It should have been a double Jamboree Jim

EARLIER in the season I got a Monday morning phone call from Jim Jefferies who claimed I had not given Hearts enough credit.

At least it showed he reads the right paper! Well I can save Jambo Jim the price of another call - because I reckon he deserves his Manager of the Year award.

I was happy to spell out to Jim just why I had written what I did and I stuck by every word.

We didn't fall out.

I have no hesitation in applauding Jim for the superb job he has done at Tynecastle.

Considering the resources he's had to work with, winning the cup was a remarkable achievement.

I believe it should have been even better for Hearts.

They could so easily have been celebrating a league AND cup double.

Messy

They might never have as good a chance again, but they gave up on the league too soon.

When their chance had gone they found both Celtic and Rangers were struggling to keep their championship hopes alive.

Jim has had a gradual build-up to success since he took over from Tommy McLean in that messy spell when he couldn't make up his mind if he should leave Falkirk and join the Jambos.

He has nurtured talented youngsters like Paul Ritchie, Gary Naysmith and Gary Locke and he has other kids in the wings like Grant Murray and Derek Holmes.

They've been mixed with shrewd buys such as Colin Cameron, David Weir, Neil McCann, Steve Fulton and Jim Hamilton.

And the side has been topped up with foreign players who have come relatively cheaply, but have been exactly the right ingredients for the successful recipe that Jefferies was cooking.

It is good for football when honours go outside the Old Firm, although I don't expect Rangers fans, who are contemplating their first season with a cupboard lacking silverware since 1986, to agree.

Rangers have come close to success but overall they have come nowhere near the standard they've set in recent seasons.

I felt on the day they had done enough to push the Final into extra time, but they lacked a cutting edge especially in that first-half.

Ally McCoist made the big difference in his final appearance for the club where he has spent so much of his football life.

I've seen Hearts play an awful lot better.

I didn't think they entirely shrugged off the slump in form that has affected them over the past month, but they won't be worrying too much about that.

Lorenzo Amoruso won't look back on his first final in Scotland with too many happy memories after his bad mistake for Stephane Adam's killer goal.

I was very impressed with him when he made his long-delayed debut in the semi-final clash against Celtic.

But next season will be the real test - and there are certain aspects of his game that have made me wonder about him.

He has had one red card and a series of yellows which shows he has not adjusted totally to the Scottish game - or our referees.

He cost his side a goal in the cup final when he tried to dwell on the ball too long, and his free-kicks were dreadful.

If Rangers had managed to level the score at 1-1 my gut feeling was they would have gone on to win the Cup.

But stretching their lead to 2-0 was crucial for Hearts, considering they had so few real attacks.

But as I know from my own cup final experiences the bottom line is the result, and Hearts held out Rangers frenzied attempts to equalise after McCoist's goal.

After the two penalty controversies, the one given to Hearts and the one not awarded to Rangers, it shows how much influence referees have on the game.

Both decisions were honestly given by Willie Young, and I wouldn't like to have had to call either of them in the split-second he had to make up his mind.

I bet video machines have been switched back and forward almost to destruction by Rangers fans to prove the ref got it wrong.

At the first incident I thought from one angle the tackle by Ian Ferugson, on Steve Fulton looked borderline.

At the second controversy I reckoned the first challenge by David Weir on McCoist was outside, but the last contact was in the box.

They could have been called either way.

If I had been the ref I would have given both of them!

Regret

McCoist also showed Craig Brown was wrong to leave him and Stuart McCall out the World Cup squad.

Ally has been hard done by.

Although he would have difficulty sustaining 90 minutes of high-octane football he still has the ability to switch the direction of a game.

I just hope for Scotland's sake Craig doesn't live to regret his decision.

It was a sad end to the Walter Smith era, but it is time to close the book on his time as Rangers manager.

It was Walter's farewell as Ibrox boss, I can't believe it's the last time he will ever manage a football club.

He has been offered another role at Ibrox and the full job description has yet to be revealed.

It depends on how satisfying it is for a man who has been at the very top of his profession.

I don't think it will be long before an offer arrives from a Premiership team in England - constant under-achievers such as Everton must look enviously at his domestic record.

He is steeped in life as a manager.

A few months out of the firing line might be the best thing that could happen to him.

I'm sure he will want to be back in it.