Barnsley insist they are not to blame for holding up Daniel Stendel's appointment as Hearts manager.

The Tynecastle club were expected to end their five week search for Craig Levein's replacement by appointing the 45-year-old earlier this week.

The English Championship club have written to Hearts demanding compensation for their former boss.

Barnsley have written to Hearts demanding money for the appointment of Daniel Stendel
And Barnsley Chief Executive Paul Conway has now enteredi into correspondence with the Edinburgh club in a quest to resolve a situation described by owner Ann Budge as 'tortuous'.

Surprised at the Hearts reluctance to thrash the matter out quickly by telephone, Conway believes a six figure claim is a red herring for other potential issues.

Speaking from the United States last night he said: 'I would be surprised if we were to blame for any hold-up.

'It doesn't make any logical sense to me because if we were the only issue one of two things would happen.

The German is poised to put pen to paper on a deal to succeed Craig Levein at Hearts
'Either the club would just do it and say, 'we can resolve this post-signing.' Or we could just work it out over the phone.

'So I'm surprised that we are being cited as the issue because it doesn't make logical sense to me.' Stendel is keen to bring trusted coaches Chris Stern and Dale Tonge to Edinburgh. Despite both being under contract to Barnsley until the end of the season Conway has offered to waive any compensation payment for either.

Hearts have responded to the Barnsley claim by letter - with the English club now responding by the same method.

Interm Hearts boss Austin MacPhee now expects to remain in charge for this weekend's meeting with Motherwell, predicting a conclusion to the saga early next week.

Expressing bemusement that the matter should take so long Conway added: 'We have been involved in this kind of situation at Barnsley four times. I have been on both sides of it.

'It usually gets resolved reasonably quickly with a couple of phone calls, so that's why I would be surprised if it was just us who had to be taken care of.

'If Hearts want to engage in written correspondence then that's up to them.

'Is compensation to us an issue? For sure. But we are not negotiating a trade accord - if they want to resolve this quickly we are here.'