Crisis club Hearts ground to a halt after boss Daniel Stendel headed home to Germany for the holidays and the players were given Christmas Day off.
Stendel will miss two crucial days of training before arriving back in Edinburgh on Christmas night to take his place in the dugout for the vital clash with Hibs on Boxing Day.
The club said Stendel had returned home to attend to “personal business” after losing his first three games in charge to leave the Jambos three points adrift at the bottom of the Premiership.
No.2 Andy Kirk took training on Monday and will lead the players again on Tuesday along with goalie coach Paul Gallacher.
The news went down badly with the club’s supporters who watched in horror as their club slumped to the foot of the table on Saturday after a 2-1 defeat at Hamilton.
But Kirk insisted it was business as usual at Hearts with preparations continuing ahead of the crunch derby clash.
Despite the manager’s absence, he said: “We’re in constant contact with Daniel, we know exactly what he wants.
“We’ll make sure we’re ready for Thursday.”
Meanwhile, club hero Gary Mackay has insisted Hearts are now paying the price of the football department being “grossly mis-managed”.
Record Sport revealed that former boss Craig Levein has been put in charge of breaking up the bloated squad he put together while his assistant Austin MacPhee will lead the hunt for new faces.
Makay described the high turnover of players as “obsence” and questioned the wisdom in handing out lengthy contracts to ageing players.
He said: “I’m concerned. It’s an issue that has gone on over the last 18 months to two or three years.
“The turnover in personnel has been obscene, how can you get any form of continuity with that turnover of players?
“And the amount of three and four-year contracts for players at the wrong end of their careers is absurd in my eyes.”
