Robertson must embrace new Hearts owners

STUART BATHGATE

MOMENTOUS events, like mountain ranges, are best observed from a distance. From too close up, the picture is opaque: clarity only comes in time.

Yet, while the exact impact of what happened to Hearts this week has yet to become clear, there is little doubting its magnitude. By completing his purchase of Chris Robinson’s shares and reshuffling the boardroom personnel, Vladimir Romanov has instigated a new era for the club - and possibly for Scottish football as a whole.

The first sign of that came before the takeover was complete, when the transfer window closed and Paul Hartley was still a Hearts player despite a sustained effort to sign him by Celtic. In the days that followed, even some Hibs fans voiced their pleasure at the fact that a club had successfully fought off the unsought attentions of one of the Old Firm.

Such resistance to the big two is, of course, no more than the first step in challenging them for domestic honours, and Romanov’s aim of doing so is patently an ambitious one. Unrealistically ambitious, according to some observers - including a few, it must be said, who as Old Firm supporters have a vested interest in maintaining their cosy duopoly.

Leaving aside the outright opponents, there are others who simply cannot envisage Hearts - or, indeed, any of the other so-called provincial clubs - mounting a sustained attack on the Rangers-Celtic axis.

Such scepticism is understandable given the economic stranglehold of the big two, but history has not stopped all of a sudden. Teams from Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen have risen to prominence in the past and will do so again. We cannot be precise about the timing, and in the case of Hearts much depends on how much money and expertise Romanov can commit to the project, but it will happen sooner or later.

The Hearts manager, John Robertson, has certainly been made aware of the ambitions which the new owners have. Yesterday, though, as he looked forward to this afternoon’s Scottish Cup tie against Kilmarnock, Robertson said he would harbour such aims anyway no matter what advice was emanating from the boardroom. "Whether they said that or not, that’s what I’d be telling my players to do," he said. "It’s a bonus if the owners want to try to compete.

"For clubs outwith the Old Firm it takes a year or two to build a squad that’s capable of challenging, especially in the league. It’s very difficult when you play Rangers and Celtic four times a year."

It is difficult, but, when they met the media on Wednesday, Sergejus Fedotovas, the acting chief executive, and Liutauras Varanavicius, who has become a non-executive director, said that building such a squad was about a lot more than what happened on the field. An efficient scouting network was the thing they highlighted, but their own actions will be just as important.

Fedotovas, in particular, has a crucial role to play. He may be in unfamiliar circumstances, but is a quick, intelligent learner who has impressed everyone with whom he has negotiated over the past months.

Already, the mood within the club has gone from one of troubled uncertainty to secure optimism. "I think everybody is a lot more encouraged now that the deal has gone through," Robertson said. "And I’m sure once Sergejus gets his feel under the table and starts talking to the staff, as he’s intimated he’ll do in the next one or two weeks, we’ll know exactly where we’re going from there."

It should be admitted, however, that Robertson himself has yet to get wholly on message with the new regime. The manager has had to endure a fretful time since replacing Craig Levein in November, largely because of the uncertainty about Anatoly Byshovets, who had been earmarked as director of football but is now being regarded as director of scouting instead. But, whatever lies behind Robertson’s insecurities, the communication between him and the boardroom will have to improve.

Yesterday, for instance, Fedotovas was widely quoted as saying: "He [Robertson] now knows what his budget is and knows what he can offer those players out of contract."

When asked what precisely he had been told about his budget, however, Robertson replied: "Nothing. We just had a meeting yesterday. Sergejus introduced himself to the players and staff.

"It wasn’t a meeting to be reassured about anything. All he did was come up and introduce himself to the players and staff. It was a two-minute meeting. I never spoke to him about the budget at all.

"There will be a time later on in the year when we talk about budgets. It doesn’t matter what the budget is at the moment anyway, because we can’t sign anybody.

"We can re-sign people, but we have been able to do that for the last two or three months. I’ve offered them contracts and I’m just waiting to hear back.

"Of course you’re encouraged that they [the new board] are saying the right things, and hopefully that will be delivered. But until it is delivered, and until we’re told what we can and cannot do, then it’s just talk."

Such discrepancies between one man’s understanding of events and another’s can be easily rectified, and this is something Hearts will have to do before what is perhaps no more than a minuscule problem is subjected to greater scrutiny. The Lithuanians have gone out of their way to make reassuring noises about Robertson. They deserve to be repaid in kind.

Back on the field of play, meanwhile, Robertson today welcomes back Kilmarnock bosses Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown. The pair were in charge when Hearts won the Scottish Cup in 1998, with Robertson an unused substitute. The winner’s medal, he insisted, was the important thing; not getting on did not matter.

Not getting on with his new bosses, conversely, will matter very much indeed. If Hearts really are to bring about the biggest change in Scottish football’s balance of power in two decades, they will need meticulous teamwork off the park just as much as on.

Lilley keeps his fingers crossed

KILMARNOCK defender David Lilley is hoping his luck is about to change when it comes to cup runs.

The 27-year-old has established himself as a mainstay at the back for Kilmarnock, who travel to Hearts in the Tennent’s Scottish Cup fourth round. But Lilley admits he has suffered nothing but disappointment in knock-out competitions over the years.

He said: "I haven’t had much joy in the cup personally. I got to the final with Aberdeen a few years ago but was named as the 18th man. It would be nice to get a wee run. It would be good for the club financially as well. We would be able to extend some of the boys’ contracts. I have got 18 months to run on mine but, for a lot of the boys, theirs are up at the end of the season."

Manager Jim Jefferies, who led Hearts to Scottish Cup glory in 1998, is expecting his former club to be more attacking under John Robertson than previous head coach Craig Levein. He said: "They do play a more attacking style of football. They are better to watch now, but time will tell if they are going to be as successful."

Taken from the Scotsman