Wanted: Coach with limited shelf-life

THE job spec, like the job itself, must now be like no other. If Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov decrees - and his Tzar-like ways are evidence that he all too often decrees - the club's head coach position must be advertised, he should forget all about the 'no time wasters need apply' line. 'No job-security seekers need apply' would be more like it. At least it would give a warning to the poor beggar who takes over from the deposed Graham Rix.

Looking ahead to the coming months at the Tynecastle club begs only one question: who will be Hearts' next three managers? The speculation is already rife. Nevio Scala (fast becoming Italy's answer to Stuart Baxter), Lothar Matthaus and Lithuanian Benjaminas Zelkevicius have been mentioned strongly. No-one, however, has said in which order they will arrive.

Meanwhile, caretaker Valdas Ivanauskas can be ruled out, even if the dour, already-been-sacked-by-Romanov 39-year-old Lithuanian has almost, almost, managed to break into a grin to demonstrate he has the personality in order to make the frame. Come to think of it, a man willing to do his owner's bidding because that is how football clubs work in Lithuania and Russia, and without personality... he might just be the ticket.

Once Romanov extolled the virtues of appointing a Scottish coach. Now the fact that pedigree persons of that description have the audacity to expect to be the sole arbiters of team affairs makes them ill-fitting with the Hearts hirer-and-firer's football business model.

A return for Craig Levein can be discounted then. Or anyone of standing within Britain, indeed, who has followed events down Gorgie way closely in the past year. For those there is nothing to be gained by putting reputation at the mercy of Romanov, which explains how Crawley Town-rejected Rix was appointed in the first place.

Do the job right but not Romanov's way and you will be burned - a la George Burley. Do the job passably and, at times, Romanov's way and you will also be burned - a la Rix. Of course, Romanov would argue that it is possible both to do the job right and his way. It is just that no-one who has worked under him seems to agree.

Scala and Matthaus are possibles because neither has exactly been setting the football world on fire in recent times with their track-side abilities. And it is true that directors and owners who meddle do not prove such anathema to coaches outside these shores.

Scala will be by his phone, pushing to one side, no doubt, the briefness of his sojourn and previous Russian experience with Shakhtar Donetsk. If Romanov is to consider Matthaus, he will require to push to one side the shortness of his stays at Rapid Vienna, Partizan Belgrade, the Hungary national team and Atletico Paranaense, of Brazil. One thing is certain though, Hearts will have no shortage of applicants, from here and abroad. Atletico Madrid president Jesus Gil still found takers when he was looking to appoint the 39th coach in his 17th year as the club's president.

Bobby Gould put himself forward as the right man for Romanov this week, his suitability based on the fact he once ate sheep's testicles to prove to Sam Hamman how much he wanted to sign a player. But at Tynecastle, the head coach must expect to have his own balls chewed.

Taken from the Scotsman