Hearts Berra Wants ‘British-Style’ Manager

Following on from Hearts’ failed attempts to lure Motherwell manager Mark McGhee to Tynecastle, current club captain Christophe Berra has spoken of his desire to see
with a similar background to McGhee as their contingency plan.

Berra said:

‘The club wanted Mark McGhee but he made the decision to stay at Motherwell and all credit to him.

‘There are other good managers out there who can do a job and hopefully when someone does get appointed they can take the club forward.

‘I think it would be good to get a British-style manager who would come in and know what it takes to compete in the SPL.

‘But they’ve got to make the right decision. It’s very important that the manager is in place for pre-season because if he is not, then comes in two or three weeks later, then it might be hard to bring in his own style of play.

‘We are a big club, we have a big fanbase, a nice stadium and an academy.

‘We have the potential to be a very big club, but we probably need a manager in place with his own backroom staff who is going to take the club forward and who will improve players individually.

‘Over the past two or three seasons there has been instability, but since Christmas Stevie Frail took charge and we didn’t lose many games.

‘Our performances and work ethic were so much better and if we get someone in with the same attitude, get a good pre-season under our belt, get everyone fit and playing the way he wants and start the season well, then we can go upwards and onwards.

‘Whoever comes in will target players and hopefully Mr Romanov will back him and show him the money.

‘But you don’t want to be silly and spend too much money.

‘It’s about quality not quantity now and I think if we bring in a few quality players to the squad, get everyone working in the same direction, then we can be up near the top.’

We have spoken at length of this site about the need to get the right man being of critical importance to Hearts right now, but to be honest although a manager from these shores would perhaps be preferable in some ways, I’ve never been overly bothered about where they come from.

However I do think that the description ‘British-style manager’ is probably relevant here, even if it’s not perhaps the best way of wording it from a political correctness point of view! The bottom line, as Berra states, is that we need someone capable of coming in and immediately being aware of what it takes to succeed in the Scottish league. You would therefore have to assume that this person would need to have at least some experience of managing a reasonably big club in the UK, whether it be in the SPL or perhaps down south in the one of the top two divisions.

I wonder…..are there any Easter Europeans who would fall into this category? I wonder what Dr Jo Venglos is up to these days…………!