Hearts doomed by their revolving door, says Daly
FORMER Hearts coach Jon Daly insists the high turnover of managers and players helped lead the club to relegation from the Premiership.
Whilst the ex-Rangers and Dundee United striker considers it ‘extremely harsh’ that the Gorgie outfit have been condemned to the Championship after the league was curtailed with eight games left, he believes the team’s woes can be traced back to instability in the dugout.
Ian Cathro, Craig Levein and Daniel Stendel have taken on the reins since Robbie Neilson departed for MK Dons in December 2016, with each boss having their own distinct way of playing the game.
That has then led to several squad overhauls, with Levein adding 18 new players in summer 2018 alone.
Hearts propped up the topflight with just 23 points from 30 games when football was halted and Daly insists the constant change in the dugout, the latest being Stendel’s appointment in December, is why the side have underperformed on the pitch.
Daly said: “You look at the number of managers in the last few years, Robbie Neilson leaves, Ian Cathro comes in and it’s a different style and when Ian leaves you have Craig, who has a different style, and when Craig leaves you have Daniel Stendel, who has a different style.
“When Daniel came in and wants to play that high pressing game, it’s a really good tactic and Liverpool do it and a lot of top clubs do it, but I think a lot of players who were at his disposal didn’t suit that style of football.
“When Craig leaves you probably have to look at the players who you have at your disposal and try and get a manager in that was going to suit that team.
“You had January coming up but it’s very difficult to get players in January who are going to actually help you.
“The club went and spent big on Liam Boyce, who in my opinion was a fantastic addition.”
Daly, who left his coaching post following Stendel’s appointment, having joined the club in 2015, added: “There are numerous reasons. There has probably been too much change and I think sometimes clubs who have continuity within their ranks, that can sometimes help. In my eyes, the club was in a good position when Robbie left.
“I don’t think it’s down to Ian, he was recruited by the club to come and put his style on the club and the players available to Ian didn’t suit his style so then he had to recruit players who suited his style.”
Daly also believes the identification of suitable players could have been better, with Hearts having struggled when the likes of the influential Steven Naismith and John Souttar were absent for long periods through injury.
He added: “Maybe potentially recruitment wasn’t good enough, you are judged on your recruitment and I think if that’s not good enough over the course of the season you’re going to be found out.
“Strength and depth, there was probably a lot of eggs put in certain baskets with Naismith, who was probably relied on heavily, and was out injured for a lot of the time.
“John Souttar, there are numerous players that are probably the first name on the team sheet that probably weren’t available for selection.
“If the recruitment around that is not right it’s not going to work.”
However, speaking to BBC Scotland, Daly admits he has sympathy for Hearts, considering the circumstances.
He added: “I think it is extremely harsh and I think any team in that position would have fancied themselves going into the split to pick up enough points to at least get back to that play-off position. They would have backed themselves.
“To be in that position with eight games to go, for a club like Hearts, they shouldn’t have been in that position.”