Hearts in disarray as indiscipline and apathy leave them slip-sliding away

By GLENN GIBBONS
WATCHING Hearts disintegrate at Tannadice on Wednesday, Craig Levein, the Dundee United manager, might have been wryly recalling the day at Stark's Park in 1994 when he floored Graeme Hogg, his partner in central defence, with a sledgehammer right hook.

Both were wearing the maroon shirts in that pre-season friendly, and Levein's red card and subsequent lengthy suspension would be as painful as his knuckles. The incident would also remind him, more than most, that there is nothing new about criticism of team-mates that leads to confrontation, or even fisticuffs.

But, in the case of the present Hearts squad, it does seem especially inappropriate. Michael Stewart, the midfielder eventually ordered off for a second caution after berating a linesman and one of his own fans in midweek, had earlier upbraided Robbie Neilson over the full-back's imprecision with a throw-in and had come close to a physical altercation with the Tynecastle captain, Christophe Berra, when he also reproached the young defender over a perceived error.

This kind of behaviour would be almost an irrelevance if it were part of the motivation that drove a successful team towards regular honours. Of the great Liverpool side of the late 1970s, for example – the one which featured Tommy Smith, Graeme Souness, Alan Hansen, Kenny Dalglish and others – opponents of the time would talk of the savage "stick" the Anfield players would direct at a team-mate simply for misplacing a pass.

This was because, to players accustomed to near-perfection, such a mistake would be an affront. To the current Hearts squad, error-proneness is the norm, and no reason for any of them to get uppity. Far from getting on their high horse, few Hearts players at the moment would be capable of mounting a Shetland pony.

To have had three men sent off in the course of a 4-1 defeat – their sixth successive loss – was also an insult to Stevie Frail, the beleaguered coach, who had been appointed caretaker head coach only 48 hours earlier. He was entitled to expect a more gratifying response from players he has been trying, heroically but vainly, to defend in public throughout the season.

For the tormented Hearts supporters, however, perhaps the most depressing aspect of the abortive trip to Tayside on Wednesday was the latest in a series of revelations that seems, after each succeeding defeat, to produce another damning indictment of the way the club has been run in recent times.

On this occasion, it was Frail's remark that "indiscipline and slackness" is a problem which has been "rife" at the club for months. This comment, delivered once again with a heavy heart, would simply confirm what most fans and neutral observers would have suspected, that Tynecastle under the present regime has long been a refuge for malingerers.

The pattern of the team's performances and results this season would be enough to convince anyone of the players' tendency towards apathy, lifting themselves only for those matches that could be designated "big occasions".

Victory at Celtic Park in the CIS Insurance Cup and a 1-1 draw with the champions at Tynecastle complement the earlier 4-2 thrashing of Rangers and their recent visit to Ibrox, when the 1-1 draw they deserved was turned into a 2-1 defeat only by the late goalkeeping aberration of Eduardas Kurskis. Yet they seemed not to be capable of summoning
the will to prevent home defeats by St Mirren and Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

The problem of indiscipline seems certain once again to prove costly.

Having been fined £20,000 by the SFA as a result of last season's nine red cards and 92 cautions, the seven orderings-off in the current campaign means that, only at the halfway stage, they are already approaching last year's total.

The disciplinary committee of the SFA will meet at the end of this month to review all the clubs' performances in this area and it will be a shock if they do not issue Hearts with a warning over their present course. In the (now very likely) event of another fine, the amount will be significantly increased.

This image of a club sliding deeper into trouble on so many fronts is hardly the one a marketing and advertising director would wish to use in any campaign aimed at attracting a top-class manager.

Taken from the Scotsman