Hearts have today announced the appointment of Arturas Ramoska as their new first team goalkeeping coach.
Ramoska, who is 44 years of age and a former player with FBK Kaunas, apparently holds a full UEFA pro-licence and has experience working with the Lithuanian national side at both full and under-21 level.
Despite Csaba Laszlo’s typically bullish comments with regards to this appointment, it’s difficult not to have a sinking feeling about this. After all of the positive chat surrounding the club in the run-up to the new season and after the Motherwell game, things have gradually been sliding back down to where they were, especially since all of the nonsense about the goalkeeping situation started.
Since the Motherwell game, Steve Banks has mysteriously disappeared from the first team set-up, a Kaunas player has been unexpectedly signed ahead of another target that appeared to be Laszlo’s (although the latter is still said to be on the wish-list) and now the new goalkeeping coach is another Lithuanian with Kaunas links.
Now let’s just get one thing straight here – this is NOT about where these people come from. I couldn’t give a monkey’s if the whole Hearts first team came from Lithuania – if they were worthy of being in the side and it was clear that the manager was the one who wanted them there, then I wouldn’t have a problem with that.
But the fact that so many things have happened at the club recently that would appear to have our meddling owner’s fingers all over them, instead of Csaba, the man we all hoped would be truly ‘in charge’, has to be of some concern to the supporters. It just has to.
We’ll obviously continue to give Csaba and his players our full support during the coming months, but if it becomes more and more obvious that Romanov and his band of faceless idiots are still the ones calling the shots with regards to the first team, then surely enough will be enough for many more supporters than those who already decided not to renew their season tickets in the summer.
Share this article
Related Articles
I hate to say it so early in the season but I agree with you sir. Also I would like at this point to say I told you so to everyone else… Nah only joking… Seriously though folks this could spell disaster for yet another season as someone who has no knowledge of football tries to run a club and select the team. Maybe we should all chip in and buy Romanov a copy of Football Manager so he at least get’s some practice outside of ruining the club!?! Big question is how long will Csaba stick with it and how long will Romanov stick with him.
Forgot to moan about the fact that we will have had 3 keepers in 3 games this season already by Sunday and of course we will have only played 3 games. This irks me most as even I know that the keeper position needs to be consistent and the relationship between defenders and their keepers takes time and patience. This should all have been done in the pre-season. Who do we think will be next for the character assassination? I reckon Robbie Neilson could be treading on thin ice, after all he has long hair and a beard just like Hartley and he is of course Scottish.
What’s the problem here? First of all, Romanov is not picking the team. He’s picking the coaches. He’s the owner – that’s not just his perogative, it’s his job! This new coach is well qualified & experienced at club & international level, including working with young players. He seems an excellent appointment on paper. For Csaba to have a problem with this would be like me saying to the CEO of the company I work for: “You have to hire this guy. Don’t you *dare* try and hire somebody over my head, no matter how well qualified or experienced he might be!”. I understand people are nervous about the Kaunas link, and the fact that this link has often made us take two steps backwards to every one forward in recent times, but to simply rule out this resource we have purely because it hasn’t worked in every single prior case is short-sighted in my view.
Yes… a sinking feeling is a good way of describing things, Mr H. If the reports are true about Vlad telling the players at Ibrox that Banks could not be trusted anymore, then it would appear the whole goalie replacement thing has been planned for at least a couple of weeks. Similar tactic to the character assassination of Elvis is used to undermine Banks, in order to pave the way for the Kaunas goalie and coach. As Dalien points out, it will be sad if Csaba gets to the point where he’s had enough of Vlad’s meddling and decides to quit. Alternatively there is the possibility that Csaba sees a tit-for-tat opportunity with Vlad – perhaps Csaba wants to jettison Miko and/or Cesnauskas as well as No 28, and the only way he can do it is to agree to bring in the Kaunas Two. Only by negotiating in this way can Csaba stand a chance of staying in a job !!
SJ – it is of course possible that Kello and Ramoska are good at what they do. We all must hope that. However Vlad’s scope of knowledge and influence is very narrow – basically its only players and coaches at Kaunas and Ripo that he can call on. Both are minnows in the Euro football world… so what are the chances that these 2 are going to be better than Banks and McDonald ? Young Jamie must be pretty disillusioned tonight – getting Csaba’s vote on Saturday, only to find himself now being assessed by Kello’s coach from Kaunas.
SJ I appreciate you trying remain positive here no matter what, but even you must admit that this is not sounding good. It is possible that the two new appointments turn out to be pretty good, but the track record isn’t particularly great is it? And as for appointing a goalkeeping coach being the responsibility of the owner? Nonsense – that’s the role of the manager. All members of the backroom team should be appointed by the manager (as is normal certainly in this country), or at the very least, be approved by the manager. This is a man who will be working directly for the head coach, so why on earth should the owner be the one picking who comes in to do the job?
I know what you’re saying SH, but do you not think that MacDonald has been kept informed as to the plans for the goalkeeping position at Hearts? Csaba wants three young goalies with varying levels of experience. Who here has a problem with that exactly? What are the chances that the two new boys will be better than Banks or MacDonald? Well, Banks has never played higher than English lower leagues before he came to Hearts. And he’s never coached anywhere before. Ramoska on the other hand has played the game, and has a UEFA Pro coaching license (which they don’t just give away) and has experience of coaching at international & club level. I think there’s a pretty good chance he’s going to be better at his job than rookie Banks, who can now learn the ropes properly by teaching the youngsters without too much undue pressure. Kello may or may not be a good goalie, similarly Balogh, but thats something for Csaba to decide. I agree with Dalien’s point that this should all have been sorted pre-season, but there wasn’t time… and Kaunas’ Euro involvement meant that circumstances prevented it happening until now. Not ideal, but at least we’re getting somewhere.
MrH – Csaba has come out publically and said he approves of the appointment. It’s the responsibility of the owner because he is the one paying the wages, not the manager.
SJ – 3 goalies (+ Mark Ridgers and young Shaun Thomson) is fine since we are running 3 teams. Your point about Ramoska having more coaching experience than Banks is a fair one. However if Csaba decided that he needed a more experienced goalie coach and asked Vlad for money to bring one in, wouldn’t you have hoped that Csaba would have used his own contacts to find one ? Instead it looks like Vlad said “OK…. you need a new coach ? I have one for you. Meet Arturas, everyone “.
This debate is rather like the one I have in my head every time something odd happens at Tynecastle. I have to say that my natural desire to be optimistic and positive is being swamped at the moment by an overwhelming feeling of ?here we go again? gloom. What I assume is an extract (rather than the full thing since at no time is the St Mirren game discussed) of Csaba?s press conference today is on currently the BBC Sport Scotland site. Have a listen (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/7577742.stm). There is some humour and bravado there as one might expect from Csaba but there are also some moments where one senses some frustration from the manager. The questions are reasonable enough given this week?s events. Amusingly at one point Csaba puts forward the view that the Banks situation is ?Hearts business? and so journalists asking questions on this subject is akin to going into someone?s house and asking why they are divorced from their wife?! I hope he?s not been reading from Romanov?s phrasebook?
The Hearts website is issuing a ‘correction’ to a media report about Kello saying he was signed by Vladimir, not Csaba. I heard this being reported on Radio Scotland tonight, and immediately suspected that the media were up to no good. A foreigner who works for Vladimir’s team in Lithuania being told by Vladimir to go work for his other team in Scotland is bound to say he was signed by Vladimir – which is NOT the same thing as saying he was forced on Csaba.
I have to agree with SJ, I rather goalkeeper coach that has experience than Banks who was appointed last year (a football year I rather forget!). Banks has not left (yet) so he is probably planning his future as a coach whilst everyone else is going on about his ‘demotion’. I have said it before and I will say it again, I don’t think that Csab is solely in charge, Vlad has and will always have a say in club matters, this is why it took such a long time to appoint a new manager! Although, I do think Csaba got the skills to be a good manager whilst ?managing? Mr Romanov and the Scottish press… They (west coast journalists) loves witing about Csaba’s lack of say in teem mattters and when he does, well they?ll just make it look like he doesn’t… and give us have something to talk about…
I have to clarify I do think Csaba is in charge of team selection, but there is joint decisions when it comes to appointments.
Like Scandinavian and Stockport, I do remain optimistic that Csaba’s “co-operative” approach to managing Hearts is reasonable – and probably the best we can hope for, actually. We just have to hope that Csaba turns out to be a good motivator and coach. Interesting to read Kello’s comments that he is actually aiming HIGHER than Hearts in his career – ultimately to play in Spain, Italy or England. That suggests he believes he is good enough to get there, so maybe this whole saga will turn out to be a routine overblown media frenzy. The comment by Csaba about why Banks played against Motherwell – “we had no other goalkeepers” – sounds wrong though. McDonald was on the bench that day – so presumably he only played against Rangers a week later because “we had no other goalkeepers” too (Kello not ready yet, and Banks not to be trusted ?). Good comments from Berra too today in the Hootsmon about Kello (although I suppose its unlikely he would say anything negative !!)
It is a fair point that the new guys might be better than what we have already, as the latter are arguably not really that great. But that isn’t really the point here – it’s more about questioning who made these decisions and why – if they turn out to be good then that could just be down to luck, in that sooner or later you’re going to get some signings right! SJ (stockport that is!), yes the owner pays wages of every coach, but the entire coaching staff is supposed to be appointed by the manager. Jefferies brought in Brown and Houston, Levein kept Houston and brought in Frail, etc. Of course Csaba is going to say he welcomes this guy to the fold – what choice does he have if he wants to keep his job?
If I can try to be ridiculously optimistic for a moment, Csaba may indeed have made the hard decision on his own of deciding that Banks didn’t have the required coaching experience at top level, but wanted to retain him for the U-21, U-19 and U-17 teams. And maybe the urgency of the situation was such that he was willing to go with the Kaunas “package” of Kello and Ramoska. At least Obua is Csaba’s choice ….. it’s not clear yet whose radar Tullberg appeared on. If he’s mince, we can blame Vlad … if he’s decent, we’ll give Csaba the benefit of the doubt !! I may now change my name to Stockport Haver …..
Stockport Haver… mmm… has a nice ring to it don’t you think? 🙂 Been away for a few days, interesting reading the comments. Seems opinion is quite polarised. Not seen or heard anything about the St Mirren game yet (apart from the score) so am I wrong in thinking that Kello had a good game on Saturday?
He had nothing to do so difficult to tell right now.