MARK McGhee has urged Motherwell to allow him to speak with Hearts about the possibility of taking up the managerial vacancy at Tynecastle, but admits it is by no means a foregone conclusion that he will leave Fir Park this summer.
In his personal column in a Sunday newspaper, McGhee addressed Hearts' official approach to Motherwell to speak to their manager, which the Lanarkshire club turned down within a matter of hours last Friday.
"I made it quite clear when I discussed
the position of Scotland manager with the SFA (earlier this year] that I would not entertain the notion of leaving Fir Park during the season," wrote McGhee. "I kept that promise and am grateful to Hearts for respecting that pledge and not causing any disruption at Motherwell by making a premature approach.
"Now that the season has ended they are within their rights to make a legal approach and I am entitled to hear what they have to say."
However, McGhee also made it clear that owner Vladimir Romanov and his cohorts at Hearts would have to persuade him that it is worth leaving the security of his post at Fir Park for perhaps the most volatile position in Scottish football.
Since Romanov took power in February 2005, seven different managers have taken the reins, including George Burley, who pipped McGhee to the Scotland job in January having left Hearts atop the Premier League in October 2005 after a disagreement with the Lithuania-based banker. Current Tynecastle caretaker Steven Frail is not deemed the man to take the club forward and as such McGhee has become the Gorgie club's No 1 choice to takeover.
"The prospect of leading Motherwell into Europe is a massive incentive for me to stay at Fir Park," added McGhee, who has led the club to a third-placed finish and a Uefa Cup spot in his first season in charge.
"Having the most brilliant bunch of players, a fantastic chairman and supporters who have backed me fully this season will cause me to think long and hard about any decision that I make.
"Hearts are a great football club and any manager would be thrilled at the opportunity to manage them. But their recent issues are well documented and I would require clarification on a number of issues before I could even consider moving."
Motherwell's season ended yesterday with the match against Celtic in tribute to Phil O'Donnell, the club captain who died on the pitch against Dundee United at Fir Park in December. The closure of that emotional chapter may offer McGhee peace of mind that he is not abandoning Motherwell at a sensitive time.
"Whatever happens with Hearts," concluded McGhee, "I will be grateful to so many people at Motherwell for everything they have done this season, and be proud of what the club has achieved in getting a European place in the face of such adversity."
The full article contains 496 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
