Hearts boss has a need for speed

AS the Hearts players headed out of the team's Riccarton training base the other day, they were complaining of having heavy legs – a sure sign that the training under Jim Jefferies had changed from what they were used to when Csaba Laszlo was in charge.

But, as the new manager reflected on his first full week back at the Tynecastle club, he revealed that his new charges weren't being run into the ground, the change being more to do with the tempo of their work on the training ground.

While Jefferies has nothing but praise for the work done by his predecessor, he wants to see Hearts getting back to playing in a way their fans are used to and the work has begun to try and make that happen.

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"What they have been used to is a different type of routine," he said. "Scottish football is a lot about playing with a high tempo and I think we saw that in the two games against St Johnstone and St Mirren.

"I'm not criticising anyone because I think Csaba did a terrific job but the nature of our game is that it is played at a high tempo, getting the ball down and passed quickly. When you watch games in Europe, they are always very good technically but, at the same time, it's not always great to watch. The punters in Scottish football want to see something different. They like to see action and, you can put all sorts of different terms to it, people out there playing for the cause, playing for the jerseys etc. It is about trying to get players to realise this is how we are going to do things after doing it a different way and, again, that is not a criticism.

"I think he (Csaba] was very good at what he did and how he wanted his team to play, you have to give him credit for that.

"But I know what Hearts fans want – they want to see their team being successful but, at the same time, doing it with a bit of flair, as Hibs are doing at the moment."

While more than the odd eyebrow may have been raised when Jefferies decided to return to Tynecastle and work under Vladimir Romanov, the 59-year-old insists he is comfortable with the situation and, what's more, believes it's not too different to his first spell in charge.

"I am well aware of the club's philosophy (bringing through players who could potentially be sold on] and what they see as their strategy and there is nothing wrong with that," he added. "That's what I did first time around. Mickey Cameron, Gary Naysmith, David Weir, Antti Niemi and Neil McCann – they all moved on after doing well for Hearts. You've got the young element coming through from the Academy and you can see already that, in players like Gordon Smith, the two Thomsons – Craig and Jason – and Scott Robinson that there's a good nucleus there. There's also Arvydas Novikovas, a good young kid from Lithuania. He's very skilful but is injured at the moment. He's a decent young player. The ones I had (first time around at Hearts] were a bit more mature and experienced than those I've got at the moment but we'll get there as long as we keep encouraging them."

One player Jefferies is particularly keen to encourage is Gary Glen, pictured below left, believing a player he included in his first starting XI back at Hearts needs to have his confidence boosted after becoming a bit demoralised.

"I picked Gary Glen against St Johnstone because I knew, a couple of years ago, that he was the new boy on the scene," said the manager.

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"Now his confidence is so low. I've told him there's nothing anyone can do about what has happened.

"But the one thing is it is a clean slate and we're hoping he can get back to what he was doing earlier in his career.

"If we do that, we've got another prospect.

"Paul Ritchie had been at the club a long time and had won things with the reserves but was never given his chance in the first team. I gave him his chance straight away and he never let us down.

"We could have got millions for him if he hadn't gone out of contract."

While Jefferies is well aware that he's not inherited an embarrassment of riches in the striking department, he reckons the return of Calum Elliot will be a big boost, having suffered at the boot of the youngster when he was boss at Kilmarnock last season.

"Calum is not back in full training yet but he's not far away. We've just got to take it easy when we are indoors," said Jefferies.

"When he was put out on loan, he came back and started to win the fans over.

"Indeed, he scored two goals against us (Kilmarnock] and played well that day.

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"He's only a young player and it is about giving players like him rehab in terms of confidence.

"Maybe someone can get better out of them just as I might not be able to get something better out of players who were perhaps suited to the previous manager. But that's life."

During his first spell in charge, Jefferies and Billy Brown used Pinkie in Musselburgh as their main training base, while the nearby Lagoons was the place to find them when most other places in and around the Capital were frozen in the winter months.

Now Jefferies doesn't have to wake up in the morning worrying about trying to find alternative training venues and he's already a big fan of the club's Riccarton facilities. "I was at the launch when Chris Robinson and Leslie Deans announced the plans for this place along with, if my memory serves me right, Scott Severin, who had just broken into the first team at the time," he recalled.

"But I left before anything was started and it was opened in Craig Levein's time in charge.

"It is a fantastic facility and is a big help when you are bringing players to the club that you have facilities like this. Hearts are a big club and we have a lot of good people at the club who can't do enough for you.

"Everyone is getting well looked after and, at the end of the day, if that's the case, it's not too much to ask players to go out on the park and give it their all."