Scottish broth is only thing warming Hearts

FORMER Hearts defender Dave McPherson believes the club could have gone into meltdown this week had it not been for its backbone of Scottish players.

McPherson, now working as a football agent, believes the experience of captain Steven Pressley along with Andy Webster, Robbie Neilson, Paul Hartley and Craig Gordon, has helped to hold the squad together at a time when it could have fallen apart following the sacking of coach Graham Rix.

Of course, these players have been through a similar experience already this season when George Burley was shown the door back in November after only 12 games in charge.

And McPherson was quick to praise the Scots for keeping their head in a crisis. He said: "If it hadn't been for the likes of Craig Gordon, Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley, Andy Webster and Robbie Neilson, the team would have fallen apart.

"They've been at the club a long time and they have really kept the team going at a difficult time. As a player you need stability, players like continuity and you need a manager to help to provide that.

"You get used to a manager's style of training and the tempo, but how can you expect to do that when they are making changes left, right and centre?"

With Valdas Ivanauskas in temporary control of matters on the field, the rumour mill has swung swiftly back into action as names of possible replacements come the end of the season are thrown into the mix. The biggest name yet is Nevio Scala who has again intimated he would be interested in a move to Tynecastle.

However, McPherson is amongst those who feel the job comes with a health warning.

"Anyone coming into the job has to wonder how long they will be given, is it ten games or is it less?

"At Hearts it seems to be five or six weeks, depending on how things are going, but a lot of it comes down to your luck and whether you have a run of injuries and suspension or not.

"Romanov is from a different culture. He feels that he is putting the money in and wants success but surely you employ a manager to manage the team. You need time to do that.

"We're always being told that this is their way of doing things and we will just have to get used to it, so it is a case of 'like it or lump it'? I don't think any manager worth his salt will want that job now under these circumstances."

A statement released by Hearts on Wednesday revealed that Rix had lost his job because "results were not what they should have been", but McPherson believes that the former manager has been criticised unfairly. He continued: "People are talking as if Graham Rix was a nightmare but look at the situation realistically.

"Hearts are sitting second in the league and in the semi-final of the cup and I think they will win the cup. That to me would be a fairly good season.

"Everyone expected it was going to happen but not at this time of the season because Hearts have got a lot of big games coming up. Any board at any football club needs to make difficult decisions, but if it was an error to appoint Graham Rix, then they are the ones who made that error."

McPherson, who had two spells at Hearts, was part of the Jim Jefferies' side of 1998 which beat Rangers 2-1 to lift the Scottish Cup. Jefferies' reign lasted five years, compared to Rix and Burley's short periods in the hotseat and McPherson admits he could never have envisaged the developments which have taken place at Hearts since then.

"It is a very different situation now. When I was a player there, Hearts were a family club with a family atmosphere. Everyone stuck together back then.

"And we didn't do too badly, in 1998 we won the cup and we didn't do too badly in the league either.

"The fans look to the manager as the main man and they look to the board to support the manager. But at the minute they don't know how long their manager is going to last. These are the times when the club needs everyone to stick together."

Taken from the Scotsman