Hearts go in search of a star

THE list of names considered to replace John Robertson as head coach of Hearts was like a Who's Who of top football managers. From Gerard Houllier to George Graham, Kevin Keegan to Sir Bobby Robson - the club was certainly aiming for the best. Chief executive Phil Anderton drew up two strategies:

Strategy A: Proven UK track record at the highest level with "star" name to excite and attract supporters. High cost - high expected return on and off the field.

Strategy B: Proven track record of step-changing performance of UK club(s) at a high level without "star" name attraction. Lower cost - expected to deliver on the field.

Nine star names who matched the Strategy A criteria were selected for consideration; a further ten names were considered when the list for Strategy B was drawn up:

A: Sir Bobby Robson, Gerard Houllier, Graeme Souness, Ron Atkinson, Kevin Keegan, Gordon Strachan, George Graham, Co Adriaanse and David Platt.

B: George Burley, Billy Davies, Neale Cooper, Steve Cotterill, Gary Johnson, Dave Jones (also applied), Gary Megson, Joe Royle, Paul Sturrock and Peter Taylor.

The new man did not necessarily have to come from the Strategy A list; it was a case of finding the best person available and the right man for Hearts. The club also received several applications from, and on behalf of, a wide variety of people. The hierarchy initially considered the following 16 names from 13 different nations before drawing up a shortlist:

Gilbert Bodart (Belgian), Craig Brown (Scottish), Nigel Clough (English), Dave Jones (English), Dariusz Kubicki (Polish), Stefano Impagliazzo (Brazilian), Augusto Inacio (Portuguese), Lothar Matthaus (German),

Ivica Osim (Bosnian), Graham Rix (English), Jose Romao (Portuguese), Ivo Sajh-Scheich (Slovenian), Jacques Santini (French), Frank Stapleton (Irish), Frantisek Straka (Czech), and Walter Zenga (Italian).

Gerard Houllier soon had to be discounted when French champions Lyon appointed him as Paul le Guen's replacement. Sir Bobby Robson, though, was very much a live candidate. Tynecastle chief executive Phil Anderton held talks with Robson in Newcastle on Wednesday, 1 June 2005. Things went well, and the pair met again for further discussions two days later when an offer was made for the former England boss to take over as Hearts' new director of football. The 72 year old requested time over the weekend to make up his mind. After a lengthy chat with his wife, Sir Bobby phoned Anderton the following Tuesday to inform the chief executive that, unfortunately, he had decided he would not be coming to Hearts due to 'family reasons'. Robson, though, would still have a big part to play in deciding who would eventually replace John Robertson and become the 23rd manager of Hearts since 1901.

Although not one of the main names initially considered by the Hearts board, Nevio Scala declared his interest after being approached by agent George Wright, one of the club's former players who had a mandate from the Tynecastle board to recruit a "high-profile" candidate. Over a short period of time, Scala, who was interviewed for the Scotland job in 2001, became a regular name in the Scottish press because of the interest from Hearts.

At the same time, Hearts were also seriously considering a move for George Burley, who was out of work after leaving Derby County. Although Burley appeared on the club's Strategy B list, and was not as big a name as some of the others being considered, the Cumnock-born 48 year old had made a decent name for himself at Colchester, Ipswich and Derby.
FOREIGN LEGION: Burley presided over a raft of new signings (Picture: Stuart Cobley)

FOREIGN LEGION: Burley presided over a raft of new signings (Picture: Stuart Cobley)

Eventually the race was narrowed down to two candidates - George Burley and Nevio Scala. Burley soon became hot favourite after he and his agent Athole Still met Phil Anderton.

Talks went very well, and Burley confirmed he was extremely interested in the position, subject to speaking to Vladimir Romanov. A meeting was set up between the pair in Lithuania on 28 June, and that sealed the deal, although a telephone conversation between Burley and a former front-runner for the job also helped. "I had a chat with Sir Bobby Robson," said Burley. "He spoke volumes about the club. He said it would be a very good job for anybody." The appointment of Burley as Hearts' new head coach was officially announced on Thursday, 30 June. Burley faced the press for the first time and outlined his plans for the club: "Last season we finished eleven points off fourth - there was a massive gap between Hearts and the top two. There is a lot of work to be done, but hopefully we can bridge it this season. To challenge the Old Firm would be dreamland but I like to dream.

"They [the Romanovs] want to develop the club by bringing in players with quality, which will actually give us the chance to challenge the Old Firm. The players I have targeted will definitely excite the fans.

"This is not going to be easy, but within the next two seasons I want the club to be playing in Europe again. We have to try and keep improving, and that's what I'll be telling the players. The standards need to be lifted by everyone. I wouldn't have come here if I thought I wouldn't be able to push Hearts up the league and improve those standards. It was a decision I had to make, and I'm really looking forward to it."

The Hearts squad embarked on a two-match tour of Ireland to play St Patrick's and Bray, a schedule pre-arranged by former boss John Robertson. Andy Webster was notable by his absence. Rangers chairman David Murray had been in touch with George Foulkes on three separate occasions over the summer in an attempt to prise the Scotland international defender away from Hearts; Murray held direct talks with his Tynecastle counterpart after deciding not to involve Webster's representative Charles Duddy in proceedings. The discussions between the pair culminated in a verbal bid by Murray of £1 million plus Maurice Ross in exchange for Webster, but Foulkes - on behalf of the board - rebuffed the approach.

The interest from Rangers unsettled Webster, and a decision was taken to leave the player in Scotland while the rest of the squad embarked on their pre- season tour.

Coach John McGlynn said: "George wanted Andy to take a few days off, clear his head and realise the club was not prepared to let him go at that time for that amount of money."

The new management team - George Burley, chief scout Simon Hunt and goalkeeping coach Malcolm Webster - were staying at the Marriott Dalmahoy Hotel and Country Club, so the trip to Ireland was the first time they were able to really get to know the rest of the coaching staff, although integrating with them fully took a while, as McGlynn explained: "George Burley, Simon Hunt and Malcolm Webster arrived as a package, and it was initially difficult to be part of their group. I would go home at night, while they would all be together at the Dalmahoy. They would socialise and talk about plans for training the following day, as well as discussing which players they wanted to sign. The trip to Ireland, though, was just what we needed for bonding.

"The training camp in Dublin was certainly an eye-opener! The squad was down to the bare bones after Michael Stewart, Lee Miller, Kevin McKenna, Mark Burchill and Tepi Moilanen all departed for pastures new at the end of the previous season. I don't think George could quite believe the position he found himself in with such a dearth of players.

"There were no new signings for our opening match against St Pat's on 10 July - there was no point bringing anyone in before the arrival of the new manager, and George did not have enough time prior to heading to Dublin to get anyone on board."

Burley did not say much to the players after the matches against St Pat's and Bray but privately was not particularly impressed, to say the least, with what he had to work with.

"I remember a conversation on the bus coming back from Bray between George, Simon Hunt, Malcolm Webster and Valdas Ivanauskas," said McGlynn. "Valdas was on the trip as he was the only one who could speak Lithuanian and relay messages back to Mr Romanov about which players the manager wanted to sign. That was the first occasion when the wheels were really put in motion to bring in new faces, although it wasn't until the Middlesbrough game that we saw real signs of progress."

A full house watched the action after chief executive Phil Anderton, with the agreement of the board, sanctioned free entry.

This was the first opportunity for supporters to get a glimpse of three players who would subsequently join the club - Michal Pospisil, Roman Bednar and Julien Brellier - and one, Rudi Skacel, who'd put pen to paper the previous day on a one-year loan deal from Marseille.

Edgaras Jankauskas and Takis Fyssas also came on board prior to the transfer window closing.

Travelling down to Kilmarnock for the opening league match of the new campaign, there was no way any Hearts supporter could have envisaged what lay ahead in the next ten months. Skacel, Bednar and Jankauskas all made their debuts for Hearts at Rugby Park that day - the first two even managed to get on the scoresheet in a 4-2 win. The performance, as much as the result, sent the visiting fans home happy.

"After the opening-day victory at Kilmarnock, we were on a roll," said John McGlynn. "The Scottish lads very quickly accepted the foreign guys into the dressing-room, and it was amazing how quickly everything just clicked together."

Hibs were the visitors for the Jambos' first competitive home game of the new campaign. The men in maroon hammered the boys from the east 4-0.
BRAVE FACES: George Foulkes with Vladimir Romanov after the Lithuanian bought a controlling share in Hearts (Picture: David Moir)

BRAVE FACES: George Foulkes with Vladimir Romanov after the Lithuanian bought a controlling share in Hearts (Picture: David Moir)

Over the coming weeks, the team continued to perform with style and panache. Five goals were scored to secure comfortable victories against Dundee United at Tannadice (3-0) and Aberdeen at Tynecastle (2-0), while Edgaras Jankauskas grabbed his first two goals for Hearts in a CIS Cup tie against Queen's Park at Hampden (2-0).

The incredible start to the season ensured a huge sense of optimism among supporters

McGlynn said: "We were quickly becoming a formidable team under George Burley; however, it was always in the back of our minds that this type of fast football would eventually catch up with us because a number of players did not have a full pre-season under their belts." August ended with the visit of Motherwell to Tynecastle - memorable for Craig Gordon's world-class save to deny David Clarkson an equaliser right at the end. Five league games during the second month of the season had brought five more wins. Phil Anderton even hinted at a contract extension for the head coach: "George signed a two-year deal, and we were delighted to bring him on board. He has already said he hopes and expects to be here longer than that. I would be happy to sit down with him to discuss that - we are expecting and hoping to keep George Burley here for longer than those two years."

Talks never got under way.

The Hearts bandwagon continued in September: four more league matches, four more wins. The subsequent 1-0 victory over Rangers at Tynecastle the following Saturday was not only the first win at home against the men from Ibrox since August 1998, it also marked the first time Hearts had won their opening eight league matches since the 1914-15 season. But there were still some people who weren't entirely satisfied. "The match could have been better," said Vladimir Romanov, "but the important thing was the result. It was a great victory for us, and I have no doubt we can now stay at the top of the league." Just when it seemed things could not get any better, rumours swept through the capital that everything might not be as rosy behind the scenes. It was alleged that all was not well between George Burley and Vladimir Romanov. Fuel was added to the fire when Burley admitted that four of Hearts' nine summer signings - Ibrahim Tall, Samuel Camazzola, Takis Fyssas and Edgaras Jankauskas - were not his choice. The speculation about the alleged fall-out intensified, so Burley took the opportunity at a pre-match press conference to re-emphasise his overall satisfaction . A closer inspection of his comments, though, revealed that the rumours were not far from the truth: "My everyday running of the club is absolutely fine, and I feel we have come a long way over the last couple of months. I would like to be able to bring in a player and do it right away, but that is not the scenario. We talk about signing targets, but, at the end of the day, Mr Romanov is the one paying for them. The transfer deadline came up quickly, and we got two new signings; there were other targets we did not manage to get. It was a big gamble for me to come back to Scotland; however, I am enjoying Edinburgh and nobody could have imagined we could make this sort of start. But, of course, there are areas that Mr Romanov and I have to work at."

Were the last 15 words a throwaway comment or something more revealing? The answer soon became apparent.

Taken from the Scotsman