Hearts must do everything they can to hold onto young stars as they will help turn club's fortunes around, insists Jim Jefferies

David McCarthy

THE former Jambos manager reckons players such as Jason Holt, Jamie Walker, Callum Paterson and Kevin McHattie are the future for the crisis-hit club and must not be sold during the summer.

JIM JEFFERIES gave Gary Locke his first job in coaching.

Today all the veteran Dunfermline boss can give the Hearts manager is advice from afar and share a sense of disbelief at the downturn in fortunes of the club they both love.

Jefferies, who had Locke as a player at the Jambos, Bradford and Kilmarnock, handed his protege the chance to coach the Rugby Park kids and made him first team coach when he and Billy Brown returned for a second stint at Tynecastle in 2010.

The 62-year-old became a victim of Vladimir Romanov’s ruthlessness a year later and Paulo Sergio and John McGlynn, who followed him, barely got the chance to warm the Hearts hotseat before Locke was installed as gaffer in February.

Since then, the 37-year-old has embarked on a venture only slightly less difficult than trying to push water uphill.

Last week, it tipped all over him and Jefferies is praying that a promising young coach doesn’t drown as Hearts’ sea of debt threatens to wash away its very existence.

The club has put every player on its books up for sale immediately in a desperate bid to raise funds that can see it through the summer.

And while Jefferies understands the severity of the situation, he believes that the decision to try to flog off the crop of young talent like Jason Holt, Jamie Walker, Callum Paterson, Dale Carrick, Callum Tapping and Kevin McHattie is deeply flawed.

The Pars boss reckons those kids can be the salvation of the club – but only if they are still on the books to work with Locke next season.

Jim Jefferies Jim Jefferies

He said: “Boys like Holt, Walker and Paterson have done really well for them and although the situation is bad, the club should be doing all it can to make sure these boys are allowed to stay and develop.

“They can be the future of the club and it would be a massive blow to Lockey if they were to leave.

“They can help the club return to success on the pitch – get into the top six, get to cup finals and win trophies again – if they can stay and grow into the players we think they could become.

“But right now, it looks like some other clubs might benefit from all the work Hearts have done in bringing them through the ranks. If they are sold, Gary will have go down to the next batch of kids and they probably won’t be ready for the SPL.

“It is a tough learning ground and you simply can’t
throw in too many 17-year-olds at the same time.

“They’ve still to sell the players, of course. It is easy to say everybody’s up for sale but does anybody else in Scotland have the cash to buy them?

“I’m not sure too many of them will be able to go to England, because at this stage in their development they probably aren’t what clubs down there are looking for.

“These boys are a year or so away from reaching that level, so Hearts have to do all they can to keep them in the shop window.

“The idea has always been that Hearts are a great club in which to develop as footballers. If they then get a stage where they attract interest from other clubs, then Hearts get good money for them and that allows to the club to continue to grow.

“That’s how it should be done. Selling their best young players at the moment might be a short-term fix but I really hope they can hang onto them for the long-term benefit of Hearts.”

Jefferies feels enormous sympathy for Locke and is always on the end of the phone should the young Hearts boss need guidance.

He added: “I speak to him a lot and what’s going on at Hearts would be bad enough for an experienced manager. It is going to be really hard for a relatively young guy like Lockey.

“He is a dyed in the wool Jambo and has gone in there knowing he was taking on a difficult task when John McGlynn left.

“John lost a lot of players and since then it hasn’t got any easier for Lockey and now this latest statement from the club will make it much harder for him.

“It’s a difficult job and if he has to put the players up for sale, who can he bring in?

“He has to have a squad to work with it, so if a number of first team players go, he will have to be able to replace some of them. Obviously, in terms of experience and ability, they will probably not be as good as the boys who will leave.

“I know Gary had five or six targets in mind and they were good players. He was hoping to bring in Kris Boyd and that would have given Hearts a real goal threat.

“The idea was to bring in some experience to support the young players the club have brought through the ranks.

“But if they can’t keep the players they’ve got, what chance do they have of bringing in new players? They are going to have to go down a similar path to ourselves in terms of sticking in the young players. However, the club statement even says they will sold if offers come in and that, for me, is worrying.”

Jefferies has his own problems to contend with at administration-hit Dunfermline and is working hard to keep the Fifers afloat.

But he is also keeping a watching brief on the club he played for, captained and managed.

He said: “The best thing for Hearts is for new owners to come in and take control of the club.

“I believe the Foundation of Hearts buy-out plans are the way forward and if that can get up and running, I’m sure they will have some kind of budget – not massive but enough to help Gary put a successful team on the park.

“Until that happens, he’s going to have a difficult time of it. He must be wondering: ‘what have I done to deserve this?’ but he will stick it out, there’s no doubt about that.

“The main hope’s the fans. They’ve been fantastic and have kept the club alive for the last year and a half. He knows it is club with a great tradition and the fans will never let it die.

“But it needs to be sorted out and sorted out quickly.”

Taken from the Daily Record