Reflections through the window
Paulo Sergio is worried about the financial implications of having a large squad. Picture: SNS

Paulo Sergio is worried about the financial implications of having a large squad. Picture: SNS

Published on Sunday 5 February 2012 00:00

WHILE happy to still have the majority of his first-team regulars, the transfer window didn’t deliver everything Hearts manager Paulo Sergio had hoped for.

Claiming that too much money was spent in the wrong way in the past, he says that, despite the SPL threats regarding future non-payment of wages, monetary worries still cast a shadow over life at Tynecastle. He had hoped a January sale would alleviate more of the pressure, with several of those he considers surplus to requirements moving on. Like every manager who has come and gone before him at the Gorgie cub, he has his own ideas about which players are part of his plans, the others are simply clogging up the cashflow. A handful of players left but nowhere near the tally anticipated or the number Sergio believes is necessary.

“I’m happy, from a sporting point of view, that we didn’t lose as many players as could have happened,” he said. “But from a financial point of view it is clear that the club has to make some money, so I am worried.

“I believe if the situation is the same at the end of the season, it’s clear we have to lose costs.”

Janos Balogh, Eggert Jonsson, Ryan Stevenson, Calum Elliot and John Sutton (on loan) have all left the club in recent weeks but it was not the mass clear-out of high earners predicted. Sergio, in fact, says stories of inflated wages at Tynecastle are exaggerated. The real problem is the size of the squad.

“Believe me, sometimes people are speaking about Hearts players like they are making fortunes – it’s not true,” says the manager. “We maybe have six or seven players who are out of the budget but not the others. But what we don’t need is 50 players or 60 players. I need 25 to do my work, not 50. It’s where you can reduce your costs, and we should start working on that right now.”

The fear had been that the much-anticipated reliance on youth would be forced on the coach this season, and although he warns that certain markets remain open in Eastern Europe, Australia and China, the likelihood is that the challenge for third place and the Scottish Cup will go unhindered by the loss of any more key personnel.

His concern is what happens next season. The Portuguese knows his contract is up in the summer but would like to extend his stay as well as the contracts of certain top performers. But he accepts that there is a new reality dawning. Ridding the club of half its playing squad would give them some leeway to offer new deals to certain assets, while forward planning to pinpoint summer bargains will help supplement the promising youths coming through the system.

Rattling through a cast of kids staking a claim for the supporting role, from the likes of Scott Robinson and Jason Holt through to David Smith and Jordan Morton, he insists that they offer no guarantees, and with so many of the first team squad out of contract in the summer, new deals or new faces will be needed. Especially if those he considers deadwood are discarded.

“These are kids with a future if they have the right attitude. Football is not just about having skills. Professional football is about how much you want to be a player, to achieve big things. You should never be comfortable where you are, you should always want more and show that every day in training. Some guys are very good with their mouth but they don’t show it on the pitch. Those kinds of players have no future in football, even if they have talent. The others who are working hard. Their chance will come and when it does, they will grab it.

“But I want to keep all my best players when they finish their contracts and I can invite them to stay but whether they’re going to accept the new reality of the club or not is not up to me. That’s why we have to start getting a clear idea of everything as soon as possible. I respect my players so I’ll take care of them but we’re now in a different situation.”

Life is not as anticipated when he took the job in Edinburgh but, while long-term problems will have to be addressed, in the short-term Sergio’s thoughts centre on vanquishing St Johnstone, the club who ousted Hearts from the Scottish Cup last season. They meet in the knockout tournament at Tynecastle this afternoon. Then comes the intensity of Wednesday’s clash with Celtic. Such is the focus on the cup tie, the manager wouldn’t discuss the league encounter but, while he believes that his men can challenge Celtic in a head to head, he says the title battle he signed up for at the outset is not viable at the moment. But he still insists it can be one day.

“I don’t have a doubt that we can do that, with the right conditions. I believe the club has the capacity to do that – not at this moment because we have a big problem in that in the past we probably spent too much money in the wrong way, and now we have the debt. It’s hard to pay debt and fight for a title – you need a lot of money to do that. But I believe the club, once they solve their problems, can do this and I would be proud if I was in charge to do it.

“I think everybody knows when I took this job, I took it from a different perspective. I was fighting to win [the title] with Sporting [Lisbon] in Portugal and I would like to do that with Hearts in Scotland too. To challenge the two big ones was the challenge when I came here but what can I do? The situation has changed.

“I know people are happy with what we are doing, I am always very honest with them but we need to know with what we’re going to work. We can’t lose too much time to take decisions and I’ll say that to the people responsible.”

Hoping to meet with majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov this week to discuss the future, at the moment it all remains uncertain. Off the pitch there is nothing Sergio or his players can do about that. On it, with two home games capable of boosting finances and mood, they still have a massive influence.

Taken from the Scotsman