Hearts are planning to bring back former manager Eduard Malofeev as manager if no other suitable candidates can be found to fill the vacancy.
The Jambos bid for Mark McGhee failed this week when the Motherwell manager decided to stay at Fir Park after a traumatic first season in charge.
Malofeev could be set to return to Hearts
And now the Hearts heirarchy are putting in place contingency plans should the club fail to secure a permanent appointment before pre-season.
Malofeev is currently unassigned inside Romanov's pyramid of sport after leaving his post with MTZ Ripo but fans would be understandably cautions over any appointment of the Russian, who failed to win any of the games he took charge of with Hearts.
Caretaker Manager Stephen Frail has already been told he's going when the new team arrive but it remains unclear where he would fit in should Malofeev come back into the reckoning.
