Thementalstrength Johnhasshown isincredible... he iseverythingyou wouldwanttosee inaHeartsplayer

I CAN completely understand why Hearts fans don’t want the club to accept the Championship trophy. It was wrong the way they went down, even if I thought they would be relegated anyway because they were so poor. But it’s been a strange season all round with no fans in there and they wouldn’t really be able to celebrate properly. John Souttar came out on Friday night and he was bang on with what he said. There will be small celebrations among the players, which there should be. They’ve done what they needed to do which is get back into the Premiership. But it won’t be the big celebrations you normally get after winning a league. They knew at the start of the season the aim was winning the Championship, that for Hearts it isn’t a big thing. I liked that from him. I thought it was a touch of class and the players need that sort of mindset. ‘We need to win the Championship. Right, aye, we’ve won it and we’ll have a few beers, brilliant.’

But he knows that next season is the season. That’s where my concerns have come from and why I’ve been banging the drum about it.

Next season is the biggest that Hearts have had in many a year. Not just to stay in the Premiership but to get back to where they belong.

That shows Souttar’s mental strength. I’ve had a couple of bad injuries but nothing compared to what he’s had. So the mental strength that boy has shown to come through what he has, is incredible.

It’s a lonely, hard place in that gym when all you want to do is be training every day and playing games when you can’t.

Not only to come back from it but to look as good as he does. He looks fit, he looks strong and we all know his ability.

He epitomises everything you want to see in a Hearts player. He knows exactly what’s needed and knows exactly where the club should be. I also loved that he doesn’t want a medal. He’s come back and played a couple of games; give the medal to somebody who’s played more. I love that as well. That’s the mentality there should be at Hearts. That you’ve got to earn the right to play for the club and understand that it’s a privilege. You need to earn the fans’ support and he certainly has that.

His ability is second to none and make no mistake, he is an international player. But his attitude and mentality can only be a massive plus for next season. The biggest thing for them and for Robbie Neilson is to keep him fit.

He’s 100 per cent captain material. Andy Webster was my skipper and Big Marius Zaliukas as well. You look up to these boys. I’m an experienced guy at 36 and I still lo o k up to them.

The way Souttar conducts himself, the comments he made – Steven Pressley was commentating on the game the other night and he reminds me of him.

He has that sort of aura about him where he knows what he’s all about, what club and fans deserve, he knows the standards that he needs to set.

Not just for himself but for the rest of the boys and the younger kids coming through as well.

Speaking of younger kids, it was great to see Euan Henderson have a good night after having a bit of a difficult time of it, being in and out the team. The run he

went on was something I could never do – I never had the pace or skill! To go from one 18-yard box to the other and get the penalty that let Liam Boyce do what he does was exciting. But these are things the club need to build on. They need to make sure these kids are coming through regularly, that they’re being nurtured and trained well. To be fair to Robbie, I know his training is really good and that he takes big pride in bringing younger kids through. Hendo himself needs to look at his performance and say: ‘Right, I’ve done well but I now need to kick on.’ He needs to do it regularly to make sure he’s in the team week in, week out. The change of shape worked well and with Soapy being back in, they looked a lot more stable. With Andy Halliday on the left they looked a bit better too, although I don’t want to over emphasise it because it was Alloa. But it’s food for thought that they’re able to change it up and it’s definitely the most comfortable they’ve looked since I started doing this column. I sat down on Friday and thought, ‘Please for the love of god, do not let Alloa beat Hearts.’ You can only beat the team that’s in front of you so winning 6-0, it was a positive night.