Robertson comes home

STUART BATHGATE

THE inevitable became the actual yesterday when, five days after Craig Levein left for Leicester City, John Robertson was appointed his successor as Hearts’ head coach.

Since Levein’s suggestion last Friday that Robertson was the ideal candidate, there was no doubt the former Hearts striker would return to the club he left six years ago. Negotiations between the Edinburgh side and Inverness Caledonian Thistle took longer than might have been expected, but the Hearts board have achieved their prime objective by installing Robertson in time for tonight’s UEFA Cup match against Schalke 04 at Murrayfield.

Donald Park, Robertson’s assistant at Inverness and also an ex-Hearts player, is expected to follow the head coach south next week. Robertson’s contract runs until the summer of 2007.

Confirmation of the appointment had an immediate impact on Hearts fans, as queues grew at the Tynecastle ticket office throughout the afternoon. Sales for the Schalke match stood at 22,000 last night.

The return of their former favourite has been acclaimed by most of the club’s supporters, but the chairman, George Foulkes, insisted Robertson’s distinguished playing career had less to do with the appointment than his managerial prowess. "He’s a legend here, but I want to emphasise it’s not because of that we’ve appointed him," Foulkes said. "It is because of his exemplary coaching record, first at Livingston, and especially at Inverness.

"John is very ambitious and a very talented coach. I think we’re moving in the right direction for a very bright future, and this is a major step forward."

Robertson said that, from the day he left Hearts as a player, his plan had been to return as a coach. "You have to have a strategy, and mine was to go away and learn my trade. I knew to get a Premier League job I had to go away.

"It was a real wrench to leave Inverness - the club and the place. I had a great relationship with Graeme Bennett, the director of football, and the players are very, very honest and gave myself and Donald Park everything they had.

Robertson added that, having worked with a director of football at Caley Thistle, he welcomed the imminent installation of Anatoly Byshovets at Hearts. "I’m really looking forward to working with him. If you look at his track record it’s magnificent. I’ve been told he will be coming in as director of football to help and assist in the recruiting of players. But I’ve been told there are no doubts that the players coming in or out and the selection of the team will be my duties.

"It’s a tremendous learning curve for me to work alongside someone whose contacts and knowledge of the game is fantastic. I see it as a positive step for the club. You can see with our new training academy that Hearts are now a very European club and the appointment of a director of football is the next positive step."

Vladimir Romanov, the Lithuanian businessman who plans to appoint Byshovets when he completes the purchase of chief executive Chris Robinson’s shareholding in the club, was consulted by Hearts before they made an approach for Robertson. A spokesman for Romanov said yesterday he welcomed the coach’s return to Tynecastle.

"Mr Romanov has been kept informed of progress on the appointment of John Robertson by the Hearts board and is impressed with the background of the new head coach," the spokesman said. "The board made a good decision when they appointed Craig Levein and he took the club forward in both the domestic and European arena.

"John Robertson is another Hearts legend who has the right credentials to help the club progress even further. He is ambitious, he has learned his trade at successful clubs like Livingston and Inverness Caledonian Thistle, has a great affinity with the Hearts support, and knows what the club means to the fans and the community."

In a recent interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia, Romanov suggested he would equip Hearts with a substantial transfer budget. Robertson simply said he would be happy to find himself in a better financial position than in his previous post. "I don’t worry too much about budgets. I know the budget here will be more than at Inverness, and that’s good enough for me."

Well aware of the disputes over the futures of Tynecastle and the chief executive which have raged at Hearts over the past year, Robertson said he hoped he could preside over a new, more peaceful era. "I want to try to unite everybody. When everybody is pulling in the right direction we can be massive."

Robertson met the Hearts squad at training yesterday and addressed them briefly, but took a back seat to allow John McGlynn, the coach, to continue his preparations for the match. Tonight’s team will be selected by McGlynn, but Robertson will be in the dressing-room before the match and sitting in the dug-out during it.

Taken from the Scotsman