Stuart Bathgate: Saturday interview with Stephen Frail

But things did not work out that way, which is why, at the start of this year, Frail is in an entirely different post. Having had his services dispensed with by Hearts in the summer, he is now working for the Scottish Football Association as their Youth Initiative Co-ordinator.

The job, initially on a six-month contract, involves visiting the coaches of clubs' youth teams on their training evenings. Which is why, earlier this week, Frail was back at Riccarton, Hearts' Football Academy where he was based for most of the past few years.

After graduating from under-19 coach to assistant coach, he took charge of a senior team for the first time in January 2008. Morale was low at the time, and Frail would continue to encounter a number of footballing and political problems for the rest of the season. Understandably, he remains disappointed by the way things ended up, but he is convinced his time in charge of Hearts has taught him a lot of things which will be useful when he gets back into club football.

"It was some job to be given, having responsibility for taking charge of a football club this size," he recalled as he sat in the players' dining area at Riccarton. "It was a fantastic experience, one that I'll never forget, and it's given me the taste to do it again. I don't think I'll go in at that level, but my ambition is to go in as high as I can."

The details of Frail's severance agreement with Hearts mean there are some sensitive subjects he cannot discuss. But he is free to talk about any positive experiences he had at the club, and as far as he is concerned there were many.

"There were a lot of high points. Obviously there were a few lows as well, and when you're in there day to day people think it must have been really bad in there, but honestly it wasn't.

"I just loved the fact of being out there on the training pitch with top players. It was my first job, and I was working with internationals.

"You're working with guys like Craig Gordon, Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley, Robbie Neilson, Neil McCann, then latterly other guys like young Christophe (Berra], Calum Elliot, Lee Wallace, all these guys. And the Lithuanian lads like Saulius Mikoliunas we brought in as well – getting to know how they work and train. And guys of the ability of Laryea Kingston – it was great.

"I've learned from all of them. As I say, I might never have that level again, but I'll never forget it. It's given me a real taste to be involved with top players."

Even during the most difficult times last season, Frail strove to remain enthusiastic and upbeat. He is friendly and approachable by nature, to the extent that some people suggested he was simply too nice to be a successful coach.

It is a charge he knows all too well, and which he rejects. "A thing I heard last year a lot was people saying the players didn't respect me because they called me Shaggy or Stevie instead of gaffer. On the first day I could have told the players to call me gaffer or boss or whatever, but at the time I was told I would take the job until the end of the season and then after that I would be working with the new manager.

"Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but that's what I'd been told. So I thought I could be their coach again next year (instead of head coach], and so I decided just to keep it the way it is and try and get as much from them as I could.

"Not being their mate, but just trying not to have too much change. Maybe one or two of them read that as meaning it was slightly easier for them. I wouldn't say my character will go against me when I'm looking for a job. Hopefully it won't."

Anyone who has an inkling of what went on at Hearts last year will know there is a lot more to Frail's character than light-heartedness. He had to be thickskinned, he had to learn quickly, and he had to become extremely versatile, as any number of different tasks were left to him.

Although Cervenkov and Korobochka were still employed by Hearts, they were no longer part of the coaching team. In fact, during some first-team matches it looked like there was no coaching team, with Frail's de facto assistants being senior players such as McCann.

Away from matches it was worse. Rather than merely dealing with a lack of support, Frail had to come to terms with a club where different factions were striving for the upper hand.

Marginal characters who knew little or nothing about football acquired an unhealthy influence, as Vladimir Romanov, the man with a controlling interest in Hearts, allowed in-fighting to continue.

The feverish atmosphere at Tynecastle and Riccarton generally became most heated when the Lithuanian tycoon made one of his flying visits. While Frail and the rest of the football division tried to concentrate on their work, some other members of staff took sycophancy to new depths as they sought the owner's favour.

Frail is free to talk about Romanov provided he says positive things. Invited to do so, he remained resolutely silent.

He then opened up, however, when asked who, of all the people he worked with at Hearts, he would praise. "Tons of them," he answered. "The manager of the Academy, John Murray: I believe he runs the best youth system in the country.

"John McGlynn, who's now at Raith Rovers. I've worked with a lot of coaches, and he's one of the best.

"As for players, it would be hard to name one. Berra was magnificent. Stevie Banks, and the players I mentioned earlier. Pressley. Young Calum Elliot, who I still think has got a future here.

"And some of the Lithuanian lads, like young Miko. I thought the publicity he got after the diving incident was horrific. He was a very positive character: he was one who tried to bridge the gap between the Lithuanians and the Scots, and he was first-class at it."

Although he might hesitate to describe his own showing as coach as first-class, Frail is sure he did a lot right in difficult circumstances. "We won a lot of games. I know how many points we took.

"I know we improved our discipline. We had those sendings-off at Tannadice in my first game in charge, but things were still very raw then, and we did improve it later.

"The last five games, after the split, weren't great. We won the first two but lost the last three and I just wish we had won them too. That would have painted a better picture, but I don't think I would have kept my job if we had."

So was it really failure to get into the top six which cost him? He remains uncertain.

"It's ifs and buts. Had we got into the top six would I have kept my job? I don't know. You've just got to move on."

In time, he wants to move on from his current post, and the SFA know as much. He is not sure when the opportunity to return to club football will arise, but when it does he believes he will be ready to make the most of it.

"I'm really thankful for this job, and I will give it 100 per cent between now and whenever other opportunities come," he said. "But my employers know that I want to get back into coaching.

"I wouldn't say at any club. I don't want to be part-time, for example – I think I've proved I can work at a higher level than that, and I don't want to go back down the way."

He thought for a moment before adding a suggestion. "Man City would be all right . . . . "

Taking charge of the richest club in the world would not be the easiest of jobs. But then again, in many ways it might not be any tougher than Hearts.

Taken from the Scotsman