Fear of failure driving Hearts on, says Hartley

FEAR of failure, Paul Hartley conceded yesterday, as much as desire to claim winners' medals and test their mettle in the Champions League next season, will fuel the Hearts players as they attempt to put the upheaval of an extraordinary season to one side and focus on finishing second behind Celtic in the SPL as well as attempting to lift the Tennent's Scottish Cup.

Having already played under three managers this season - George Burley, John McGlynn and Graham Rix - Hartley trained at Riccarton this week under a fourth head coach, Valdas Ivanauskas, and suggested it hardly mattered who was in charge of the team for today's league game at the Falkirk Stadium.

Not that Hartley meant any disrespect to the former Lithuanian internationalist: he was simply trying to get across the point that motivation among Hearts' senior players, for what's left of a gripping season, now came very much from within.

"We don't want to throw it all away," insisted Hartley. "There are eight league games left and hopefully a final as well as a semi-final in the Scottish Cup. When we get to the end of the season, as players we don't want to sit down and say 'Oh, I wish I'd done that.' You want to be able to say, 'How good does it feel to qualify for the Champions League and win the Scottish Cup?' I think there's a bit of fear there driving us on as a squad. We've had such a good season up until now, and we don't want to be asking ourselves 'What if...?'"

Hartley isn't the first Scottish sportsman to acknowledge the incentive to avoid failure being as powerful as the wish to succeed. Scotland's rugby players won two Grand Slams thanks to the same motivation and Colin Montgomerie in golf admitted the same dread drove him on to win eight Order of Merit titles on the European Tour.

Signed by Craig Levein from St Johnstone, Hartley has become accustomed to the brouhaha which surrounds Hearts. Previously, controversy at the club was generated by economic problems and the possibility of selling off Tynecastle. Now the crisis management style of Vladimir Romanov has brought about a short shelf life for coaches and directors.

"Ever since I came to Hearts, it's been like this," reflected the Scottish international. "There's always been turmoil, but this season especially so. A change of manager is nothing new and we're onto our fourth one this season. As players, we just have to get on with it. All the change does get wearing, because you would like a bit of stability at the club. We were going so well under George, then all of a sudden he left. John McGlynn took over for a while, then Graham came and left again. Was it a surprise? It would have been, only nothing really surprises you after what's gone on here over the past couple of years.

"Yet through everything we've still had a fantastic season because I think we've got strong characters in the dressing room and are pretty much used to it. What we know is we've got a really big couple of weeks coming up and can't lose sight of that. We're in a strong position as the second-placed side in the SPL and also have a massive semi-final against Hibs in the Scottish Cup next weekend.

"For the players here to lose focus at this stage would just be ridiculous. Of course it was disappointing to lose Graham. But after a day or two you try to forget about it and want to do your best for Valdas and yourself.

"We're paid to go and win football matches and be successful. And the possibility is there for us to go and achieve one of the best seasons in the history of Hearts if we finish second and win a cup."

While players who sign for Rangers and Celtic become inoculated against the stress of winning games every week, the onus on footballers at Hearts to be similarly relentless is something new. Hearts have lost three of the 13 games they've played this year. They've also drawn three and it was that accumulation of lost points which persuaded Romanov to sack Rix.

"There's big, big pressure on us now," agreed Hartley. "People see we had a 16-point advantage over Rangers and now it's down to six. But it's a situation we're happy to be in and have spoken about that this week. Because this is good pressure to have as a footballer. You could be struggling against relegation at the bottom of the league and going through that side of it. We have a chance to be successful.

"Since Mr Romanov came to the club, Hearts have been in the spotlight as never before. He's spent a lot of money and done a lot of good things for this club. He's entitled to have high expectations when you look at the millions invested. He wants to have some success back. Hopefully, we can do that. I probably wouldn't have signed a new contract for Hearts if it wasn't for Mr Romanov. But the pressure is on us to win every week. People are looking to us to split the Old Firm and, as players, we know what we have to do."

It's been 11 years since a club outwith Glasgow managed to finish in the top two and Hearts' hopes of emulating Alex McLeish's Motherwell second-placed side of season 1994-95 rest with them rediscovering the sort of form that made them so irresistible in the early part of season.

Hartley accepts Hearts have not been as effective in the second part of the campaign as in the first, but can't put his finger on a missing ingredient on the pitch.

The midfielder appreciates, mark you, how the opportunity to win a cup or qualify for the Champions League may not be an annual event. "Celtic and Rangers will be far stronger next year and, hopefully, we will be too," he added. "But we may never have a better chance than this."

Taken from the Scotsman