Cathro can’t alter Hearts too quickly
THEY say you only get one chance to make a good impression. As far as John Robertson is concerned, he is glad his dealings with Ian Cathro proved to be the exception to that rule.
It’s fair to say that Hearts’ record goalscorer left his first meeting with the man who is now the club’s head coach less than impressed. The Dundonian’s view that long-term player development was more important than short-term results left him cold and frankly unconvinced Cathro (below) had what it took to cut it on the frontline.
By the time the pair next crossed swords, however, the small matter of being Valencia’s No 2 since added to Cathro’s CV, Robertson heard a different tune.
One more grounded in reality. One that makes him sure that the 30-year-old has the wherewithal to justify the faith the Gorgie club have shown in him.
‘My first impression goes back a couple of years ago,’ Robertson recalled. ‘I am an SFA mentor and coach for the licences.
‘He came up and did a speech about various things and he talked about how he was not quite anti-SFA, but he had his own beliefs on player development. And how it should be about development, even if players got to first-team level.
‘Later, he came up (to me) and said he was wrong. Having gone to Valencia, and realising how (results) affect the manager, how they affect the head coach and his family, and the coaches around him, he understood that there are two strains to it.
‘There is a development course but there is also a results aspect to it, as well. I thought that was very humbling for a young man.’
The reaction to Cathro’s appointment was so hysterical that you could have been forgiven for believing Hearts had been the first club to recruit from another planet.
His age, lack of managerial experience and pathway seemed to frighten the traditionalists.
His modus operandi, and that of assistant Austin MacPhee, may be unashamedly modern. But Robertson holds that the fundamental desire to win football matches burns as brightly with them as any other duo in the land.
‘We had all heard about this guy being completely different. He’s not completely different,’ Robertson added.
‘Ian Cathro’s not reinventing the wheel. He’s got different views on how he coaches the team. He’s got different views on how he wants players to be developed, but he’s got the same views as every other manager and head coach in that he wants to win! ‘Make no bones about it, this man wants to win. Austin MacPhee wants to win. And they are introducing their thought process to the club. ‘It runs along similar lines to what Craig (Levein) wants, but he sees them adding even more to the model that Robbie (Neilson) has already put in. ‘People say they are intelligent guys and they think differently. They talk differently and look at different things in football, but it’s very difficult to reinvent the wheel. ‘We saw the phase where Barcelona was all about possession. You saw Leicester win the league with the least amount of possession ever. So football continually evolves. That’s the secret.
‘We’ve got two young men who can evolve to play different styles and different strategies and think different ways, given enough information to the players to go out and perform their very best on any given day.
‘That’s exactly what we want and that’s exactly what we want to support as a football club. They are genuinely looking to improve in all areas.’
The time it takes for such improvements to manifest itself in results will be fascinating. There seems to be an acceptance among the rank and file that patience must be the watchword.
Robertson, however, knows well how it works. Talk of jam tomorrow will only pacify the paying public for so long.
‘I don’t think it’s a season of transition,’ he added. ‘Speaking to Ian and Austin, their outlook is no different to Robbie’s. They want to finish as high up the league as possible.
‘It’s hard when you come in during the season. I had exactly the same experience when Craig went to Leicester and I came in.
‘It’s difficult when you first come in to try and change too much, especially if the team has been successful.
‘If you change everything drastically, and results don’t go as you think, people say you’re changing too much too quickly. So you try and tinker with one or two things, and then settle in.
‘I think the break has come at a perfect time because it has given Ian and Austin five games to really look at the squad and assess it ahead of the January window. And it has given the players a chance to go and recharge the batteries.
‘Do I see there being massive changes from now till the end of the season in the style of play? No, because that’s not the plan. That’s not the route we are trying to take.
‘We trust these guys implicitly. I’ve seen a few of the sessions. They are very good, very intense. The information is great. And we’re all looking forward to seeing what they bring. The one thing that we have already seen is that they will get massive backing from the fans, from the infrastructure of the club and from the people around them, should they require it.
‘The most important thing is that they can go out there and coach, knowing that they have got the full backing of everybody at this football club.’