Enjoy the trip, we'll be back - McGlynn

HEARTS’ interim boss John McGlynn today praised arch rivals Hibs for finishing third in the SPL - but insisted they’ll have their work cut out to repeat the feat next season.

Tony Mowbray’s side secured a return to the UEFA Cup for the first time in four years by edging out Aberdeen on goal difference, the Leith outfit wrenching the "best of the rest" crown from their city neighbours, who failed in their attempt to chalk up an unprecedented hat-trick of third places.

While the Gorgie outfit trailed in a disappointing fifth place in the SPL, 11 points behind the Hibees after a season of turmoil at Tynecastle, McGlynn insisted that Hearts are determined to re-establish themselves as the third force in Scotland after a summer of rebuilding.

"You can’t deny that Hibs were worthy of finishing in third place this season," he said.

"It is always difficult when your city rivals do it - I’m sure they would say the same - but you have to respect the fact they have played well this season.

"Tony has won the Scottish football writers’ manager of the year award and Derek Riordan the writers’ young player of the year and I’d like to congratulate them. They have done exceptionally well.

"The derbies were all tight affairs with nothing much in them but credit to Hibs for getting that third spot and the UEFA Cup place.

"We have been there for the past two seasons and all our fans will have enjoyed those experiences. The initial aim has to get that third place back and we’ll be hoping to do that next season, although it is going to be difficult."

Hearts defied the odds under Craig Levein to make successive forays into Europe over the last two seasons and stand-in boss McGlynn reckons the Easter Road side will find it tough to record a similar achievement.

In addition to the Jambos’ determination to re-establish themselves as Scotland’s third force, he points to the resurgence of Aberdeen under Jimmy Calderwood and the fact that the surprise element attached to the Hibees’ youngsters will have diminished.

"It is not easy because everybody else out there is trying to do the same thing. They are all trying to get closer to the Old Firm, or get into semi-finals and finals. Sometimes situations change, though, with players and managers changing.

"We have just had an up and down season for a number of reasons and Aberdeen and Hibs took advantage of that.

"Jimmy Calderwood has brought the confidence back to Pittodrie and they have gone from strength to strength.

"Hibs, too, built up momentum after being knocked out of the Intertoto Cup and you’d have to think they will be up there again next season but that is the challenge facing them."

He added: "We showed great consistency to finish third two years in a row. It is not easy to achieve and we’ll have to see if Hibs are up for it next season.

"They are there to be shot at and it will be interesting to see how they handle the situation. Like any young team, the first season is normally their best.

"It can become more difficult as the opposition know a lot more about the players they are facing and will deny them space.

"That’s the challenge facing Hibs and it will be interesting to see if they can hang on to their best players and if not, who they bring in as replacements."

Levein put Hearts on the map in Europe with a famous victory in Bordeaux followed by qualification into the inaugural group stages of the UEFA Cup last season and McGlynn believes his former gaffer didn’t get the credit he deserved.

He said: "Teams like Aberdeen and Livingston who have finished third recently found themselves fighting relegation the year after they did so well.

"So from that point of view I don’t think Hearts as a club, or the manager at the time, got the recognition they deserved. It seemed to be taken for granted to a certain extent.

"That’s what happens when you’re the third force in Scotland but it’s not just as simple as that.

"Craig had the guys working extremely hard and had a tremendous work ethic in place at Tynecastle. He was very well organised with a rock solid defence which was very settled. We also had a strong midfield and Mark de Vries had a great first season for us.

"He was very influential in the way the team played. A lot of people said we just got the ball from back to front but we always tried to get the ball to the wide players and attack from there."

With high-profile games against Braga, Feyenoord, Schalke, Basel and Ferencvaros complementing the previous season’s trips to Bosnia and Bordeaux, McGlynn reckons that the squad gained huge benefit from the invaluable experience.

"It was a great learning curve for what was a very young squad of players," he said. "To handle an occasion like they did in seeing off Zeljeznicar in Bosnia was a credit to them.

"And playing in hostile atmospheres in places like Sarajevo, Bordeaux and Basel will have benefited them immensely.

"We hoped that the players would stay together and grow up together and that those experiences would help them as a team.

"But players always get the opportunity to move on. It’s great that we still have a defence comprising Craig Gordon, Robbie Neilson, Andy Webster and Steven Pressley who were part of those campaigns.

"And when the manager is rubbing shoulders with someone like Ruud Gullit, you realise you’re in the top bracket and just one level away from the Champions League."

As in Gorgie last season, expectancy levels will have soared in Leith on the back of Mowbray’s superb first season at Easter Road, the Hibees having set the standard for next season.

"That is only natural," said McGlynn. "The more you achieve, the more people want.

"When you win a cup, people want you to win another one. The desire has to be to split the Old Firm and when you finish third twice, people do tend to put the bar a bit higher and you have to try to aspire to that."

McGlynn, highly regarded in his role as Tynecastle youth coach, is confident Hearts can regroup over the summer and insists the sight of both Edinburgh teams battling it out for Europe again would be great for the Capital.

"It will be good for Edinburgh if both Hearts and Hibs are up there challenging again," he said. "We want third place back.

"We have had a taste of Europe and want more.

"But the only way that we will achieve that is by getting results out on the park."

Taken from the Scotsman