Holloway is hoping to succeed Frail at Tynecastle

Hearts have confirmed the departure of caretaker manager Stephen Frail as former Leicester boss Ian Holloway admitted he was interested in the job.

Frail had already been told to stay away from pre-season training and now the club insist that his departure has been by "mutual consent".

"Hearts will make an announcement on the appointment of a new football manager shortly," the club stated.

Holloway's agent said he spoke to Hearts "a little while ago".

But Rob Segal admitted that he was still waiting to hear if they were to follow up the interest expressed by Holloway, who was manager of QPR and Plymouth then left Leicester after their relegation from England's Championship.

Holloway is the latest in a long line of managers and coaches to be linked with the Scottish Premier League club since Motherwell's Mark McGhee rejected Hearts' approach at the end of last season.

No decisions on any transfers will be taken until the new manager's appointment Hearts sport director Anatoly Korobochka

Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov, in an exclusive interview with BBC Sport, said this week that it was now unlikely that he would appoint a home-grown team boss because of a Scottish coaching "mafia".

And he said that handing team affairs to Frail had proved to be a failure, with the club finishing eighth.

Frail had been co-managing the side with Anatoly Korobochka following the departure of Valdas Ivanauskas in March 2007.

But the former Hearts full-back took exclusive charge of team affairs in January after the Russian returned to his role as director of football at Tynecastle.

Korobochka is now leading the scouting operation for new players.

But he admits that the delay in appointing a manager is preventing transfer business being completed.

"We are organising possible options for the new manager," he told Hearts' website.

MY SPORT: DEBATE I think it's a damned shame the way Hearts have handled Stevie Frail's departure. The man deserved better JamboSuarez

"However, no decisions on any transfers will be taken until his appointment."

Hearts failed in their bid to lure McGhee from Motherwell in May.

Another target, Vladimir Weiss, chose instead to become the coach of Slovakia, forcing Hearts to continue their search.

German Jurgen Rober was strongly linked with the job, while Hungarian Laszlo Csaba has distanced himself from the post by saying he is comfortable in his job as Uganda coach.

Romanov has been criticised in the past for meddling in team selections.

But Korobochka made a point of insisting that the new manager would have full control.

"The club continues to work diligently towards the appointment of a new manager who will be responsible for managing all first-team matters," he said.