Victor Meldrew speaks some keek...
I have been amused but not surprised by the media reaction to Rix's sacking.
Apparently the Romanovs have caused the club to go into 'turmoil' by sacking a manager who was 'doing well'. Vlad is seemingly a 'madman' who sacks managers on a whim.
Hmm, let's consider that calmly and rationally shall we....?
Turmoil? Well, I don't think that we can deny that losing a coach at this stage is unsettling for players. But to be honest, many teams have sacked managers before. We aren't the first and we won't be the last. The real turmoil was when we sacked Burley. That was quite a while ago now - the damage was done. Yesterday was merely the righting of a previous wrong, namely Rix's appointment.
Anyway, with Ivanauskas and McGlynn at the helm, there is a good degree of continuity for the time being. The players haven't sounded too unhappy and will be sufficiently motivated to win games. Just remember: we had a better record (3 wins, 1 defeat) under McGlynn mid-season than we did under Rix!
We were doing well under Rix Here's the crux of it: Hearts. A Mid-table, 'small' club who should be content to be in third behind the media's beloved Old Firm. How dare anyone think that we should be challenge for one of the Old Firm's Champions League places? Just being above Rangers for part of the season should be enough for us, shouldn't it?
Wrong. This is the BIG change at Tynecastle: Romanov has a winning mentality, and expects those he has working for him to have it to. A draw at ICT - Rix shrugs his shoulders and bleats on about 'ugly' and '2nd balls' (whatever that may be). A winner would be fuming at having been played off the park by a team far lower down the table. I'll bet that's the view Romanov had. Similarly, a point against Rangers at Home is still only a draw at home. We should strive to beat the Huns, rather than simply doffing our caps and being grateful to nice Mr McLeish and his boys for not beating us this time.
I've got no problem with us having an owner who won't accept second best for HMFC. I HAVE got a problem with a media which patronises us by expecting us to accept 9 wins from 19 games, the opening up of a vast chasm between us and Celtic, and an ever-closing gap with Rangers. "Doing well" Don't make me laugh.
Madman
Vlad just sacks people for fun! Er, well no.
Unfortunately we'll probably never know the reasons for Burley's dismissal, but if what I've heard is true, it was justified. Likewise with Anderton and Foulkes.
I don't think Vlad wants to sack people. He just has high standards (some might say unrealistically high) and he wants people who work for him to perform to similarly high standards. He wants winners.
THAT'S why he sacked Rix. THAT's why he should never have appointed him in the first place. He's merely been big enough to admit he's got it wrong, and he's done something about it. I don't think anyone can argue that Rix didn't deserve to go with those results.
The only debatable point is the timing. But there again, it is debatable as to which was the best course to take: stick with Rix and hope he delivered (can anyone honestly say they believed with him at the helm?) or throw the dice one more time, shake things up and hope that Ivanauskas can do the business instead. After all, Valdas did win the title for him at Kaunas.
Romanov's methods are undoubtedly unorthodox. He is clearly short-tempered and impatient. But I firmly believe that he wants for Hearts to win.
That's certainly a laudable aim in my book. It probably isn't for the media, amongst whom we appear to have few friends.
:drinking:
