HEARTS players are reporting to Riccarton to begin preparations for season 2009/10 knowing that, as they shuffle through the revolving door to the club's training ground, they are entering an environment where footballers tend to thrive. Such is the influence of Csaba Laszlo, who has revitalised the squad inside 12 months.
New arrivals like Ian Black and Jesus Manuel Santana Abreu – the Spaniard better known as Suso – will have been briefed on the varying degrees of success enjoyed by both current and former colleagues in the past year.
Where once Riccarton was re
garded as something of an orphanage for the waifs and strays of Lithuanian football, it is now a hub for home-grown produce with a smattering of continental efficiency.
It is Laszlo's belief that more new faces will follow Black and Suso, but evidence of the astute coaching methods employed by the Hungarian and his staff are already plentiful.
The fruits of their efforts not only lie in Hearts securing third place last season and returning to European competition following a three-year absence, for even those who left the club did so having prospered over the last year.
Robbie Neilson, the club's former captain, is presently familiarising himself with new colleagues at Leicester City after joining on freedom of contract. He will aid a promotion tilt aimed at propelling the Midlands club into the Premier League.
Twelve months ago he was embroiled in rehabilitation after injury and did not play competitively under Laszlo until 8 November.
Three months later he was appointed club captain following Christophe Berra's £2.3million transfer to Wolverhampton Wanderers, performing consistently throughout the campaign.
Berra was already an established member of the side when Laszlo was appointed, but there is little doubt he matured rapidly under the new manager before being lured south by Mick McCarthy.
Other recent departures include Christos Karipidis and Bruno Aguiar, who both joined the Cypriot club Omonia Nicosa on extremely rewarding contracts on the back of their finest seasons in maroon. Laszlo, therefore, is fully justified in extolling Hearts as the place to be for young aspiring footballers intent on rapid progress.
He can also call on his own coaching experiences in Uganda, Germany and Hungary, where he helped several recognisable names achieve international recognition.
"If I look back in my coaching career, I have so many players who have come through to play international football," he said.
"At Borussia Moenchengladbach, I counted seven names who worked with me at under-16 and under-17 level and went on to play for their countries.
"There is Eugen Polanski at Getafe and Marcel Jansen at Hamburg.
"At Ferencvaros, I brought through Szabolcs Huszti and other guys like Zoltan Gera, pictured right, and Denes Rosa.
In Uganda, I had six professional players when I started and they all played in South Africa. When I left there were 25 playing all over Europe.
"Now I look at Hearts, Berra grew in his position to be a player for the Scottish national team.
"Then there is Lee Wallace and David Obua, who came to Scotland and showed his talent. Bruno came back under my regime and was a goalscorer, Karipidis was one of the best number sixes in the league. Eggert Jonsson is in the Icelandic national team also.
"Nobody talked about Karipidis before. He told me he was a good player but that he did not show good games.
"Now Karipidis was one of the best number sixes in the league last season. After Berra left he was a leader.
"Michael Stewart is a very heavy character but possible to guide. He was one of the leaders in the team and he came back to the national team last season. He was one of the most precious players on the field at the end of the season.
"Christian Nade came back (from injury] and played a lot of games. David Obua had a problem with the mentality and with Scottish football at first but after (that] he stabilised his performance. He can be a precious player next season for Hearts.
"I will give Gary Glen and David Templeton the chance now and slowly I will try to help these players grow and have experience. (Arvydas] Novikovas is a young player who I will bring to the reserve team next season. This is not an accident, this is my work and the work of the technical team."
Laszlo and his assistant, Werner Burger, are steeped in the methodical German efficiency which produces high quality footballers with frightening regularity. However, the manager also recognises the need for fresh blood at Hearts to augment the arrivals of Black and Suso.
"We must look for two central defenders and two strikers. We have names and candidates," he said. "I look in the Scottish market, not only abroad, and we have candidates from the Scottish market and I hope we can get these players. We definitely need Scottish players, local players, and it is my target to get two or maybe more players with experience of Scottish football."
A right-back remains high on the priority list following Neilson's departure.
"Eggert is a good player and he can also play at right-back. Robbie is gone so maybe we can look for Eggert to play in this position.
"He has played in this position before but definitely we must look to get a new player."
Whoever else Laszlo manages to lure to Edinburgh, they can arrive intent on prospering within the successful structure implemented by the manager.
