Jefferies takes time out

HAVING spent most of his career as a builder of football teams making a little go a long way, Jim Jefferies was in reflective mood about his trade yesterday. While insisting his experience at Bradford has not soured his love of the game and that he plans to return to the job he does best in time, the last manager in Scotland outwith the Old Firm to win a trophy is happy to take a breather.

Since managing Hawick Royal Albert - when he had just 24 hours to sign half-a-dozen players yet succeeded in avoiding relegation by winning eight and drawing two of the next 12 matches - Jefferies has specialised in renovating dilapidated clubs. It was a trick he learnt at Berwick, Falkirk and Hearts and one his track record suggests he’ll be asked to pull off again.

For the moment, though, there is a chance to evaluate where he has been before the time comes to think about where he is going next. "I’ve been involved in football as a manager for 14 years, longer if you go back to the time I spent at amateur level," Jefferies recalls. "Was it Jim McLean who said a couple of years ago that management had changed out of all recognition and could seriously damage your health?

" I understand now what he means. Everything you do as a manager today is examined and scrutinised by the pundits. There are hot-lines and phone-ins. Everyone is an expert.

"As to the workings of the job itself, the introduction of Bosman and the proliferation of agents has made players so much more powerful and put many things outwith the manager’s control. Hardest of all is when you build a successful side and find you’ve made a rod for your own back.

"It can take three years to put a team together but inside six months that same team can be dismantled. If you win something, the players who were part of that success become targets for bigger clubs. After Hearts won the Scottish Cup, suddenly Neil McCann was off to Rangers, David Weir was on his way to Everton and so on.

"Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. These are facts of life as a manager today and you have to get on with it. But when you look back to the Eighties and how those fine teams built by McLean at Dundee United and Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen went on to achieve success in Europe, the truth is that wouldn’t happen today because successful sides outwith the Old Firm are broken up as soon as they achieve anything.

"Right now it’s good for me to have a break from all that and re-charge the batteries. Ideally, I’ll have a couple of months off. Yes, I want to carry on in management, possibly for another five or six years. The longer I’m away, the more it will whet my appetite when I go back.

"In this business, mind you, you can’t always control these things. If someone offered me a job next week I wouldn’t turn it down because I needed a holiday. But I know if that doesn’t happen then the break will do me good.

"I’m 51 now and possibly in the future I will be more wary of what I jump into next. There are situations where you have to convince people you’re the man for the job. And there are others where they have to convince you they’re the right club for you."

‘Knowing what I know now, I probably wouldn’t have taken the Bradford job’

As someone who left football when his playing career was over and worked in the insurance business before managing at parish level with Lauder, Hawick and Gala Fairydean, Jefferies is one of the old school who found out about the game from the bottom up.

His track record of success at Brockville and Tynecastle, before a short sojourn with Bradford took him to the game’s cathedrals at Old Trafford and Anfield, has convinced Jefferies experience is an undervalued asset. "My feeling is you have to learn your craft," he says.

Apart from wheeling and dealing in the transfer market as well as most, Jefferies takes particular pride in his work with young players. He recalls Hearts winning the BP Youth Cup, thriving in the league at Under-21 level and bringing through players of the calibre of Gary Naysmith and Paul Ritchie with as much satisfaction as that Scottish Cup win over Rangers.

Even the best managers meet with disappointment at some stage of their careers and Jefferies’ time with Bradford was a wrong turning. "Knowing what I know now, I probably wouldn’t have taken that job," he admits. "But in saying that, it was a great experience which I wouldn’t have missed. Most managers reared in the Scottish game don’t get an opportunity to take charge of a Premier team in England. Sir Alex at Manchester United and Walter Smith at Everton are the exceptions.

"The other Scottish managers in the Premiership - George Burley and Gordon Strachan - both played in England and came through that way. I got the opportunity because my cv suggests I can work on a shoe-string budget with clubs which have been in a bit of difficulty."

In an age when huge salaries are commonplace, it is worth recalling how Jefferies took on his first senior post at Berwick for no wages. His only reward was a small payment for the number of points won. It took the new man three months of penury to win a game but after that the club went 21 games without defeat.

At Falkirk he won the First Division title and the B&Q Cup as well as the enduring affection of the supporters. "Looking back, I’m proud of my five years at Brockville where we almost got the club into Europe. It meant a lot to me when the people at Falkirk voted me as their manager of the millennium in spite of the difficult circumstances in which I left the club.

"As for my stint at Hearts, I don’t think the criticism that we were one-season wonders is fair. Don’t forget the team reached three cup finals. And we qualified for Europe three times."

A player for more than a decade as well as a former club captain, Jefferies’ credentials as an illustrious Hearts’ man are not in question. Nevertheless, he is anxious to set the record straight about the circumstances in which he left Tynecastle.

"There have been suggestions I went because I already had a job at Bradford fixed up," he said. "But I didn’t have an inkling about Bradford until four days after I left Tynecastle. My discussions with Hearts had gone on for two weeks before it was decided I should go. It was the right decision for both parties at that time. A few things were said subsequently which I could have done without, but my affection for the club was never damaged by any of that.

"As you know, I can’t say too much about the Bradford experience, though I think it’s fair to reply to the suggestion I was a quitter. The truth is you can’t quit when someone gives you a deal to go. If I’d been a quitter I would have left the club a long time before I did. We were in a no-win situation and, again, the right decision was reached for both them and me."

It’s typical of this miner’s son from Wallyford that he has a treasure trove of positive memories and no harsh words for any of his former employers.

There may not be a bigger moment in his career than the one where he brought Hearts their first trophy in 36 years, but the recollection of that summer’s day in 1998 still motivates the man. Wherever he works next, the master builder knows exactly what he wants. "To savour that achievement again," he says.

Taken from the Scotsman