PAUL HARTLEY and Craig Gordon look to have played their last games for Hearts as negotiations began this weekend to sell both of them before the closure of the transfer window at midnight on Wednesday.

Head coach Valdas Ivanauskas last night revealed he would have liked to pick them for yesterday's 0-0 draw against Rangers at Ibrox but could not do so because he was dictated to by "football business". Hearts issued no official comment but it is believed Hartley was withdrawn from the squad because official talks were being held over a transfer to Rangers. Hartley left the squad's hotel and did not attend the match.

Gordon watched from the main stand having reportedly been the subject of an increased £4 million bid from Fulham.

Ivanauskas alluded to continuing problems with a groin injury which had ruled Gordon out against Falkirk last weekend, but conceded the reason for both players' absence was that their departures were being negotiated. Julien Brellier, Robbie Neilson and Michal Pospisil are also the subject of bids and Hearts fans are dismayed at the apparent fire sale of several of their finest players.

Roman Romanov, the club chairman, refused to comment last night, leaving Ivanauskas to explain why Hartley and Gordon had been pulled from the squad. "One situation is the Hearts team and the other situation is the football business. I can't speak a lot of words right now but I can say just one thing: it's about football business. This is politics. And football politics. I picked the team to get a result and the result was OK."

When asked if he would have liked the opportunity to play both of the Scottish internationals yesterday Ivanauskas simply replied "yes". Did he expect to have them at his disposal after Wednesday? "That is five days away."

The fee for Hartley will be fascinating given Romanov has to appease Hearts supporters by securing a large fee, and yet Rangers lack the resources to pay one and would be reluctant to go much above £1m for a 30-year-old. The Ibrox club has also submitted bids - unsuccessful so far - for Wigan's Lee McCulloch and Alan Gow of Falkirk. "We have bids out for a number of players and we will wait and see how those go,"

said manager Walter Smith. "If we can get a couple of players in that would be great. If not, and we can't get who we want, we will wait until summer."

Owner Vladimir Romanov was absent again yesterday and has not attended a Hearts game since November. However, he used an interview for a Belarussian football magazine to rail against the Old Firm and the press.

"The problem is that in Scotland we are having to fight not in the sporting sense, but against constant intrigues. They are created by our rivals who, together with the press, systematically accuse us of all kinds of non-existent sins."

Romanov also appeared to take a swipe at Hartley, Gordon and former captain Steven Pressley over the players' decision to make a statement about their concerns over the way the club was being run. "There was no conflict whatsoever, there was a banal betrayal. Players sold themselves for the striped shirts they were promised; they decided that these were so valuable that they could allow themselves to behave the way they did."

When asked if he meant Celtic shirts, Romanov said: "I don't know - prison shirts."