Jefferies can be the new Fergie.

Lucky Jim is no more so we'll have to find a new tag for Hearts' boss.

From now on he'll have to be Successful Jim.

Having broken the club's long run without trophy, Jim Jefferies can go on to make the next four or five years a vintage period.

They were genuine candidates for the title this season and I believe they will win it in the next couple of years.

But Jefferies needs help from the board if we are to see the club fulfil its enormous potential.

In players like Gary Locke, Paul Ritchie, Gary Naysmith and Neil McCann, they have young players who will be stars. But the board must release cash to let Jefferies buy in support for them.

Tynecastle is probably going to have a full house for every game next season and the money that will be generated should be given to the manager. If Jefferies identifies a pounds 1million player who will improve his side, he must be allowed to buy him.

Jim is a bit like a young Alex Ferguson. Some of his dealings with the Press remind me of Fergie and he has that touch of arrogance that isn't a bad thing in a successful boss.

I know he didn't like the Lucky Jim tag, although he has carried a bit of good fortune in his career, but I don't think we need refer to it again. He has proved himself more than lucky - and will do so again in the seasons ahead.

It's absolutely amazing that he has achieved as much success as he has this season by spending just pounds 140,000.

I see Hearts as potential champs next season because Rangers are in transition, while Celtic will have to bring in a new coach after their mishandling of the Wim Jansen affair.

It's a good opportunity for the Jambos, although their success will also have every club in the country gunning for them.

The bookies will, as usual, have Celtic and Rangers as their top tips for the flag next season and Hearts will still be third favourites - but their odds won't be as generous as they were at the start of this season.

And if the Tynecastle directors back the best young manager we've produced since Fergie, he might surprise a few people.

As well as being pleased for Jefferies on Saturday, I was delighted to see Hearts allow crocked skipper Gary Locke to go up and lift the cup with stand-in captain Steve Fulton. It was a lovely gesture well appreciated by lifelong Jambo Gary.

I think he will step up for other successes in football - but you just never know in this game so it was a moment to savour.

I was also delighted for John Robertson and was disappointed he didn't get on.

But, no matter, he is now the proud holder of a cup winners medal and that's a fitting reward for his 18 years with the club.

Every player in the Hearts team can feel proud, but I thought Paul Ritchie, Gilles Rousset and David Weir were all outstanding.

The best player on the park, though, was Gary Naysmith who kept Brian Laudrup in check and still managed to attack.

The biggest compliment I can pay him is to say he looked as if he was playing in his fourth or fifth final, not his first.

Rangers will still be hurting badly today - an unusual feeling for a side that swept everything before them for years.

There's no criticism of them but the side has got old together and it was a match too far for Richard Gough, Ally McCoist and Andy Goram. But they've been big-time winners and can look back on great memories.

Gough is the best Rangers skipper I've ever seen and he can leave Scotland with pride.

McCoist's legs may be failing and he'll be leaving Ibrox but it surprised me that he didn't make the Scotland World Cup squad.

Perhaps you can only get half a game out of him these days but he's still one of the most potent strikers coming off the bench - as he proved again in the final.

I didn't really see him getting the winner against Brazil but in tight games with Norway and Morocco he might just have been our trump card.

But Craig Brown has made his decision and he's entitled to his opinion.

I just can't help feeling McCoist would have done us a turn in France.

Say 'cheat' to my face, Jock: JOCK BROWN'S attack on me shouldn't really have come as a surprise, considering the way he treated Wim Jansen.

Brown claimed I cheated Celtic during the last three years of my career at Parkhead. It's pretty sad that he said it - particularly when it was behind my back.

I'm always committed to what I do and I find it hard to take that sort of criticism from a man who never played the game at top level. I may have been past my best during my last spell and unable to play at the pace the modern game demands.

I'll hold my hand up to that. But to say I cheated is disgraceful - and I invite him to come and make his allegations directly to me and justify them.

I'd like him to give me one example of how I cheated the club.

I know I'm no longer a hero with the Celtic fans because I have criticised the club, but I don't apologise for that.

I have to say, though, it's incredible that Fergus McCann reckons Jock Brown is the club's best ever signing. He's just a yes man for McCann and he's being paid a far bigger salary than I ever was for my services.

If anyone can tell me one positive thing Brown has done for the club, it will be news to me.

Taken from the Daily Record