Wright men for the job
Budge should bring in Jeff and Tommy
ANN BUDGE’S Heart is in the right place when it comes to her club. There can be no doubt about that.
But that doesn’t mean she hasn’t made some terrible decisions during her tenure and most of them have been in her choice of manager.
From the minute she took over the majority shareholding at Tynecastle and started to steer a ship that had been holed below the water line by former submariner Vladimir Romanov in 2014, her decision-making in that regard looked flawed and initially callous.
Binning Gary Locke, who had battled manfully through administration, points deduction and a slashing of his squad in terms of quality and quantity was harsh on a guy who bleeds maroon and would have done anything for the club.
He had just won the Manager of the Month award for May as well.
Locke is now back in the fold at Tynecastle and the club needs people like him.
Whether Budge made the decision to axe him, or whether that landed with Craig Levein, who was just in the door as director of football, is debatable.
But the appointment of Robbie Neilson as manager can’t be described as anything other than a success, in fairness – although he never got the credit he deserved and that perhaps was the reason why he left for MK Dons.
After that, it has been downhill all the way to… well, it looks like the Championship but who knows?
Ian Cathro’s reign was a disaster with the guy completely unsuited to the job. Then there was the mess of Levein moving downstairs to try to do both jobs.
And even when he was axed as manager, he was still allowed to hang around Hearts’ Riccarton base even when a new boss was put in place.
Daniel Stendel kept them waiting five weeks before deigning to take the job.
But his presence did nothing to help Hearts climb the table, while in the meantime, he and Budge were handing out eye-watering contracts to guys like Liam Boyce.
It resulted in Hearts being bottom of the pile when the world stopped turning in March and all hell has broken loose since then.
Budge’s refusal to accept relegation when Hearts were only four points behind with eight games to play is understandable but the bottom line is Stendel had numerous opportunities to guide his team out of trouble and couldn’t take them.
That’s why when this sh**storm subsides, he can’t be the manager.
With Levein and his assistant Austin MacPhee now off the premises, Stendel has to follow them and Budge has to bring commonsense and stability back to her club.
With that in mind she should be picking up the phone and asking Tommy Wright to become her next manager.
And if he says yes, she should hang up and punch in Jim Jefferies’ number to ask him to be the club’s director of football with an overview of the entire operation.
That Wright was St Johnstone manager for seven years and had only one serious job offer, from Dundee United, in that time is one of Scottish football’s great mysteries.
Working with a budget that was consistently dwarfed by Hearts’ – and most top-flight clubs – he won the Scottish Cup, reached two cup semi-finals, finished fourth three times and in the top six four times.
The Northern Irishman guided them into Europe, twice reaching the third qualifying round. Talk about punching above your weight.
He seems to have been landed with an “old school” reputation but Wright is a progressive manager and this season, when Saints were toiling initially and sitting at the foot of the table, he used all his experience.
There was no panic, just a calm assurance that it would work out for the best – and sure enough St Johnstone finished in the top six. And he did it in a season when he drastically reduced the average age of his squad, making young Jason Kerr his captain and finding gems in kids like Ali McCann and Callum Hendry.
Wright is sitting at home in Northern Ireland itching to get back into the game and has earned the right to manage a big club.
Hearts ARE a big club and nobody knows that more than Jefferies. He is steeped in Gorgie folklore and at 69 is still sharp as a tack, with a football knowledge unrivalled in this country. That he was never seriously considered for the Scotland job is another football mystery and he has the experience and contacts to help Hearts in their hour of need. Would he answer the call? He’d find it impossible not to. A Wright-Jefferies double act is exactly what Hearts need at the moment. In fact, it’s what they’ve needed for years.