[kenny hoggan]

Jim Jefferies and Craig Levein are expected to head the short list of desired candidates for the vacant managerial post at Hearts when it is finalised later this week. The Kilmarnock manager appears far more likely to agree to a return to Tynecastle than Levein, who is settled at Dundee United, but the Tannadice boss remains the preferred choice of the most influential figures within the Hearts hierarchy.

Campbell Ogilvie, the Tynecastle club's operations director, and Pedro Lopez, the deputy chief executive, have been charged with compiling a list to present to majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov. Jefferies, 57, said after his team's 1-1 draw with Hearts that he would make no specific comment until his chairman told him there had been an official approach. He and assistant Billy Brown, however, are believed to be ready to welcome any such approach.

A former Hearts player and manager, Jefferies is the longest-serving manager in the SPL, having been in charge of Kilmarnock since February 2002. In his first full season in charge he took the club to fourth place, while in the last two seasons they have finished fifth.

The new full-time manager will be expected to work with Stephen Frail and Anatoly Korobochka, the sport director. Jefferies will be comfortable with that arrangement provided he has the real day-to-day power on the football side of the club, and provided that he can take Billy Brown too.


JJ && BB To Swinecastle?