All action – no points
New Hearts manager Daniel Stendel cut an animated figure at Tynecastle yesterday during his first game in charge against St Johnstone. It made little difference, however, as the Jambos slumped to their ninth Premiership defeat of the season to sit joint bottom of the table with Hamilton Accies.
If things don’t go according to plan for Daniel Stendel, he might afford the Hearts players the chance to get their own back.
Last season he took his Barnsley players for some extracurricular activity, designed to promote morale – paintballing.
As it happens, this popular team-building favourite was not the German’s forte.
Riddled in multicoloured projectiles, Stendel could have been forgiven for regretting his choice of activity.
However, he will never alter his determination to create a close-knit bond among his sides, even if it means a few eventful trips away from the training ground.
“If you have a squad of 20, they aren’t all going to be happy with the manager’s decisions,’” said Stendel.
“But they are all important and, at Barnsley, we did some team-bonding things.
“The paintball was a lot of fun. It was the first time I had ever done it in my life and I was scared.
“When you have friends in your team, it helps, so I tried to surround myself with them. But it hurt when I got shot.
“After that, I made sure I was protected from the rest of my players.
“Conor Chaplin (the Barnsley midfielder) was in my team and he was good, so I was clever with some of my choices.”
The Tynecastle atmosphere has seemed downright morose at times this season, largely down to mediocre displays on the pitch and vocal dissatisfaction of fans while Craig Levein was in the firing line.
Putting smiles back on faces is evidently high on Stendel’s to-do list.
“If you have that good team spirit, it helps you to be successful. It is vital,” the German continued.
“The players and staff spend so long together. They don’t all have to be best friends, but they have to get on.
“There is nothing worse than when a manager walks into a dressing room and the players all think, ‘Oh no, not him again’.
“If you like to come to work, then it is important you do things away from training and games.”
The likes of Steven Naismith, Christophe Berra and Michael Smith will be pivotal in creating that sense of camaraderie.
“I’ll speak to the experienced players and get their thoughts on things,” Stendel adds.
“They have played in different leagues and for other clubs, so they have ideas as well.
“We need to convince the players to buy into what we are trying to achieve.
“We have players who are internationalists and have played at the top level, so it’s important to hear their opinions, and they can help me understand the differences between Scotland and England.”