 Hearts are considering legal action against Christian Nade following claims made that they did not honour a contract. The Frenchman has accused the club of failing to honour a new three-and-a-half-year contract he says he signed earlier in the season. Nade also alleges in an interview that Hearts attempted to reduce his wages by half following an altercation with team-mate Ian Black. He is still a Hearts player until the end of the month but has been told he has no future at Tynecastle. The club have previously denied that any contract extension had been agreed with Nade, despite claims to the contrary attributed to the player in the local press. A club spokesperson said: "We are considering our legal position given the unfounded comments made by Christian Nade. The player is still under contract with this club until the end of the month and, as such, he has breached the player code of conduct and we will address the matter internally. He has been informed that he will not be part of the club's future plans due to his poor strike rate in his three seasons at Tynecastle and his poor disciplinary record. However, we cannot let unsubstantiated comments such as these be accepted. There should be absolutely no doubt that no contract extension has been signed between Hearts and Christian Nade. It is fantasy to suggest that such a contract exists and it appears to be a very desperate measure by a very desperate player." Speaking in the Edinburgh Evening News, Nade said: "We played against Celtic and after the match I punched Blackie. They said they weren't going to sack me but they would give me a fine. I went to the disciplinary and they gave me a one-week fine. I knew if they gave me a big fine I could go to the court and say I had a contract. I have proof because they sent an email to my agent with the offer of the first contract. I spoke with the SPL about this and they said what happened was wrong. They wanted to do something but we didn't have enough proof to bring it to court. After, Hearts admitted there was a contract, but they don't want to honour it." Following the incident with Black, Nade alleges director Sergejus Fedotovas attempted to change the terms of his contract. Nade claims the conversation with the Lithuanian went as follows: "'The law is on our side, so if you want, we can sack you. But we don't want to sack you. We want to change your contract'. I said: 'You can't change my contract, I signed the contract'. He answered: 'We're going to make you another offer', and he offered half the wages of the contract he gave me before." |