Robson convinced Burley to join Hearts

WHEN you have been asked to mark George Best when making your first-team debut as a teenager, then there are few challenges in football you are likely to find too daunting.

It may turn out that facing the brilliant Irishman, as George Burley did when he was thrown into the Ipswich Town side against Manchester United at the age of 17 in 1972, will turn out to be a far more manageable assignment than the one he accepted yesterday when he became the new manager of Hearts.

Burley, as steady and consistent a footballer as you could find during more than 500 first-team games for Ipswich during the Suffolk club's golden era in the late 1970s and early 1980s, has taken on the task set by Hearts' major shareholder Vladimir Romanov of posing a credible threat to Rangers and Celtic as calmly as he did when told by Sir Bobby Robson to put the shackles on Best 33 years ago.

It was to his mentor Robson that Burley turned for the advice which finally persuaded him to put pen to paper on a two-year contract at Tynecastle last night. The former England manager had previously turned down an approach from Hearts to take the job himself and was in no doubts that Burley should grab the opportunity when it came his way.

"Bobby Robson was a big factor in my decision," said Burley. "What he said about Hearts spoke volumes. It was no secret that he had been approached and turned the job down, but he couldn't speak highly enough about the club. He was tremendously impressed by Hearts and told me it would be a very good job for me.

"It is certainly the biggest challenge of my career, given the level of ambition held by Mr Romanov and everyone else at the club, but it's one I'm very excited about."

Another face from his Ipswich past, albeit a more recent one, will inevitably play a major role in shaping just how successful Burley is at Hearts. Tony Mowbray, Scotland's manager of the year last season as he guided Hibs to third place in the Bank of Scotland Premierleague and into the UEFA Cup, was previously Burley's assistant when he was manager at Portman Road.

"I actually signed Tony as a player for Ipswich from Celtic," recalled Burley. "I also know his assistant Mark Venus very well, whom I signed from Wolves, and they are both great lads. Tony has obviously had a tremendous first season at Hibs and there is going to be a close rivalry between us. My focus just has to be on Hearts, however, and getting us back to where we want to be."

No-one was more enthused yesterday by Burley's appointment than the Hearts chairman George Foulkes. Now Lord Foulkes of Cumnock, of course, he made play of Burley being born in the Ayrshire town, insisting that "anyone who thinks this is a Cumnock stitch-up should be told this is not the case".

On a more serious note, Foulkes is convinced Hearts have got the right man and believes the club's supporters will soon see evidence of that in the shape of the desired signings Burley has already identified to the board.

"I'm tremendously excited by some of the players he hopes to bring in over the next few weeks," said Foulkes, "and I think even people in the west of Scotland will be sitting up and taking notice when they arrive. This is a momentous day for Hearts and I believe we now have one of the best managers in the whole of Scotland in charge of our team.

"He will get our total backing to achieve what everyone at the club wants. George is the vital ingredient in taking us where we want to go with the resources Vladimir Romanov is committing to the club. George was on our list of candidates right from the start, even at the time we approached Sir Bobby Robson, and we are absolutely thrilled to have him here now."

Without naming Nevio Scala, another strong candidate for the position, Foulkes made it clear that the Italian's inability to take up the job immediately worked against him.

"We had to look at a range of factors when considering who should get the job. When he could start, what experience he had. It was clear to all of us on the board that George was the right man for the job.

"Phil Anderton also deserves a lot of credit. We are fortunate to have him as chief executive and he deserves our thanks for bringing this process to where it is today."

Taken from the Scotsman