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Would McGhee Appointment Win Hearts Fans Back?

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As more and more ‘trusted sources’ are conceding that it’s looking likely that Hearts will announce Mark McGhee and Scott Leitch as their new managerial ‘Dream Team'(!) next week, I’m wondering
if it does indeed come to fruition, that this will be enough to appease the many thousands of fans who have completely lost faith with the club under the Romanovs.

If there’s been one thing that’s been said more often that anyone cares to remember in connection with the apathy towards Hearts this season, it’s the need for the club to appoint a ‘proper manager’. It’s actually gotten to the stage now where people aren’t even bothered about whether they get a GOOD proper manager or not, just anyone that we feel will be doing the job in the ‘conventional’ way that we’re familiar with will do it would seem.

So if we end up seeing Mark McGhee on the news next week being paraded at Tynecastle holding a maroon and white scarf over his head (which appears to be Stockport Jambo’s pre-requisite for ‘believing’!), will that mean that we finally will have our ‘proper manager’, a man who will be in full control of all matters involving the first team that he should have?

We would obviously like to think so, but there will still be doubters, even if McGhee does not appear to be a particularly good candidate for Romanov’s famed brand of ‘puppetry’. These people will perhaps point to the former Aberdeen and Scotland striker’s likely hike in salary (reports indicate that he’d more than triple his salary by going to Hearts) being a ‘sweetener’ that would encourage McGhee to at least be open to the suggestion that certain decisions he makes are to be explained and negotiated with those in the boardroom from time to time. All hypothetical at the moment I know, but given what we’ve seen at our club for the last three years, not altogether unrealistic – even George Burley was having to explain certain decisions, which in the end was one of the main reasons he left.

However I really would doubt that McGhee would come to Hearts to simply be another ‘yes man’. He’ll have seen what’s gone on at the club just like everyone else recently and surely wouldn’t touch it with the proverbial barge pole if he was likely to be the next man subjected to similar treatment. It simply wouldn’t make sense for the man to walk out on Motherwell, a club heading into Europe, to take on such a poisoned-chalice under those circumstances, no matter what the financial benefits would be. Or am I underestimating the power of greed here?

Personally I think that the appointment of McGhee would be enough for the majority of the fans to ‘give it one more season’ to see if the message has finally gotten through to the Romanovs. It’s probably fair to say that most of us had completely given up hope of the club appointing anything other than more of Romanov’s Eastern European buddies and/or the out-of-his-depth Stevie Frail into the manager’s job on a long-term basis (or as long as it can be under VR!), so at the very least this move would pleasantly surprise many of us.

We’ll soon know if this story is in fact true and in due course we’ll also be able to guage just how apathetic towards their club that the fans have actually become – if McGhee gets the job and season-ticket sales continue to be poor, then I think that will be a pretty conclusive answer there. But I would like to think that the appointment of our first ‘proper manager’ since George Burley nearly three years ago (scary isn’t it?), would encourage most of us to turn up and stick it out for at least another season – you never know what might happen……….

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MrH

Come on the famous!

17 comments

  • StockportJambo says:

    There’s ‘believing’ and then there’s ‘believing we will appoint a manager’. I’d like to hope that someone like McGhee would be appointed, if only because it would undoubtedly signal a change of direction (forwards!) for the club after almost three years of waiting like you said… and it would be hard for Romanov to sack him for non footballing reasons after all the hoo-ha. Bottom line is what is put out on the park next season – whoever the manager ends up being – THAT has to be vastly better than this term. Only that can make people ‘believe’ again IMO.

  • e-jambo says:

    The appointment of Mcghee and Leitch would be a vast improvement over anything we’ve seen management wise since GB. But why would either man want to join our circus!? Oh yeah I forgot…..money!

  • MrH says:

    That’s the thing – would that help to cloud their judgement? Probably!

  • Dalien says:

    And today he says hasn’t spoken to Hearts. Oh well… I seem to say oh well quite a lot these days.

  • StockportJambo says:

    McGhee’s wording is very interesting – he said he isn’t to be unveiled on a specific date. Which is not to say he won’t be unveiled as the new Hearts boss, nor does it mean that he hasn’t applied for the job. Time will tell. As to why would a manager come – the next Hearts manager is in a win-win situation. Succeed and you get the adulation of tens of thousands of fans, and the possibility of making history by breaking the OF stranglehold for the first time in over 25 years. Fail, and you walk away with your head held high blaming the Romanovs for their interference. Oh, and being extremely well paid in either event.

  • Specs Haver says:

    But thats part of the problem, SJ – a “win-win” in our eyes doesn’t seem to exist in Vlad-speak. Burley was a rip-roaring success, yet “failed” in the eyes of our Madman, and Rix was a failure in everyones eyes. See the pattern ? In Vlad’s eyes, it seem you are already a failure – it s just a question of when.

  • Specs Haver says:

    On the McGhee question – I am sceptical of 2 things. Firstly, that we have even approached him. Secondly, if we have approached him, that he’s remotely interested in joining the circus. I guess all we can do is hope that Campbell Ogilvie is battling behind the scenes to convince Vlad to let a Scots manager have a free rein. To answer the question, Mr H – I think it probably would be seen a s a positive move by the fans, for the reason that SJ mentioned. However it would really annoy me (and others too probably) if it turns out that McGhee was NEVER even approached, and we end up with Frail or a Malofeev clone. Anyway, if a miracle happens and McGhee joins Hearts in June, what’s the betting he’d get fired by October having won all his games ?

  • MrH says:

    This is the surely the final chance for redemption with the fans though – if that does happen and we end up with a Malofeev, Frail, etc, having been promised something entirely different, they will not get the custom. I think we probably will end up with someone like McGhee, but whether that all goes pear-shaped a la Burley? It could quite easily……..as Dalien likes to say, “oh well”……….!

  • itsnomarooned says:

    I was chatting yesterday with a colleague (and Vital contributor) about the prospect of McGhee and wondering who we would accept him punting. We came to the conclusion that if (yes – it’s a big if) he had proper authority etc, then it absolutely doesn’t matter who he get’s rid of, including some of our “better” players, e.g. Kingston, Berra ……. er !! Anyway, I thought it was interesting that we (the 2 of us at least) would be prepared to accept a new manager doing anything they wanted as long as we knew he was a “proper” manager.

  • StockportJambo says:

    Thing is itsnomarooned, our current crop of “star” players have got us to the lofty heights of 8th in the SPL! In all honesty, whilst some of these players may flourish under a new manager, if he doesn’t like any of them, then its “bye bye” as far as I’m concerned.

  • itsnomarooned says:

    Indeed – no pass marks for anyone this season!

  • MrH says:

    Agree with both of you.

  • Specs Haver says:

    Fair comment – but I’m pretty sure a decent manager would get a hell of a lot more out of them, and get them playing as a team – hopefully then we’d see who really has a bright future in the game.

  • GERS..72 says:

    even if mcghee was to bring in his world famous crispy rolls, i dont think that would even get the fans back, mcghee will go to celtic, hearts is a smoke-screen

  • GERS..72 says:

    lambert to motherwell

  • Genghis says:

    Any manger worth his salt would be made to go to Hearts, even with the amount of money they are offering. Unless it was written into the contract that the manager has full authority over the team etc then you’ll be in the same boat as this year (and the year before).

  • MrH says:

    Well…we’ll just have to see if money blinded McGhee into taking the job won’t we?

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