Defeats have hit Austin harder this time around
Ask Austin MacPhee what he has learned since stepping into the caretaker manager’s job at Hearts, and the response will not be short.
He simply isn’t the type for glibness.
In a business where the prevailing PR tendency blows towards cliché at best and chippy, monosyllabic guardedness at worst, MacPhee’s considered nature makes him different.
But it would be foolish to mistake him for anything other than a football man, in the truest sense.
MacPhee knows and loves the game. Yet, as a lifelong student of it, he doesn’t think for a second he knows it inside out.
That’s why he’s comfortable with the care Hearts are taking in appointing a new manager.
And, in the meantime, he is happy to keep soaking up all the lessons the hot seat has to offer – even those, in the wake of last weekend’s loss to Kilmarnock, that leave bruises.
Asked whether his defeats as a manager have hurt more than those endured as an assistant, he said: “Yes, I would say significantly.
“I have lost big games as an assistant. You feel more responsible as a manager because, ultimately, they are your decisions.
“The biggest defeats I’ve had as an assistant-manager were probably the World Cup play-offs in Switzerland.
“That was particularly difficult because it had been my dream since I was a wee boy to get to a World Cup.
“Then also last season’s Scottish Cup Final with Hearts. That was because we had worked particularly forensically to prepare the team.
“Because there were two games with Celtic on the trot, it allowed us to be more reflective and we took the lead.
“I always felt it was going to be a massive moment in Craig Levein’s career, given the pressure he was under and the talk about him winning a trophy.
“They were the two games as an assistant where I probably felt the most pain. But I still went home last weekend feeling worse. Definitely.”
It looks likely MacPhee will patrol the Hearts technical area at Ibrox today for the final time of his caretaker spell.
Talks with former Hannover 96 and Barnsley boss, Daniel Stendel, have taken place, though a perceived lack of progress has kept hopes alive for other candidates, like MacPhee himself, along with Alan Irvine and Neil Warnock.
As a club insider – also linked with a move to a role as sporting director – MacPhee is in unique position.
But, while it may look odd from an onlooker’s perspective, he remains perfectly calm, to the extent that he can laugh about what must, on some level, be a highly pressurised situation.
“It doesn’t feel strange,” said the man who also doubles as an assistant to Michael O’Neill with Northern Ireland.
“I know what is happening. Ann Budge speaks to me every day, pretty much, and is very open and honest.
“I know who is being spoken to, and I am comfortable with that.
“I believe that is the right process for the club – and I am not scared by it.
“I can see how it might seem like an odd situation from the outside. The funniest thing is I’m actually on the interview panel!”
With a glint in his eye, he continued: “No, no. That’s a joke. That’s definitely a joke!
“It shows how relaxed I am about the situation.
“I genuinely want what is best for the club and, as I’ve said before, if I have a part to play in that in the future, that will be great.
“If I don’t, then I’m sure it will be articulated to me in a way that I will understand the rationale.
“However, I think that the club is going to restructure in a way that looks to the next five years.
“It has had a structure that has taken it from administration and Championship football to consistent top-six finishes.
“It now needs a tweak in the structure to deliver consistent European football. That comes from finishing in the top-four nine years out of 10.
“That comes from getting 60 points, which comes from winning half your games, consistently.
“Ann is looking at everything the football department, and beyond, do to allow the club to do those things.”
Rangers, off the back of another strong European showing in midweek, will provide MacPhee with an opportunity to put everything he has learned into action today. He will do so conscientiously, as is his way. And regardless of the outcome – even if it brings more pain – he will walk out of Ibrox a more-rounded professional, ready to embrace whatever comes next.
“I enjoy it! That has been the main thing I’ve learned,” said MacPhee.
“In life you always learn from things that don’t go well more than from things that do.
“Obviously, defeats are disappointing, wins leave you relieved.
“But I have a confidence in my own ability to help a football club, irrespective of the role.”