Ex-Dundee United boss Peter Houston's advice for Gary Locke at Hearts: Keep calm and carry on

Gordon Waddell

23 Jun 2013 09:47

LOCKE now faces a steep learning curve as the Tynecastle turmoil continues and he picks up the pieces of the Gorgie side.

PETER HOUSTON dodged a bullet the day he was told the Hearts job he thought he had was someone else’s.

The guy he feels sorriest for is the one who was hit by the riccochet.

Gary Locke will start his first full season as a manager with both arms tied behind his back, facing a 15-point mountain to climb and a team shorn of what little experience it had left.

For that reason alone, Houston believes the rookie boss deserves patience rather than judgment.

Three months ago, Houston was interviewed for the Jambos job and was on the brink of signing the deal he had in his email inbox until the apologetic March 16 phone call from John Murray telling him it was no longer his to sign.

He became the final managerial victim of the call from Lithuania trumping the call on the ground in Scotland.

And despite admitting he’d still have taken it, even knowing then what he knows now, he insists Locke deserves the backing of everyone in the game as he tries to negotiate the storm.

The former Dundee United boss and Scotland assistant manager said: “I worked at Hearts for eight and a half years and there are a lot of good people still there who I know and admire, but the person I feel sorriest for is Lockey.

“When I spoke to David Southern and John Murray about taking the job, they were fantastic with me, very honest and upfront about the club’s situation.

"They didn’t sugarcoat it. To their credit, they said they felt there were another 18 months of hard times ahead.

“They said there was no point in kidding me on, they had cash flow problems. Clearly they were worse then even they feared.

“People said to me ‘what a job to go into’ but the way I looked at it was that, in a positive sense, Hearts were going to come back to realistic terms and budgets compared to what they had been working on.

“The big earners were going to go out but believe me, as someone who has been involved in the SPL for a long number of years, I know what it takes financially to build a team to get you in decent shape in this division and Hearts’ budget, even if it was low by their own standards, was still a match for the likes of Motherwell and St Johnstone. It could still have made them very competitive in the top half of the SPL.

“And again, that’s why I feel sorry for Lockey. When I was approached and given a figure, I had players in mind who could bring value to the team and some experience around a good young group of players, the likes of Willo Flood and Morgaro Gomis maybe.

“He’ll have been exactly the same, a head full of plans. He’s a knowledgable boy, Gary.

“That’s all blown now. They’ll never see the light of day if they go into administration and are hit by an embargo.”

Former Dundee United boss Peter Houston almost took Hearts job
Alan Harvey/SNS Group

At 37, Locke has his career in front of him. Suddenly, though, his learning curve just became a side view of Everest.

And Houston believes in a league without an obvious bottom dog next term, making up the ground is going to be a huge ask.

He said: “The sad thing for Gary is this is his first crack at a manager’s job, his first time starting a full season. He’ll have been aware that he’s being judged and he’ll have been wanting to make a good job of it.

“So my only hope for him is that the Hearts supporters cut him some slack now and appreciate how much more difficult the job has become.

“I thought even with their budget they’d be heading for top four next season, I honestly did. Now? They’ll be 15 points behind from the start and I fear for them when I look at the division.

“Last season showed how tight the league can be, everyone between Celtic and Dundee was much of a muchness. Kenny Shiels was 20 seconds away from being in the top six and not making it contributed to him losing his job a few weeks later.

“And the clubs who did do well, like Well and Saints and Inverness, are going through serious transition in the summer. I also think Thistle will do okay coming up.

“The problem for Hearts will be if no-one is cut adrift, the way Dundee were last season. No disrespect to them but they were always up against it. It’s hard to see a team in there this season that could happen to.

“So the Hearts fans will have to support Lockey all the way, because it’ll be a serious challenge for him.

“They’re a loyal bunch though, so I’m sure they will.”

Hinsight is always 20/20. but Houston still insists he’d have taken the opportunity to manage a club for which he feels a deep affection, despite the circumstances.

He said: “According to David Southern and John Murray, I was the only person in the running, I still have an e-mail, sent to John Colquhoun by Sergejus Fedotovoas, a heads of terms. That’s when you think you’re getting close to having a job.

“I told them I didn’t want Edgaras Jankauskas, I was honest that I wanted someone else and that was agreed - I was to bring in an assistant manager, and told what his wages were and a car. I was saying to myself ‘this could happen’.

“I also wanted to keep Lockey and let Darren Murray do his stuff.

“They were confident they were going to be self-sufficient. They were confident they were not going into administration. And even if they had gone into administration, well I’m not working now anyway so it wouldn’t have mattered.

“It didn’t happen, though, and that’s football.

“Wee John (Murray) was disappointed. He wasn’t trying to stitch me up and it was one of those phone calls he didn’t want to make and I think David Southern felt the same. The Scottish connection at the club wanted someone who knew the scene.

“All I can say now though is that Lockey deserves everyone’s backing.”

With Hearts now formally in administration, a CVA has to be found to prevent them going down the road of Rangers and into liquidation.

And Houston sighed: “First and foremost, I hope they even get to the point where they can start the season. The club is full of good people and I’d hate to see any of them lose jobs.

“But I’m also concerned for the sake of Scottish football. None of this is good for our game, everything that's going on at Hearts, Dunfermline, what Rangers had to go through.

“We’re not helping ourselves and as a fan I want to see our game healthy.”

Taken from the Daily Record