Hearts coach Stephen Frail admits the board must stop interfering if the team is to have success on the pitch next season.

He said: "Things have to change, not so much on the pitch; a lot of things happen off the pitch. There needs to be more of a focus and go for the same goal, right from the first day of pre-season; have no interference and have everyone pull in the same direction."

The emergence of teenager Gary Glen, the SPL's Young Player of the Month for April, and 20-year-old full-back Jason Thomson have given Hearts hope for the future, but Frail said: "To go with younger players next season you need to make sure you have quality and experience round about them.

"We need to make sure the ones that do come in enhance us, and there are good players out there who could do that and make us a better team.

"Glen has shown how good a player he could be, but it would be unfair to pin everything on him at the minute. We need players in and around him to take the pressure off him and help him develop."