Well, once again any stories in the press with regards to the Hearts managerial situation (or lack of it) are filled with phrases like ‘believed to be’ and ‘it’s understood that’. In other words, nobody has an effing clue what is going on right now!
Because there appears to have been no development on the club’s alleged interest in either Artmedia Bratislava manager Vladimir Weiss or Icelander Gudjon Thordarson, it seems that everyone is now assuming that both of these guys are not likely to be coming anywhere near Tynecastle in the near future. So in that case, the assumptions being made are that the club have started afresh with another ‘Europe-wide search’ for an alternative option.
I must admit, I’d love to know what this ‘Europe-wide search’ will actually consist of. Perhaps it does in fact mean exactly what it sounds like i.e. the club will do all that they can to scour the continent for the most suitable candidates that they can find, using their ‘vast network’ of contacts to assist them.
But what if this whole thing is in fact just a joke, and that there is absolutely no intention of doing anything other than putting the Romanovs’ favourite scapegoat/puppet Mr Frail back in the firing line in time for the new season? I can’t imagine this is an entirely unlikely scenario either….can you?
As discussed in the comments on the articles elsewhere on the site, it truly is amazing that Frail is still at the club and willing to step in again if Hearts don’t appoint anyone else. He’s been hung out to dry and made to look stupid in public more often that any human being with anything approaching average self-esteem should ever have to, and I’d hate to see this happening again in the new season for a whole host of reasons that I’m sure are self-evident. I’d also see the likelihood that many fans who have renewed season tickets simply wouldn’t bother going to the games if this happened either – it would surely be the final and ultimate insult.
I really hope I’m wrong about Hearts’ intentions here and that they are indeed doing all that they can to bring the most suitable candidate to the club that they can find. But you cannot help but have extreme reservations given what’s gone before, and like Stockport Jambo has said many times already this summer, no-one is going to believe that Hearts have been serious about a new manager until they see the guy being paraded at Tynecastle sporting the maroon and white scarf.
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It’s summed up by your first paragraph. No-one has an effing clue what’s going on. The club are saying absolutely nothing, which is clearly a problem as the press therefore have free reign to spin their little webs. And with the lack of anything more credible, people therefore start to believe it. I can understand why the club are staying silent, as they clearly thought they were going to get McGhee and said as much on their website, But when that fell through it put them back at square one. Hearts were silent about McGhee for six months at his own request, now they are either staying silent for similar reasons or they’re really up s**t creek. There are plenty of journalists with an axe to grind against Hearts/Vlad to do all they can to make us believe the latter. Assuming we don’t get anyone decent in time, faced with the choice of an unpronouncable from Kaunas, Eduard Malofeev (shudder) or Steven Frail… which would you really choose?
I still believe the McGhee incident was designed to sell tickets and talks would have fallen over at the last moment. Weiss? Well it would appear he is using this interest to boost his contract at Artmedia or to get the national job. Like yourself MrH I believe nothing at Tynecastle until I see it with my own eyes. Until a manager is yelling at players from the touchline I wont believe a thing. The same can be said for the new stand, every couple of months a story is trotted out stating that we are getting closer to getting planning permission. I work for a huge organisation who has opened two new massive buildings over the past 3 years, let alone the 3 years we have been hearing about planning permission for a stand. There is something at Tynecastle that truly stinks and Vlad should, but doesn’t have to, come clean. If I had purchased a season ticket I would be disgusted. Surely even those with the most maroon tinted glasses must be questioning what is happening.
As SJ says, given the choice between a “pyramid puppet” and Frail, SF wins hands down on 3 counts – he speaks English and has SPL experience and has a decent record in terms of results at Hearts. I don’t share Dalien’s conspiracy therory about McGhee – I think it was a genuine attempt, but his suspicions about Romanov’s interference clearly influenced him towards accepting Boyle’s argument for staying put (along with a pay rise too !!). As for Thor and Weiss, it seems again that their perception of Romanov has caused them to have doubts too. Who can blame them, really ? As you say, official silence gives the media a free hand to peddle their own stories. Although there is a risk that this failure to find a suitable manager could hasten the end of Hearts as a Romanov “toy” – or worse still, the end of Hearts completely – in some ways, I’m almost glad that things may be being brought to a head. The club simply has no worthwhile future, so long as Mad Vlad continues this absurd meddling in player dealings and selections.