I'VE HELD MORE FORTS THAN BIG JOHN WAYNE

HERE we are in Mostar and it' s a long way, in miles and memories, from where I once was as a coach to Musselburgh Juniors.

And what a thrill it is to be part of Hearts' Champions League experience after the most traumatic, and dramatic, 12 months of my 10 years at Tynecastle.

The last year has been, without shadow of a doubt, the most event-filled of my life as I've managed the club over the course of seven matches in between the removal of John Robertson, George Burley and Graham Rix from their duties at the club.

Interim could have been my middle name in the midst of the changes that, I must say, have taken their toll on me along the way.

It isn't easy on your family - or yourself - as you watch them handle the uncertainties that I've had to deal with as the man who has been left holding more forts than John Wayne in the movies.

There have been times when I wondered if the incessant chopping and changing would finally impact on me and I might be left without a job.

But it has all b een worth it in the end.

It was Jim Jefferies who brought me to the club after a career that started as a player with Bolton Wanderers and then took in coaching roles in the East of Scotland league, the juniors and all points in between before ending up at Tynecastle.

Now it's about getting the job done against Siroki Brij eg tonight and then looking forward to the make-or-break third-round qualifying tie against AEK Athens.

Of course I didn't expect things to b e this way but I think I can safely say that I'm a better man for all of the turmoil and upheaval.

I feel ready to handle anything after all of the tasks I've been asked to deal with as the club has been organised, and re-organised, at periodic intervals.

Obviously, I would have far rather there had been stability and I had been able to get on with my own job away from the glare of the spotlight.

But whoever said football was a drug had it spot on.

I've had to live this job 24 hours a day, sometimes at the expense of family life, and even I don't know for certain what's around the corner on a daily basis.

Now my role is to support Valdas Ivanauskas in whatever way I can and hopefully continue to provide any kind of help that he needs.

Every time there was disruption in the full glare of publicity, I've done my best to work behind the scenes to make sure change was conducted in as seamless a manner as possible.

People don't realise it's the little things that count.

When management changes, various personnel go along with the outgoing boss and I've had to use my contacts to bring in people, such as our goalkeeping coach Jim Stewart, to make sure there's no disruption to the people who really matter in all of this and that's the Hearts players.

And when I looked around me at the airport in Mostar yesterday when we arrived in the searing heat of summer in south-east Europe, I was once again reminded of how well they have done to cope with everything on the park while it seemed chaos was reigning off it.

These guys have sweated in less favourable temperatures back home to get us where we are today.

That's why we won't fail the people back home who care about Hearts when we play tonight and protect our three-goal lead from the first leg against the Bosnians.

Surmounting difficulty by sticking together is what we've done in each others company for all of last season.

And we've started the new campaign with another display of the moral fibre that could yet take all of us a long way.

Taken from the Daily Record