A win to keep us top would be the ideal tonic to help boss recover
AUSTIN MacPhee’s first team talk of his managerial career will arguably be the simplest he will ever make. The 38-year-old assistant coach will be in charge following Craig Levein’s heart scare which saw the Tynecastle boss admitted to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary last Monday.
Now well enough to have been allowed home, the 53-year-old boss will be absent from today’s visit of struggling St Mirren. But he will still pick the team, with a return to the dugout pencilled in for the home clash with Motherwell on September 15.
Prior to falling ill, Levein had steered his Hearts side to top of the Premiership table after three games.
Ahead of today’s match with Saints, Demetri Mitchell believes keeping the Jambos as leaders of the pack will be just the tonic for their recuperating coach. And instructing the players to do just that will be all MacPhee has to say.
‘The news about Craig Levein was shocking, of course,’ said the on-loan Manchester United fullback. ‘But I was pleased to hear he was recovering well. Austin has been telling us the gaffer is in good nick. That’s pleasing to hear.
‘The manager’s situation means we want to work hard and get a result for him against St Mirren.
‘It would be good if we got the three points and we were still top of the league on Saturday night.
‘I think winning the game would make him feel good. It would also make us feel good that we had managed to do that for him.’
When MacPhee visited Levein in hospital on Monday, he brought him a bunch of maroon grapes. Hearts chair Ann Budge trumped that by delivering a Manchester United player in the form of Mitchell, who has joined on loan for a second time.
‘If it were me, I would rather have had the grapes,’ grinned the modest 21-year-old.
But Mitchell admits he owes a lot to Levein, who gave him his big break in a fraught 1-0 Scottish Cup fourth-round win over Hibs at Tynecastle in January.
‘What was it about Hearts that made me want to come back here? I felt the love of the fans. They showed me a lot of support at the ground and on social media, too.
‘But also that the manager showed his confidence in me. He threw me into the deep end against Hibs. He showed me I would get game time if I worked hard and performed.
‘I had a conversation with the manager and Austin about coming back at the end of last season and I was looking forward to it.
‘I was looking at options but this was the right one for me. There were other clubs interested but I would rather focus on Hearts because I’m focused on the task in hand and the season ahead.’
Mitchell spent the summer on tour in the United States with the Manchester United first team.
Footage emerged of the youngster bringing the house down with his impressive initiation rendition of singer Drake’s Hold On, We’re Going
Home. With Paul Pogba and Juan Mata amongst those joining in, the often curmudgeonly United boss Jose Mourinho tapped away as he filmed Mitchell’s song.
At the end of his verse and chorus the youngster was thrown in the air by the United stars. Now he is focusing on hitting the high notes once more at Tynecastle.
He had excelled before picking up a season-ending knee injury in March against Ross County and believes Hearts fans have not yet seen the best of him.
‘I enjoyed being away with United,’ he added. ‘I was also away with the first team to LA the previous summer, so this was my second time. I was just focusing on working hard and getting the minutes in.
‘Before I left I signed a new contract with United until 2020. It was important for me and the club to sign a new deal as I would have been up in the summer and this gives me confidence that they see a future with me at the club.
‘But now I’m focusing on Hearts. I didn’t play as much as I should have played last season due to that injury. I played 12 games.
‘I still have more to show the fans that they have not seen and I am looking forward to doing that. It’s good to be back but it feels like a different club to last season.
‘I’ve been gone about four months and half the players are not here.
‘That was a bit of a shock to me. I’ve come back to nine or ten new signings but they look very good. Training is very competitive and the standards are really high.
‘I like to play right-wing and cut inside. I also like to play left-back and do a bit of defending. I like playing left wing, too.
‘I’d probably like to play on the wing and show a bit of flair but it’s up to the manager. I’m happy playing wherever he puts me — left-wing, right-wing, left-back.’
While things in the Hearts camp, Levein’s illness aside, look rosy, the opposite is true of today’s opponents. Back in April, Paisley was packed as St Mirren paraded the Championship trophy through
the town. Now, just four months later and three games into the topflight season, the cheers ringing out for Jack Ross and his side have been replaced by catcalls towards Alan Stubbs and his new-look team.
Saints have conceded eight and scored none in their last three matches in all competitions, culminating in a pitiful 2-0 home loss to Livingston last Sunday.
The momentum of last season has well and truly gone but goalkeeper Craig Samson has urged
everyone associated with the club to forget about the past and focus on securing their Premiership future.
‘This club has been on a wave that’s been so high for the last 18 months — from surviving in the Championship to winning it to get promotion,’ he said. ‘But last year is finished. Jack Ross did brilliantly, he deserved to get his move away and now he’s flying at Sunderland. But you can’t dwell on that.
‘We’ve got a new manager with new ideas — good ideas — and we have got to get together as a group very quickly and win games for him.
‘We need to keep that high of last year going by performing in the Premiership. But we’re not the same team that we were last year. We are a new team and we’ve got to hit the ground running.
‘We’ve got three points on the board. If we can win a couple more games we’ll be in the top six. I don’t think anyone is panicking yet.’