Hearts No 2 urges veteran Hughes to stay at Tynecastle
AUSTIN MacPHEE has implored Aaron Hughes to sign on for another year at Hearts and give himself a shot at landing the first trophy of his career.
Now 38, Hughes has spent the past 18 months at Tynecastle but concluded the 2017-18 domestic campaign undecided on the issue of retirement.
Fitness would not seem to be an issue. Hughes strolled through the frenzy of Hearts’ Edinburgh derby win over Hibs in the final week of the season and picked up his 111th cap as Northern Ireland drew 0-0 in Panama in midweek.
He is in line to play again as Michael O’Neill’s team take on Costa Rica in San Jose today and MacPhee, who combines his duties as Hearts’ assistant manager with a coaching role in the Northern Ireland backroom staff, wants him to keep going.
Speaking towards the end of the season, Hughes told Sportsmail that the decision would be made for mental rather than physical reasons, remarking: ‘I don’t want to walk away from the game and think: “I should have gone another year”. Likewise, I don’t want to commit to something and realise I can’t maintain the standards that I expect of myself. That’s the tough side of it, the mental challenge to keep going, day in-day out. ‘Ultimately, the head rules the body.’ Which may perhaps explain the faint whiff of mind games as MacPhee addresses the issue of the veteran central defender’s future.
Hughes debuted for Newcastle in the heat of a Champions League fixture at Barcelona’s Nou Camp, was a Premier League regular for the guts of two decades and played in a Europa League final for Fulham yet MacPhee can’t resist dangling the carrot of a possible winner’s medal as Hearts rebuild for the new season.
‘I think Aaron will either retire or sign a new deal at Hearts,’ states MacPhee.
‘He has never won a trophy. That’s something I’ll remind him of if he doesn’t decide to sign!
‘We’re trying to build something at Hearts and this might be an opportunity for him. Why stop when you’re not injured?
‘I’m hoping the wee things at the end of the season convince him to stick around.
‘Playing in that derby win in front of a full Tynecastle and the atmosphere the stadium generated that night then captaining the team full of kids down at Kilmarnock on the last day.
‘He’ll have left feeling pretty positive about everything, I’m sure.’
Hearts manager Craig Levein wants Hughes to stay on and help mentor the group of teenagers he bled into the first team last season but, as MacPhee explains, there has been a drive to improve the mix in the squad.
‘Last season we had a core of experienced players — (Cristophe) Berra, Hughes, (Don) Cowie, (Kyle) Lafferty and later (Steven) Naismith. Then we had the kids.
‘There was very little in that 20-30 age bracket in the middle, so that’s where the focus has been.
‘(Uche) Ikpeazu, Olly Lee and (Ben) Garuccio are all in that bracket. There should be a better balance to the team next season.’
Czech goalkeeper Zdenek Zlamal (32) has also signed on while Partick Thistle’s Australian midfielder Ryan Edwards (24) should be next to follow.
The recruitment drive is borne of the director of football aspect of Levein’s job specification, the role from which he first sanctioned the appointment of MacPhee in 2016.
Personally chosen by Ian Cathro as an assistant, MacPhee managed to survive after Cathro was removed on the eve of last season’s Premiership kick-off and has been fascinated by the contrast in styles between the two bosses.
‘When you’re an inexperienced coach you sometimes want to do everything yourself,’ he observes. ‘Craig spends more time on fewer things. He knows what is important to him and he knows how to delegate.
‘You would probably describe him as a match-day manager. That’s great for the coaches as it gives us more to do.’
If Levein appeared a reluctant conscript when first asked by club chair Ann Budge to step back onto the frontline, he soon warmed to his task, even if consistency eluded his team.
MacPhee acknowledges Hearts underperformed but with the stadium’s new main stand now up and the squad rebuild well underway, he hopes for a renewed challenge next term.
‘It was a strange season,’ he adds. ‘Ian left and then Jon Daly was in charge for four games.
‘We then had 14 away games, so it couldn’t have been any more awkward. Our strength as a team lies in our home form, so that was not a good way to start.
‘Even so, Europe was the target — Ann said it and so did Craig. We know we fell short.’