Cathro yet to address power struggle with Levein looming
IAN CATHRO made sure the clear message he delivered after his dismal day in Aberdeen was that nobody told him what to do at Hearts and the final decision on the team will always be his.
But the only messages which counted for the Hearts head coach in terms of how he is viewed, rightly or wrongly, were the ones delivered by Craig Levein in written and verbal form at Pittodrie as the director of football passed notes from his seat in the stand to the bench, and then was later seen going into his team’s dressing room at half-time.
Cathro doesn’t understand why this is a story and perhaps critics have got the wrong end of the stick. Maybe it is right and proper such an experienced man such as Levein, a former Hearts manager, can send tactical observations to the ‘head coach’ during a match and also come into players’ sanctuary.
For the past two-and-a-half years or so, whenever it was suggested that Levein (inset left) was the one calling the shots at Tynecastle, first with Robbie Neilson and now with Cathro, Hearts fans would rage against such a notion, believing it to be a falsehood and an unnecessary dig at their club.
What can now be said with indisputable certainty is that Levein has a big say on team matters, which can be seen to make the man who is supposed to be in charge appear undermined.
Quite a few have jumped to the defence of this set-up, suggesting it would actually be wrong for Levein not to have an input. But do you think Brendan Rodgers would put up with little notes being passed down to him during a game?
When Cathro (inset right), a 30-yearold who had never been the frontman, was appointed, Hearts were second in the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership. They were a team full of fight, togetherness and could play a bit as well.
Now they will do well to finish fourth and were knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Hibernian, who outclassed their city rivals.
Saturday was match 17 under the new regime. They have won just five times and this i ncl ude s b e at i ng Motherwell after they had a man sent off and Raith Rovers after extra time in cup a replay.
This set-up worked when Hearts won promotion from the Championship and, by and large, for the season and a bit Neilson led the team in the Premiership. But it’s not working at the moment.
What must the players think? There is a young, inexperienced guy telling them what to do and then in comes the big boss to also tell them what to do, contradictory as it may be. Cathro may claim that he ’ s in charge, so if this is the case then why is Levein, second only to owner Ann Budge in the Hearts hierarchy, acting like an extra assistant coach? “Directed hysteria,” is how Cathro described the questions about Levein’s role after the 2-0 defeat on Saturday, which incidentally it wasn’t, but he should have been happy about some misdirection in that this chat took away from the fact his team were dreadful.
Time and again Aberdeen robbed their opponents of the ball, out-passed Hearts, got behind their back four, coped easily with lone frontman Esmael Goncalves and dealt with the hard tackles dished out by their opponents.
“It was very good. Right from the start of the match we set a good tempo, which Hearts didn’t enjoy at all,” said Aberdeen’s exceptional Kenny McLean about the match.
“We stopped them and to a man we were excellent. Hearts are a good side but it was us who made them look very average with the way we went about our game plan.
“We played in the right areas and we got in about them.
“I don’t think we can do much more. But it could be a great season for the players and everyone involved with the club. It would be a great season to win silverware.
“That’s what we are aiming for but we have a massive game in the semi-final against Hibs.”
For all that Hearts were bad, Aberdeen were really good. Derek McInnes is a good manager and, funnily enough, doesn’t need help from anyone upstairs to ensure his team are the second best in the country.
McInnes spoke after the match about the honest which comes out of his players and it’s clear what he means. This is the best Aberdeen side since the one which under Willie Miller gave Rangers a run for their money in the early 1990s. Celtic need a challenge and right now that can only realistically come from the North East.