Adrift in Venice, now Bairn again

EXCLUDING a five-minute substitute appearance in the howling gales of Inverness, Jose Goncalves managed to play only once under Graham Rix. Yet, that's more exposure than he was enjoying 12 months ago in Italy.

Goncalves started the temporary - or perhaps permanent - tenure of Valdas Ivanauskas at Falkirk on Saturday the way he would intend to go on, by performing a dominant role at the centre of the Hearts defence with Andy Webster absent through illness.

Whilst some of those in maroon jerseys may still have been coming to terms with the timing of Rix's enforced departure three days previously, Goncalves played with a freedom and assurance that saw him emerge as the outstanding visiting player. His instant acclimatisation can be explained by a harrowing experience at Venezia last year. Having agreed to move to Italy from the Swiss second division side FC Winterthur during the 2005 January transfer window, Goncalves could only observe in consternation as Venezia's Uruguayan coach, Julio Ribas, was sacked three days before the transfer was due to be completed.

Consequently, the athletic Portuguese never did get the opportunity to showcase his talents to the man who lured him to Venice initially. On the positive side, he learned at the tender age of 19 all about the fickleness and unpredictability of top-level football.

"I was playing in Switzerland and Julio Ribas asked me if I would like a move to Italy, and naturally I said yes," recalled Goncalves. "Then he was out three days before I arrived. His replacement, Ezio Glerean, didn't know me and didn't play me."

In fact, Goncalves was sufficiently unquoted with Glerean that he was relegated to Venezia's reserve side, Venezia II, who at the time played in Serie C2, the fourth tier of Italian football.

"Andrea Manzo was coach of Venezia's second team and I was put in their squad. Manzo was a great player from Portugual whom I knew and I managed to play under him, but it is not easy when managers are changing all the time.

"You have to expect things like that in life, and especially in football; things that you don't know are going to happen. I think the best you can do is work, work, work.

"I haven't been here a long time and I didn't know Graham Rix very well, but I respect him as I do the other coaches. I'm here to do my job and it's not my place to ask why changes have been made."

A year before Goncalves' arrival in Venice, Julien Brellier had starred at the Stadio Romeo Menti, although he was granted considerably more first-team involvement with Venezia whilst on loan from Inter Milan.

On Saturday, those two appeared most at ease with the managerial transition that had taken place during preparations for the Falkirk match. Brellier was his usual self, displaying the confidence bordering on arrogance that the Hearts support have fallen in love with.

Goncalves commanded the central defensive zone and exuded the kind of assertion that Ivanauskas would have dreamed of from a second-choice defender. One obscure website yesterday took the Portuguese's authority a little far when it reported quotes from "Hearts' caretaker manager Jose Goncalves" but there can be little debate over the former FC Thun player's ability to adapt to whichever rigorous task is presented him.

"It was a very physical match on Saturday and that makes it difficult, but we knew before we arrived at Falkirk that they would be awkward," said Goncalves. "They can play football and when we saw the pitch it became apparent that the ball would not be on the ground all the time.

"That means you have to think a lot with your head about where to play the ball. It was really important that we won on Saturday and I think the words that Valdas used were very good, they motivated the team. We speak all the time with Valdas at training and we understand him. The players here are intelligent and we all know what the club and the coaches expect from us at this time.

"We have changed our coach but as players our job remains the same. I think Valdas asked the right things of the players and in return we gave him 100 per cent."

Goncalves only learned he was playing on Saturday morning when Webster reported to the team hotel complaining of illness. The £700,000 signing's versatility and turn of pace appeared to grant him Ivanauskas' nod ahead of Christophe Berra.

"Valdas asked me to play in the centre and I told him it was no problem. Valdas knows which players here are capable of playing in different positions. He knows we can interchange with one another. I can play centre or left-back and I am always ready to play."

With Webster and Steven Pressley, who had three stitches to his head at half-time in Falkirk, both expected to declare their fitness for Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final against Hibs, Hearts would seem to be facing the first genuine conundrum of the Ivanauskas-McGlynn regime.

Goncalves' performances for Hearts hitherto, against Aberdeen in the fourth round of the cup and then at the weekend, have allowed him to firmly endear himself to Tynecastle frequenters, but there can be no denying the sterling service offered all season by the recognised back four of Robbie Neilson, Pressley, Webster and Takis Fyssas.

"I have come back from my injury and I think I'm fit now. I train hard and I know the players and their characters now because I have been here for two months. When you play at a club like Hearts it's not a problem because they all help you.

"I want to start, I want to play well in every game and every training session. If I can do that then it is up to the coach. It will be Valdas' decision. I know how a big a game it is on Sunday.I would be delighted to play in it. I want to win it for Hearts."

He didn't quite make it amongst the Italian stallions, but the towering Jose Goncalves could have a gargantuan influence on Hearts' season over the coming weeks.

Taken from the Scotsman