Ross County v Hearts: Good outweighs bad in manager's first six months in charge

John McGLYNN believes his reign as Hearts manager has coincided with the most difficult time in the club's history, but insists he has no regrets about taking the job.

Since his appointment at the end of June, McGlynn has had to contend with issues including the 138-year-old institution's very existence being threatened by a tax bill, a repeat of last season's late payment of players' wages and a consequent transfer embargo. Yet the former Raith Rovers manager, and first-team coach at Tynecastle before his move to Stark's Park, is adamant he loves being in charge at Hearts despite the challenges he has faced.

McGlynn, 51, said ahead of this afternoon's match with Ross County in Dingwall: "It has been a great year in that I am back working at Heart of Midlothian football club, which is something I have always wanted. It's been one thing after another, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

"To every Hearts fan, a good season would be third in the league and a good cup run. That's what my expectations were as a manager, to deliver that. But this is probably the most difficult time in the history of Hearts football club. There's never been a transfer embargo before and they've never been so close to being wound up. I've not had the freedom past managers under Mr Romanov in the last eight years have had to bring players in.

"Our budget was halved in the summer and I've not been able to do that. But we've hung in there and done as well as we possibly could. This job has lived up to expectations but it has been a challenge too. It's a great football club and the players have been fantastic. When I was here previously I had to deal with a few difficult situations and that has stood me in good stead to deal with what's cropped up this time round.

"There have been amazing things. I've come back here and we've played Liverpool, home and away, and given them two very difficult games. That was a massive step in my development, in pitting my wits against those type of players and also Brendan Rodgers, so it's been great too."

County's Derek Adams has urged his team to complete a double over the Edinburgh teams after their 1-0 defeat of Hibernian at Easter Road on Boxing Day.

He said: "We were delighted with the win against Hibs. The SPL is a difficult place to play and it was another good performance. This time, we got a good bit of fortune in winning the match and I think we deserved it. I hope we can do the double as it would set us up perfectly for the new year."

The manager has been more than satisfied so far with his side's first season in the top flight. They go into today's game in 11th place but are nine points clear of Dundee at the bottom. Adams said: "We are 20 games into the SPL campaign and we're four points off Hearts and six points off Aberdeen. If we had said that at the start of the season, we would all have been delighted.

"This has been a magnificent season and year for us. We couldn't have asked for any more. The 20 games played so far have gone very quickly for us. We are looking forward to the 18 games to go. We will try to get as many points as we can [before the winter break] and if we can do that the winter break will come at the right time."

Taken from the Herald