Csaba Laszlo has warned his Hearts bosses "you'll never win anything with kids" as he revealed the depth of his frustration at watching the club go backwards this season.

Paraphrasing the quote which famously came back to haunt television pundit Alan Hansen more than a decade ago, an animated Laszlo insisted a refusal to bolster the squad with experienced players in the January transfer window would almost certainly result in failure.

The Hearts boss stopped short of repeating August's threat to walk away if he did not get the financial backing he was seeking.

But he made it clear he was not happy to preside over a club which had no ambition of bettering last season's third-placed finish in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

"If you would like to be better, you must have a clear structure," said Laszlo, who side have slumped to ninth spot this season and travel to Celtic in the quarter-finals of the Co-operative Insurance Cup on Wednesday night.

"If you don't have a clear structure, the loser is always the manager.

"I would like to have development. After third place, I am not satisfied. If you would like to be better, you also need quality.

"A very good guy said, 'With youth players, you never win anything'.

"This club must win something and the people are satisfied if they see the team can move forward. You must have progress.

"Progress is not a step back; progress is to move forward. And this is the frustration from many people after the third place."