AFTER the excitement of the European Championships, I've got to admit that it's difficult to get fired up about the start of the SPL campaign.
That begins on August 9 but, after what was a football feast over in Austria and Switzerland, the whole build-up seems like it will prove to be anti-climactic, to be honest.
It seems to be the same old story for many of the clubs – and particu
larly Hearts.
It's extraordinary to think that they have come back to pre-season training without a new manager in place – despite the fact that they released their statement about bringing in a British boss back in January. That's six months ago and certainly not ideal preparation for their new campaign.
They finished last season in the bottom half of the table and really need to be able to turn things around this time round but they're not giving themselves the best of chances.
They've put Stephen Frail on gardening leave, much in the same manner they did with Valdas Ivanauskas not so long ago. We always wondered what the long-term repercussions would be from Vladimir Romanov's interference with team affairs and the decisions that he has taken in the past.
It's quite clear to me that no-one wants to touch the job with a barge pole, because no-one wants to work for a club where the owner gets so involved with the team. Are we all of a sudden, supposed to believe that will all stop?
Clearly Mark McGhee doesn't believe that. As far as we know Hearts were willing to offer him a king's ransom – one which Motherwell and a lot of other clubs would have been unable to match – yet he turned it down.
Motherwell are a good side with some very good players and, if they can keep the majority of them at the club, then they have a better squad than Hearts. But the difference is that by staying where he is, McGhee knows he will get very little interference from the board over playing matters.
Mr Romanov is going to have to turn over a new leaf, that much is clear. When people like Gary Locke, who have supported the club boy and man and gone on to captain the club, come out and start saying that their family are not going to be renewing their season tickets because of the way that the club is being run right now, then you know that you really are coming close to the end of the line.
Certainly, plenty of people I have spoken to recently believe that the only way to make the message hit home is to vote with their feet. If people out there are still renewing their season tickets then I'm not sure if I believe that is the most sensible thing to do because there has to be some kind of action from the people who really care about the club if they want changes.
What has happened in the past has had a serious effect on the club's ability to attract a top manager to the club and it will be difficult to reverse that state of affairs.
If ever there was evidence that Mr Romanov needs to keep his nose out of team affairs then this is it, because a few well-respected coaches now have turned the job down. That's despite the fact that they would have been offered a very good salary to take on the position. So either they don't trust him ... or they don't trust him.
There was a significant bid from Wolves for Christophe Berra, but I doubt whether he would even have considered leaving Hearts if the Tynecastle club were where they were two or three seasons ago. Now that the club is in so much turmoil, he has got to look after No.1 and he has a serious decision to make over whether he wants to hang around with a club which is not making any significant progress.
The off-field stuff aside, I can't imagine that he would want to hang around at a club that couldn't even make the top six of the SPL last season.
There are some serious issues to be resolved and bringing back Angel Chervenkov seems to me to be nothing more than another backwards step, even if it is mainly to become reserve team coach. When he was in charge of the first team before the results were extremely poor.
A while ago they were talking about buying British and then they spoke about bringing in a British coach. They haven't done either.
There are some mercenary players out there who will join a club because of the money and the money only, but that won't be the case with managers.
Any manager worth his salt would want to be able to select his own players and make the team his own. And they would also want to have as much time as possible to get to know his squad and weigh them up before the start of the season. Whoever does come in as the next manager is going to be playing catch-up right from the word go. He's not got a lot of time left so he's going to have to get to know his players very fast, identify the ones who are up to the job for him and then get cracking in the transfer market.
When they do eventually get someone in place they will be working under even more constraints than normal and basically will be working with one hand tied behind their back. You would have thought that they would have learned from last year's pre- season where players were coming out and saying that their preparations were shambolic and Craig Gordon was on the verge of his transfer to Sunderland but, if anything, this is worse.
How can people expect anything better from Hearts in the league this season when they haven't improved anything behind the scenes?
As far as I can see, their season will pan out much the same as it did last time, unless they make some quick decisions – and some good decisions – before it's too late.
Hibs should have taken a longer breakI KNOW that Hibs supporters will be disappointed that their team head to Sweden this weekend facing a two-goal deficit in their InterToto Cup tie, but it's certainly not time to hit the panic button.
We've got to remember that this was the Easter Road side's first game of football, never mind competitive action, since the end of the last campaign.
It's also the middle of the Swedish season right now, so you had to expect that Elfsborg would be that fitter and sharper in the initial period.
Hibs were beating the likes of Bolton and Middlesbrough in their pre-season games this time last year – but I don't think anyone would imagine they would be up competing at the top end of the Premiership if they'd suddenly moved down to England. At this stage, players are invariably going to lack that bit of fitness and sharpness and that will only come back the more games they play. I don't agree with the principle of the InterToto Cup anyway because the pre-season break just seems to be getting shorter and shorter.
I know some supporters won't agree with me on that but, as a former player, I know that you need time mentally, as well as physically, away from the game. Four weeks off is not enough time to recharge your batteries and I just hope that Hibs don't pay the price for that later in the season.
The full article contains 1296 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
