Tynecastle rotation policy leaves managers going round in circles
GRAHAM BEAN
IT'S been the talk of football for weeks now but is Hearts' rotation policy working? We're not talking players of course, but managers.
Never mind the 59 changes on the pitch over the last 11 games, what about the 13 changes in the dugout in less than two years?
Club owner Vladimir Romanov decided this week it was time - once again - to freshen things up. With Valdas Ivanauskas signed off sick, Romanov has turned to promising newcomer Eduard Malofeev. A youthful 64, Malofeev has been handed the chance to manage Hearts after cutting his teeth with minnows the USSR.
He's only got the job for a couple of weeks but, as Harold Wilson famously didn't say, a fortnight's a long time in football, especially when you're manager of Hearts.
Romanov's rotation policy in full:
ROTATE 1
29 October 2004: Craig Levein hightails it to Leicester City within days of the announcement that Romanov is to buy a stake in Hearts. Reports that he plans to bring in Anatoly Byshovets to work above Levein as director of football do not impress the erstwhile head coach who has always hankered after a move to England.
Degree of rotation: 180°
ROTATE 2
30 October 2004: The club places Levein's assistant Peter Houston in charge. He lasts just one game (a 3-0 win over Dundee) before he too decides to jump ship to join up again with Levein at Leicester.
Degree of rotation: 10°
ROTATE 3
3 November 2004: With Levein and Houston gone, Hearts turn to their favourite son, John Robertson, who is lured south from Inverness Caledonian Thistle, to the delight of the Tynecastle faithful.
Degree of rotation: 45°
ROTATE 4
9 May 2005: Robertson and Romanov is not a marriage made in Heaven and the Hearts hero fails to last the season, quitting in May 2005 after turning down Romanov's rather insulting offer of a lesser role with the club. He was in charge for 24 league games, winning eight, losing nine and drawing seven. He departs with dignity. Byshovets, meanwhile, has also disappeared, with no-one quite sure what his role was anyway.
Degree of rotation: 120°
ROTATE 5
11 May 2005: Club captain Steven Pressley and reserve-team coach John McGlynn take charge for the final two games of the 2004-05 campaign. Hearts lose both - to Celtic and Aberdeen - with Pressley's misery compounded by a red card against the Parkhead side after he receives a second yellow card for diving.
Degree of rotation: 30°
ROTATE 6
30 June 2005: Hearts land a major coup by persuading George Burley to join as Hearts manager. He gets off to a flier with Hearts winning their first eight league games of the season. A couple of draws follow but Hearts are still six points clear at the top of the SPL when the axe falls. The reasons for Burley's exit are never revealed.
Degree of rotation: 360°
ROTATE 7
22 October 2005: McGlynn appointed caretaker manager (again) as a replacement for Burley is sought. He keeps Hearts on top of the league, masterminding wins over Dunfermline, Kilmarnock and Dundee United. Only defeat comes against Hibs.
Degree of rotation: 10°
ROTATE 8
7 November 2005: Supporters dumbfounded as Graham Rix is named Hearts' new head coach. A convicted sex offender with a modest record in management, his appointment sparks protests outside the ground.
Degree of rotation: 270°
ROTATE 9
13 February 2006: Jim Duffy is surprise choice as Hearts' director of football. A former Hibs manager and a close friend of Rix's, Duffy had only joined the coaching staff a fortnight previously. His spell as director of football lasts just 37 days.
Degree of rotation: 180°
ROTATE 10
22 March 2006: Rix and Duffy sacked 11 days before Hearts' Scottish Cup semi-final with Hibs. Rix had presided over Hearts' fall from the summit of the SPL, winning just six of the 16 league games he took charge of. Valdas Ivanauskas, a Lithuanian member of the backroom staff, is named interim first-team coach with old faithful McGlynn alongside him.
Degree of rotation: 360°
ROTATE 11
30 June 2006: After delivering a Scottish Cup triumph and second place in the SPL, Ivanauskas is confirmed as head coach, with former Russia and Belarus coach Eduard Malofeev appointed as sporting director.
Degree of rotation: 45°
ROTATE 12
13 August 2006: With Malofeev unable to obtain a work permit, his role is redefined as "consultant". Another Russian, Anatoli Korobochka, takes over as director of sport at Tynecastle.
Degree of rotation: 65°
ROTATE 13
23 October 2006: Two days after a home defeat by Kilmarnock, Ivanauskas is given two weeks' sick leave by Romanov. Details of his illness are not revealed. Malofeev, work permit now secured, takes over, assisted by Korobochka.
Degree of rotation: 90°
Taken from the Scotsman
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