Well versed in the beautiful game

FOOTBALL teams often deliver a rousing display in a match immediately following managerial disruption, so tomorrow promises a captivating afternoon at Tynecastle given this week's events on either side of the Firth of Forth.

In Edinburgh, Vladimir Romanov has been moved to extend the squad rotation policy to his coaching staff due to the health problems of head coach Valdas Ivanauskas. As the Lithuanian stepped down for his two-week sabbatical on Monday, the veteran Russian Eduard Malofeev slotted in to keep the chair warm and takes charge for the first time this weekend.

Over at East End Park, Jim Leishman's defection back to the boardroom has created a managerial void that will be temporarily filled tomorrow by his assistant Craig Robertson. However, in the longer term it is likely that the former Hearts head coach Craig Levein will be a permanent custodian of the Dunfermline dugout.

Hearts' loss of Ivanauskas is one of several factors which Malofeev may utilise for motivational purposes during his pre-match team talk, a confab which may prove slightly time-consuming given the need for translation from Russian to English. However, his own methods are likely to be sufficient enough to cause a stir, for Malofeev has a reputation for reciting Russian poetry before matches.

Sources in Moscow confirm that the 64-year-old favours addressing his teams with a few words from the likes of Yevgeny Yevtushenko instead of a bog-standard issuing of tactical instructions. It is inarguable that this approach, allied to his penchant for unconstrained attacking football, brought him success in the suppressed environs of the Soviet Union in the 1980s. In his time Malofeev has coached Dinamo Moscow, led unfancied Dinamo Minsk to the championship and guided his country to the 1986 World Cup finals.

But, in the last 20 years, football in Europe has undergone dramatic transformation and Malofeev will learn the extent of the changes first-hand tomorrow from his place in the technical area.

"He would read the poems instead of having the pre-match theoretical discussion," says Igor Rabiner, who studied Malofeev's coaching in Moscow. "He likes to use the words of some Russian writers. That's just his type of personality. His famous phrase is 'sincere football'. That is how he plays. He wants to attack, not play defensively and count each point."

That thesis will sit well with a Hearts support frustrated by the their team's inability to establish the kind of passing rhythm that served them so well last season.

Malofeev recommended Andrius Velicka and Kestutis Ivaskevicius to Hearts after they impressed him during his six-month tenure as head coach of FBK Kaunas. He also rates Marius Zaliukas, another on-loan Lithuanian, highly. Whilst largely unknown in this country, the acting head coach has lauded it with some of football's aristocrats in his time. None more so than the late Ukrainian legend Valeri Lobanovsky.

"When he was vying with Lobanovsky (boss of Dinamo Kiev) for the championship it was a contrast of styles because Lobanovsky would make theories weeks in advance about how many points he could expect to take from this game and that game," said Rabiner. "Malofeev was different."

This week at Riccarton has been about the Hearts players attuning themselves to the wants of Malofeev in readiness for Dunfermline's visit. Already, the Russian's resolute attitude has bared itself on the training fields.

"What he is concentrating on are his own methods and the way he wants us to play," explained assistant coach John McGlynn. "He believes that, if he can remain single-minded, it can be a big factor in us doing well. It's a matter of getting our team right for tomorrow and not focusing too much on our opponents. If our boys play to their best we would win most matches in the SPL. I'm still learning about Eduard and his style as well, but he is getting his point across to the players."

Malofeev's elevation in place of Ivanauskas at the start of the week caused a few raised eyebrows over in Russia. "He has not worked with the top teams over the last 20 years and it was everybody's impression here that he lost interest in football at the top level," said Rabiner.

The veteran coach's last serious achievement came whilst coach of Dinamo Moscow, when he found himself embroiled in a mid-1980s face-off with Lobanovsky's Dinamo Kiev for the Soviet championship. Kiev prevailed to take the title, but what was blamed for Moscow's failure? Poor refereeing decisions.

Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley and the other survivors from the pre-Romanov era have become quite mentally resilient to the continual changing of guards at their club since the Russian banker assumed control but, with each bout of disruption, they also appear to adopt an even more intense siege mentality. Dunfermline's squad are relative newcomers to the turmoil tag, Leishman having been in charge since replacing Davie Hay on Easter Monday last year. Hay's predecessor, Jimmy Calderwood, had more than five years in Fife from November 1999 onwards. Therefore it is perhaps a little harder to gauge what reaction interim manager Robertson can expect from his side.

Levein may indeed be about to assume command at East End Park next week, having watched no fewer than five different coaches succeed him at Hearts in the two years since left for Leicester. "We have been over the course before several times since Craig left," noted McGlynn. "A lot of the players have been here before and we are just getting on with it and being professional. Tomorrow is a home game, we have to put a performance on and win the game.

"It's happened in the past that the players have reacted on these occasions. There is always the element of doubt because you don't know what will happen the next time the manager changes. I can only say that the players have applied themselves in training. They have shown a great attitude and are working extremely hard. You hope that when they cross the line on a Saturday that you've prepared them sufficiently."

It is now 22 games since Dunfermline managed a victory at Tynecastle, 18 league defeats and three draws a rather insipid record for the Fife club. With both clubs losing their manager in the last five days this meeting is surrounded by an air of unpredictability.

However, there may be a scene of serenity in the home dressing room just prior to kick-off. When Alex Koslovski, an English-speaking Russian member of Hearts' backroom staff, relays Malofeev's pre-match words, an accompanying violin may not be out of place. For Hearts will be playing to Eduard's tune.

Taken from the Scotsman