Credibility on line as Hearts seek the right men for jobs

SO WHO'S going to be the new Hearts manager then? Upwards of a dozen names have been bandied about so far, with varying amounts of plausibility, but the reality is that right now no-one knows who will succeed John Robertson - and that includes the club themselves.

The uncertainty is not ideal, either for Hearts' planning for next season or for the nerves of their increasingly fretful supporters. Yet, for all that club officials may wish to ease those nerves by suggesting that progress is being made, they are far less concerned with the short-term mopping of the fans' fevered brows than they are with getting this key appointment right.

If that means lingering a few extra weeks over the decision and thereby missing out on the odd signing target, so be it. The Tynecastle board's motto in this case is a modification of the old adage about thrift: take care of these weeks and the years to come will look after themselves.

After four months of pretty much treading water since Vladimir Romanov became the major shareholder, it is time for the promised transformation of Hearts to begin in earnest. The correct choice now could conceivably kick-start something remarkable, with big-name players being lured as a result; conversely, if they get this one wrong the Edinburgh club's credibility could plummet.

One other factor, however, makes matters even more precarious - the fact that the club have two appointments to make, not one. All of the people mentioned in dispatches thus far have been linked with the post of manager, but they could just as easily be regarded as potential directors of football.

Outsiders might believe that interviewing someone without being clear which post you want him for is a sign of indecision, but Hearts prefer to see it as a sign of flexibility. Once you have found someone of the required calibre, they believe, you can build things around him. If that means appointing a director of football after a manager, so be it. They will not be tied to titles, however, and could just as easily appoint a manager and an assistant manager and dispense with a director of football.

The reason for this willingness to adapt to circumstances is an acknowledgement that there is a substantial gap between where Hearts are and where they want to be, and that one man alone cannot bridge that gap. Many inspired thinkers who thrive at the highest levels of the game are unable to adapt to humbler circumstances, and the risk of failure becomes all the greater when someone is moving between radically different footballing cultures.

Hearts ideally want experience of the highest level of the European game, but they will also insist on a working knowledge of British football. As this is a combination of qualities of which few candidates could boast, they will go for two men who between them can fit the bill. Some of the names linked with the vacancy have at least fitted the bill in some theoretical respects. Dick Advocaat, for instance, has a decent pedigree as a coach as well as recent experience in Scotland, even if his Rangers background would make it hard for him to win over the Gorgie faithful. Howard Wilkinson, Terry Venables and Craig Brown also come into this category of sage old heads.

Others, such as Terry Butcher and George Burley, and to an extent Dave Jones, have shown serious potential in their present posts. A third category includes foreigners such as Frantisek Straka, once of Sparta Prague but now in Germany, and Nevio Scala, once of Parma but now of his local benefits office. A fourth includes names plucked from a hat, including that of Gary Johnson, the Yeovil Town manager who was once in charge of the Latvian national side.

Hearts categorically denied the earliest rumours, such as those concerning Venables and Johnson, because they became public when Robertson was in office. Despite those denials, however, there is no doubt that the very existence of those rumours increased the pressure on Robertson, and contributed to the decision to bring forward a board meeting to settle the manager's future.

Weeks before they had planned to do so, the directors met last month to discuss the fate of their former star player, who had only been in office since November of last year. The majority of the board were not convinced that Robertson had it in him to take the club forward, and a clumsy compromise was reached whereby the manager would be "invited" to stay on as assistant coach.

Such an offer was seen by many outsiders as tantamount to constructive dismissal, but for Hearts it was preferable to an outright sacking. Not only did some board members at least want to treat Robertson with as much dignity as possible, they also knew that losing him immediately might leave them in limbo.

By agreeing to an early resolution of the Robertson issue, and by proposing a new arrangement which the manager turned down, Hearts made a rod for their own backs. Firefighting the rumours when they had a man in the job was time-consuming enough, but since Robertson left the sparks of speculation have spread relentlessly.

This is a stark contrast with Levein's departure, when Robertson was the only candidate, and shows how much the club's ambition has grown since. Whether that ambition will ever become more than just a pipe dream could well be determined by the board's actions in the coming weeks.

Taken from the Scotsman