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Robbo Coming Back To Hearts?

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Strong rumours are doing the rounds that Hearts’ all-time record goalscorer John Robertson is speaking to club representatives about a potential return to Tynecastle is some
capacity.

Robbo previously had a spell as manager of the club under Romanov after Craig Levein left quite suddenly for Leicester City a few short years ago, but to be honest things just never worked out for the wee man. Despite the sort of football he preached being more open and free-flowing than the style under Levein, he was not able to deliver the same sort of effective results and this, coupled with rumoured differences of opinion with various people above him, led to an early departure from the job.

It has been suggested in the past that the club have since approached Robbo with a view to him returning, but to date nothing concrete has happened. However several newspapers are indicating that talks to bring him back in some sort of coaching role are ongoing, so perhaps this time something will actually happen. Perhaps as a specialised coach for the forwards? Who knows.

It goes without saying that Robbo is an immensely popular guy with the Hearts support, but that relationship was in danger of becoming slightly soured during his unsuccessful time at the helm. This is why I’d hope that whatever role Robbo gets if he does return again, is one that is more behind-the-scenes than say the Head Coach role, as I’m really not sure that he’s the right guy for a job like that. Especially not under the Romanov regime anyway. Let’s face it, Romanov has managed to turn almost the entire Hearts support against Steven Pressley, the most popular Hearts player of recent times, so who’s to say he couldn’t do that with Robbo if he decided to make him his scapegoat? I’d be a tad concerned about that.

John Robertson is one of the few players of the modern era who fully justify the title of ‘Hearts legend’. If there is genuinely a role at Tynecastle just now that suits the wee man, then I’d be delighted to see him coming back and perhaps helping to restore a bit of the club’s true identity. But it must be right for him – I’d hate to see things go pear-shaped to the point where the fans treat him like they treat Pressley these days – that would be a travesty.

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MrH

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14 comments

  • StockportJambo says:

    Romanov didn’t turn the Hearts support against Elvis, and he couldn’t Robbo either. Elvis turned the Hearts support against him all by himself by his actions & words since he left the club, and by most rational people thinking “Hang on… what if I behaved like that at my job? My boss would fire me too!”. Nobody will forget what he did for the club, nor will they forget the Hammer of the Hibs. It’s just not possible. But these are different times, and if Robbo came back as a coach in some capacity, he would be judged on his performance there. His status as a Hearts playing legend is forever safe, though.

  • MrH says:

    I’m sorry but I have to strongly disagree. Pressley handled himself impeccably during his time with Hearts and the press conference was done with the good of the club in mind, not him as an individual. But some fans (who are idiots) are allowing themselves to be conned into thinking that he was plotting all along to join one of our rivals. I was no fan of Elvis the player – I thought he was a cumbersome, slow centre-half who was often out of position, but I didn’t like the fact that his integrity was questioned by so many. That was insulting and he had every time to want to put one over on Hearts after his treatment at the end.

  • stonesy says:

    Well said MrH. Who said the whole Hearts support are now against Pressley? I’m not. The average Hearts fan, and the comments above are certainly average, just don’t get how poorly run we are. Pressley conducts himself in a manner which displeased some fans on one occasion. However, Romanov can behave appallingly on several occasions, yet that’s acceptable. Pressley had a number of outbursts behind the scenes at Tyncastle prior to the Riccarton press conference. He held the club together for many a month, burdened with responsibilities way beyond that of a captain. If not for his example, Hartley and perhaps even Gordon would have bailed out much sooner. If you engage your brain before judging Pressley’s post Celtic game celebrations, you would realise that a large aspect of it was to win the Celtic fans over. Admittedly he also showed emotion directly related to the way Hearts treated him, but I totally understand that. You have to understand the pressure and fury build up from two years under Romanov. It was not directed at the Hearts support. The fact it was with Celtic was enough for most though. I await the inevitable criticism of Gordon when he leaves. Isn’t it funny how every player or staff member who leaves Hearts has the exact same view of the Dictator that employed them.

  • StockportJambo says:

    Welcome to the world of Business. Name me one business that is solely owned by one person which is not then run like a dictatorship? Hearts, like any business, is not a democracy, and the day that Romanov took sole control of the club is the day that any semblence of “democracy” (of which there was actually none… some of us remember the Pieman) went out the window. I work for a business, and I know that if I hijacked a press conference to publically criticise my employer (for WHATEVER reason) I would be sacked on the spot. And if I tried to sue for unfair dismissal I would be laughed out of court. Elvis thought he was bigger than the club. He was wrong. And his actions since leaving have done nothing to endear himself back to the fans (like me) who supported him for the last eight years. Yes you can point to various examples of how “big bad Mad Vlad” did this or that, but the bottom line is that he is the owner and Elvis was an employee. And there is a certain level of etiquette that needs to be followed, which Elvis completely bypassed. You cannot do that and expect there not to be any repercussions. Crummy behaviour is crummy behaviour, no matter who does it… and yes I accept that Romanov has made some poor decisions in his time in charge at Hearts, but sacking Elvis for what he did was not one of them IMO. Elvis left him with no alternative. I’m fed up with some sections of the Hearts support who seek to turn Elvis into some kind of saint.

  • MrH says:

    I’m not arguing with VR’s sacking of Pressley at all – as you say he had no alternative with one of his employees doing that. But by that stage, as I’m led to believe, Elvis knew that the writing was on the wall and the press conference was his last and desperate attempt to try and force something to be done. Almost like he was sacrificing himself to allow others to see exactly what the problems were behind the scenes. Alas this has not happened and the fickle Hearts support have turned on him, such is the short-term-ness (I made that word up myself!) of football. Some of the things I’ve heard about that have gone on behind the scenes there involving these people really would frighten you – even one of the local press guys hinted that Elvis was probably going to have to leave Hearts for the sake of his own health at a Shareholders dinner last year.

  • stonesy says:

    To suggest that the way Romanov runs Hearts, is the same as the way any other majority shareholder runs their business, is utter stupidity.

  • MrH says:

    I do suspect though, that the reason that we are all constantly debating all this stuff is due to the absolute silence that comes out of Tynie these days regarding club management. We hear snippets and bits and pieces about what’s going on, but none of us really know it all. When you’re in that position it makes you uneasy about it and if you read boards like JKB, you’ll see that it’s turned a lot of fans against each other.

  • StockportJambo says:

    It seems to me that the press are the ones who are sowing the seeds of discontent. We have more visibility now (thanks to the Internet) than we’ve almost ever had of the club, but because they don’t respond to what’s written in the gutter press about us (Romanov has tried, but they always fine him for it… it must get tiresome after a while). Stonesy, do you work for Hearts? Do you know anyone personally who works for Hearts and has told you in detail what it’s really like? So how do you KNOW whether its the same as any other business or not? I’m guessing that your “knowledge” comes from reading the press yourself, or listening to what other fans have said after THEY have read the press or watched Setanta TV. I think it’s foolhardy to believe that Stephen Pressley, a man of such integrity and honour (or so we’re always led to believe) could allow himself to be trampled on by Big Bad “Mad” Vlad, and not realise that the whole thing could be won through this immensely powerful engine that is the media. Everything he has said and done since he left the club has convinced me of that. And he signed a confidentiality agreement.

  • stonesy says:

    MrH will confirm that I never read the press, and never have. I do not work Hearts. However, I know several people who have worked, and are still working for Hearts. This includes staff from the retail area, right through to players and management. I’ve heard more pieces of information than I would post on any website. A lot of it people wouldn?t believe anyway. Suffice to say though, that all the employees mentioned have had problems being paid by the owner….for several months. Meanwhile, he buys Harry Potters wand to show off to other club chairman in the board room! There are many more areas of the club, such as injury diagnosis, medical treatment and training methods that I could go into, but there is no point. I say that as most of the Hearts support continue to defend him one and a half years on from the first and most obvious sign on how the club would be run. MrH?we?re never going to get any comment out of the sort of people we?re dealing with at Tynie, but you know that anyway. As for Romanov turning fans against each other?another symptom of his deliberate behaviour. However, as I?ve mentioned, there is no point in debating this. Romanov could remove those fans who support him from their homes?and they?d say, ?I never liked that house anyway?

  • StockportJambo says:

    Okay stonesy & MrH, let’s suppose that all that’s true (and I admit I’m a long way away from the ‘action’ here), and Pressley really did fall on his sword for the good of Hearts & to expose the goings on at the club… all that being true, WHY did he sign a confidentiality agreement? Brellier didn’t, and has already gone bleating to the press. That’s the bit I don’t understand about the “Elvis is a Saint” brigade.

  • MrH says:

    Did he sign such an agreement? I thought he was just staying silent for his own reasons – possibly with a view that he’d take legal action in the future a la Rix, Anderton, etc. Either way I can’t really answer your question – I only know snippets and can’t say with any conviction what his reasons were.

  • stonesy says:

    He did sign one. Pressley is a footballer, but is also a shrewd businessman. He owns a number of properties in the capital, and hasn’t spoken out beyond Riccarton as it doesn’t make financial sense to do so.

  • StockportJambo says:

    I’m not really sure what you’re getting at stonesy, to be honest. What, if Hearts don’t win the Champions League in 5 years time, Romanov is going to blow Edinburgh away with his nuclear submarine in some kind of scorched earth episode, thus sending the price of houses in the capital plummeting? Anyway. It’d be good tae have the wee fat one back as a coach, wouldn’t it? 🙂

  • MrH says:

    Only if the role wasn’t too big for him. Personally I’d much rather have Levein back……..

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