THIS IS NO WAY TO DEAL WITH SHANKS

Contract stand-off an insult to hitman

- RYAN STEVENSON

IF I'd ever chapped Jim Jefferies' door and asked for a new contract, the gaffer would have booted my ate so hard I'd have landed in Tynecastle High School.

It's just not the way it's done.

So why on earth is Hearts chief executive Andrew McKinlay leaving the ball in Lawrence Shankland's court - as he puts it - over reopening talks on a new Jambos deal? Don't get me wrong, like almost everyone I absolutely expect the skipper to leave in the next six or seven months.

But the way it has been handled has been awful.

McKinlay told the AGM that there was "no live contract on the table" but that if Lawrence or his representatives wanted to come back and speak to the club then they would be happy to have the conversation.

That's a staggering disrespectful actually attitude towards a captain who has carried the side for two years.

If I was Shankland and somebody took that approach then I'd say forget it.

Yes, he turned down a lucrative new deal back in January. But that was his prerogative especially in the middle of a season in which he was banging in goals for fun.

It's the club's job to build a squad. It's the club's job to persuade their best players to stay.

OK, we don't know everything that's going on behind the scenes but if there was any chance of keeping a player who has netted 62 times in 116 games then they should be trying.