McLean steps in at Tynecastle Levein's loyalty pledge

IAN PAUL

25 Jun 1994

THE new man had not even seen inside the Tynecastle dressing room when his captain, Craig Levein, removed one of the concerns he felt about starting with a fresh set of players.

Tommy McLean, asking for "confirmation not confrontation', said that the players needed to show him there were no factions, no cliques, before he went much further.

"He can have no worries about that," said Levein.

"I can guarantee him that the players at the club now all pull together.

"They showed that in the latter half of the season and if he can harness that, maybe we can do something next season."

McLean will take a good look at the current staff before he contemplates any changes, but is well aware that the club is trying to redevelop its stadium and is not in the position to spend big sums of money on new players, unless they bring in a windfall from the sale of Alan McLaren.

"I would love to keep Alan here," said McLean, "but I can't say what will happen until I have been able to get into the job."

The man who walked away from Motherwell after 10 years did not have to wait long for a new appointment, but he had not anticipated a chance as inviting as the role he can play a Tynecastle.

"I enjoyed my time at Motherwell, and it really was because of my own ambition that I left.

"I feel that this club is a sleeping giant and is capable of mounting a challenge to the likes of Rangers."

McLean has a three-year contract to take the club into the post-Mercer era under new owners Chris Robinson and Leslie Deans.

He has no illusions about the difficulty of that task and, as a former director at Fir Park, has a better grasp than many of his peers about the financial intricacies of clubs who are not able to compete in the Ibrox transfer arena.

Like Motherwell, Hearts have to keep the banks happy and at the same time renew their stadium.

"Hearts have great potential, and that applies to support as well, but it is up to us to attract them through the gates.

If there is a £3m overdraft, to service that costs £2000 a week, and therefore we have to try to bring in customers."

The first move he is likely to make is to appoint a second-in-command and, unless Motherwell think differently, the odds are that his aide there, Tom Forsyth, will switch camps.

He also has players in mind who could help the cause but only "if we can afford them".

He does feel, however, that the talent already on site is capable of achieving his first aim, mounting a challenge for the major prizes.

"I want to bring trophies here.

I am very ambitious and I think the people here match that ambition," he said.

Levein, who paid tribute to sacked manager Sandy Clark and former chairman Wallace Mercer, also admitted that maybe a new manager fitted the new era and perhaps it would give the extra lift the club needed to take the next step.

"The desire in the dressing room is great and if we can carry on where we left off, we could do well.

But sometimes it takes a new manager a while to get used to the players and the club ."

Levein pointed out that, two years ago, Motherwell, under McLean, escaped relegation and last season challenged for the title.

The implication that Hearts, who had to fight hard to dodge the drop last season, could repeat that trick was inescapable.

Taken from the Herald