Hearts fans abusing Lawrence Shankland was horrible but Andrew McKinlay's contract attitude is even worse – Ryan Stevenson

If I’d ever chapped Jim Jefferies’ door and asked for a new contract then the gaffer would have booted my a**e 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 staggering - disrespectful actually - 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.

Okay 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. Why not have a contract still sitting on the table?

I was delighted to see Shankland end his drought with his double against Dundee on Saturday. I have no doubt if he stays until the end of the season he will reach 12-15 goals. And that’s another good tally. Try replacing that if you can.

It’s been a really tough time. He’ll have been searching deep inside himself for answers to why the goals had