Robertson lost the plot, but self-restraint a must

STUART BATHGATE

IT SHOULD have been a happy homecoming. Two weeks and four games after being appointed Hearts manager, John Robertson was at last in the home dug-out at Tynecastle on Saturday.

For many Hearts supporters, the league match against Motherwell was meant to be a celebration to mark the real start of Robbo’s reign. But, instead of walking off at the end contented with a job well done, the former striker was "completely incandescent with rage", as Hearts’ own website put it.

This was not because Terry Butcher’s team had won - after all, they were under no obligation to conform to the script - but because of the referee’s behaviour. Or, more accurately, because of the way in which Robertson chose to interpret the referee’s behaviour.

John Rowbotham’s sending-off of Alan Maybury was wrong, as was the resultant penalty which gave Motherwell the only goal of the game, according to the home manager. So, too, was the failure to give Hearts a penalty or two. And then there was the exchange of words after the game.

Taken as a whole, Robertson’s comments went well beyond the usual post-match gripes of a beaten coach. His claim that Rowbotham had cheated and lied will lead to his being disciplined by the SFA, while his remarks in general suggest he simply lost the plot.

Maybe it was just frustration. Maybe Robertson, like the home fans, had been looking for a stylish victory. Or maybe he felt like emulating his predecessor, Craig Levein, who in his stint as Hearts boss built up a reputation for being outspoken on points of principle.

Whatever the cause, there is little doubt that Robertson’s outburst was misplaced. "The ball’s overrun, he [Martyn Corrigan] is not getting to it, and Alan has just got himself between the man and the ball," was his analysis of the red-card incident.

"Unfortunately John Rowbotham seems to give these kind of penalty decisions." Unfortunately for Robertson, many neutral observers reckoned the referee had got that particular decision right, even if it was a close call.

Warming to his theme, Robertson then upped the stakes with a more wide-ranging condemnation of the referee. "They say referees don’t change matches, but unfortunately on this occasion he did," the Hearts coach continued. "It’s shocking. It’s scandalous, some of the decisions he gets away with here. He’s cheated the fans out of a good game today."

Having said the ref cheated, Robertson then said he had lied as well. "He’s called me to his room and then lied. He told me I swore at him, which I didn’t do.

"I’ve got witnesses to prove it. He said I called him an effing cheat. Like most of his decisions today, he’s made it up."

So the ref is a cheat - but not, admittedly, a f***ing cheat - and also a liar. Such heated accusations would be untoward even after a cup final or league decider, but in the circumstances of a run-of-the-mill domestic encounter they seem especially out of place.

Even if Robertson were right to suggest that the referee had made mistakes, there is no justification for his outburst. Not from a general footballing point of view, and not from Hearts’ own point of view either.

When Levein hit out at the sport’s authorities, his attacks, no matter how passionately delivered, tended to be thought out beforehand. Robertson, conversely, was clearly finding it difficult to control himself. At this level of the game, self-control is simply indispensable, no matter the perceived provocation. If Vladimir Romanov’s promised investment is realised and Hearts begin to mount a challenge on the Old Firm, it will be all the more important for Robertson to rein in his emotions in public at least.

Robertson has shown undeniable promise in his fledgling career as a coach and manager. What he needs to do now is to grow into his new post by developing the sort of self-restraint required to set a good example to his players.

Taken from the Scotsman