It looks as though we were right to be sceptical about this morning’s reports about the latest ‘done deal’ surrounding the Hearts manager’s position.
Tonight’s Evening News are reporting that Vladimir Romanov has drawn up a shortlist of three names to potentially take charge at Tynecastle: Gudjon Thorardson, the Icelander strongly linked
with the club in today’s tabloids; Vladimir Weiss, Slovak manager of Artmedia Bratislava; and finally Belarussian Andrei Zygmantovich, who has previously worked for Romanov at MTZ Ripo and FBK Kaunas.
Weiss has enjoyed great success with Artmedia, including a league a cup double last season. He was also in charge when they famously hammered Celtic 5-0 in a Champions League qualifying round a couple of years before that, although in the end they only just managed to squeeze through that tie 5-4 on aggregate.
Both Weiss and Thorardson have been contacted by Hearts, with Zygmantovich said to be the outside bet to get the job, most likely if moves to take both of the other two end up collapsing.
It’s very easy for the knee-jerk reaction here to be one of disappointment. After all, none of these guys would immediately make anyone sit up and take notice if they got the job as they are simply not well-known enough if this part of the world. But that doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t be any good – it’s a common misconception in this country that anyone that you’ve barely heard of mustn’t be good enough, and it’s this sort of arrogance that has resulted in some of our clubs’ and national sides’ biggest embarrassments. So we should be careful not to assume the worst here just because they are not big names.
However in January we WERE promised a manager who would have suitable knowledge of the game in Britain, and out of those three names only Thorardson would appear to fit the bill, especially if he appoints Terry Butcher as his assistant. Weiss sounds as though he has decent credentials, but can Hearts really afford to appoint another coach without the necessary experience in this country under his belt? I don’t think so – the appointment of a name that no-one has heard of would mean the new man requiring to make a quick impact if they are to be fully accepted by the supporters, so bringing Weiss in would be a pretty big risk in my opinion. As for Zygmantovich, he would have to start exceptionally well to be accepted, given that his credentials would appear to be, on paper at least, comparable to the likes of Ivanauskas and Malofeev.
Would any of these guys encourage a frenzy of season-tickets sales? Well, unless they end up getting some serious money to splash around on some top players, I sadly doubt it…….
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No season ticket from me this year either then… I’m glad to see we are going for such a Scottish Football knowledgeable manager as promised. This goes to show that McGhee was a nonsense and Vlad had no intention of hiring him. I suspect there would have been 7 days of frenzied negotiations followed by a fall out. Frankly I am disgusted and it will be vivivic livivic or whatever vic ending surname of a fellow to change my opinion on this one. If only I had chosen a different football strip as a child.
As we suspected, Campbell Ogilvie’s input to the hitlist looks to have been kept to a minimum by Vlad – well, 1 to be precise. Presumably Vlad allowed McGhee to be top, but when that fell through the next few names smack of Vlad’s input. The EN is reporting that Thordarson has already met Butcher to discuss working together at Hearts … not sure I believe that. Perhaps putting Zygmantovic on the list is a ploy to make us grateful if ANYBODY else gets the job !!
I was listening to off the ball on radio scotland a year or so back and Butcher was stating that only an idiot would work for Romanov so either he has had a massive change of heart, has run out of money or indeed is confirming he is an idiot. I remember this boss at Stoke City and he was entirely loved. I just don’t rate anyone on the list and as I mentioned before I am disgusted and may well not be back at Tynecastle for a long long time. Vlad is a liar, he promised a British Manager or a manager with knowledge of the British game and with the Icelandic manager he is taking the michael out of all the fans by appointing someone who has knowledge of it but is it useful?
It is entirely possible though, Dalien, that some or all of these names being mentioned are well wide of the mark. For 2 weeks we heard absolutely NOTHING … then all of a sudden, 3 names come out on the same day. Sounds odd to me.
I think so too SH. I was worried things were so quiet. I know JJ wont come as he has started signing new players and it does seem that Weiss has been in Edinburgh. I reckon zyghhfkkwehuihew is a red herring too to show that he could have picked him if he wanted to. Oh well let’s see what happens.
I am surprised your chairman Romanov hasn’t decided to do the job himself!