could provide cover at left-back following injury to Lee Wallace. "I was manager at Kilmarnock when he last played for Hearts, so I know the impact he made, but he was in a very good side at that time and he had people like Takis Fyssas behind him and Paul Hartley inside. They were a good side and he had great ability and produced a number of goals, but that was four years ago. If he is at that level then it would be great for us, but we don't know that yet.

"It's not about what happened in the past, it's about the future. He has competition and he is not coming here getting any automatic first team guarantee. Nobody gets that. Everybody has to earn it."

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