Players are not fazed by club's cash-flow problem, says Stewart

STUART BATHGATE
MICHAEL Stewart is confident that the Hearts players' morale has not been dented by the late payment of wages, and believes that last week's victory over Rangers is proof of that. Stewart, who is available for the game at Motherwell after being suspended, regards it as a tribute to Csaba Laszlo that the players have remained so upbeat.

The midfielder said he had not been aware that up to half a dozen players had had their wages deferred when the rest of the squad received their money on Monday, but insisted that the players concerned, in common with the rest of their colleagues , had not allowed it to have an adverse affect on their game.

"I didn't know the situation – I was unaware of the deferred wages," he said yesterday. "It hasn't affected them one iota. I think that's a real testament to the manager in terms of the way he has been able to install a team spirit within the camp. Hearts are the only club I know that pays players weekly. So if you've missed one week's wages and get paid the two weeks the next week it's not all doom and gloom.

"It's not something that gets discussed in the changing room. If it was the case that two or three months had gone by and we hadn't been paid it would be a concern. The most important thing is winning games. At the moment we're on a fantastic run of five wins on the bounce."

Stewart believes there are no players at Hearts whose prime motivation is money. He thinks their enthusiasm for playing the game, combined with Laszlo's good work, has allowed them to more or less ignore their employers' monetary problems and prepare themselves instead for the next game.

"Credit to the manager – he's been able to instil a spirit in the club which has been at the core of our success this season. (The money issue] didn't affect the players on Saturday.

"It's all subjective – if you let it affect you it will. We're doing what we're meant to be doing and winning every football game."

Hearts' current run is the best achieved by the club since George Burley, now the Scotland manager, managed eight wins in a row during his brief period in charge at Tynecastle in 2005. Their first three victories in the present sequence of five were all by a goal to nil, and they rode their luck at times. They played with more conviction two weeks ago when beating Falkirk 2-1, however, and were more self-assured still when defeating Rangers by the same score last week.

"St Mirren was a big result," Stewart said of the match which began the run, and in which he was sent off in the first half. "A wee bit of self-belief was lacking at that point.

"In some of the games we hadn't won – a few were draws – the dropped points just came from small mistakes. We've managed to tighten up since."

Laszlo backed up Stewart's assertion that football, not finance, had been the squad's main concern in recent weeks. "Morale has not been affected," the manager said. "If you'd seen training today you saw the morale and spirit from the players. It was maybe one of the best in the last months. Everybody has got his wages and now we concentrate together with the players on the game against Motherwell. We won against Rangers last week and everybody talked very positively about the team. We can't take Motherwell too easy – it's sometimes in the players' heads to do that. I tell the players how important this is, to get a win against Motherwell to stabilise our (third-place] position. I don't think about other things. Definitely not."

Motherwell manager Mark McGhee expects the wages problem at Hearts to fire up their opponents at Fir Park.

"They will be under scrutiny from the supporters and they will be determined to show, that regardless of wages, they are not going to let supporters down," he said.

McGhee knows more than most outsiders about the internal affairs of Hearts after turning down the chance to take over at Tynecastle in the summer. But he insists their off-field issues were not the reason he opted to stay at Fir Park. "I was totally reassured, by what I heard and saw there, that nothing like this would happen," he said. "I think, given the circumstances they got themselves into with regards to large debts, it's a change in the world economic climate that is causing the problems. The people there are good people who will be determined to sort it out."

McGhee, though, is not surprised that Hearts have reached third in the Premier League under the leadership of Laszlo. While they have won five successive games, Well have picked up one point, but McGhee is showing no signs of regret.

When asked about the Hearts manager, McGhee said: "He has done well. I would have been surprised, though, given how closely I looked at their squad, if Hearts weren't third or certainly chapping at the door. Because I think, had I taken the job there, I would expect to be sitting third as well."

McGhee added:

"I think Hearts haven't played particularly well but they are really well organised, they have been determined, they are a physical team, a big team. They have ground out results and ended up on a five-game winning run that has taken them to third spot."

Taken from the Scotsman