Patience is the key for Cathro to be a success, insists Ritchie
PAUL RITCHIE took a break from delivering Ian Cathro’s youth coaching concepts in the Californian sunshine last month, returning to Edinburgh to discover how the controversial Hearts appointment was handling a far harsher environment.
Ritchie sat among the crowd in the demanding Tynecastle arena for Cathro’s first three home games among the big boys as the realities of his first head coaching gig hit home throughout a trying December. He concluded that his former club is about to undergo a searching test of tolerance.
One commodity lacking at one of the toughest audiences in the top flight is patience. Robbie Neilson will attest to that as, even when achieving high rank in the Ladbrokes Premiership, the style of play at home was questioned and criticised. Yet that is precisely the asset Cathro and this Craig Levein-inspired model is going to require over a potentially fraught four months of adaptation until the season’s end.
Former Hearts defender Ritchie will have settled back into San Diego life, where a chunk of his academy coaching work utilises the Cathro brainchild Box Soccer programme, as the heat turns back on to the 30-year-old after the winter shutdown.
Hearts travel to Raith Rovers in a tricky William Hill Scottish Cup fourth round tie then face Celtic and Rangers league games within the space of four days as they seek to stay relevant in the race for second.
When Neilson departed to MK Dons a hero with a leaving present of a 2-0 win over Rangers, Hearts clambered into that berth one place off the summit. They’re now in fourth, six points adrift of third-placed Aberdeen who have a game in hand.
That adds up to a negative opening impression made by Cathro and Ritchie predicts a few more bumps in the road lie ahead as the new boy puts his ideas into practice. That means Tynecastle might have to be prepared to hold its collective nerve.
‘One difficulty is that where the team was when Robbie left and where it is now looks very different,’ said Ritchie. ‘Under Robbie they looked more complete. The team seemed to know exactly what was required. Ian coming in with his ideas, the players are going to take time to change.
‘But that could have happened regardless of who was in charge. That’s what supporters have to be careful and observant about. He will have the backing of Craig Levein, who’s been talking him up for many years and this was his long-term plan, so I know for a fact he’ll be given plenty time.
‘The only problem is the supporters. They are fantastic. They are also very ambitious. And rightly so. Hearts are the third biggest club in the country and deserve to be successful. I’m just hopeful supporters realise that this will take a bit of time.
‘I hope the supporters have belief in what the club is trying to achieve. I think they will, although it wasn’t long ago that the way Hearts were playing with Robbie was under scrutiny.
‘They’ve got to give this a chance. There’s going to be a bumpy ride ahead maybe for the next six months or so. They might have to be patient as the ship is steadied. What the club sees as successful in this situation and what the fans see might be a different thing. Is finishing fourth good enough?
Maybe with a good Scottish Cup run. But that wouldn’t be seen as progress. Fans might find this very difficult to deal with in the short term.’
Ritchie took in the 1-1 draw with Partick Thistle, a 4-0 cruise over Kilmarnock — and arch Cathro critic Kris Boyd — then the 1-0 defeat to Aberdeen. Cathro also suffered road defeats to Rangers and, shockingly, to Dundee when coughing up a two-goal lead.
‘I saw positives and negatives,’ said the 1998 Scottish Cup winner. ‘They did well for spells against Partick but towards the end were fortunate to draw. They fell out of the game badly and things weren’t going their way when they didn’t get time on the ball.
‘They were miles better against Kilmarnock and should have scored eight. Aberdeen bullied them, were first to every ball. Hearts struggled to compete with the aggression.
‘With the changes they’re looking to make, there are going to be mistakes. They are going to get caught out at times. That they were second best against Aberdeen without the ball was a worry. I’d like to see more width.
‘Hopefully Niall McGinn signs because losing an attacking full-back in Callum Paterson to injury is a huge miss in wide areas. The group in the middle are all very central midfielders and sometimes even Jamie Walker was coming into areas where he wasn’t causing problems for Aberdeen.
‘But I think the players are there, it’s about fitting them in with the way Ian wants to play. He’s got a philosophy to play a specific way, which is the way the game is moving. But right now that’s difficult because he’s going to have to find a balance between winning and development.
‘He’s renowned for development and putting on fantastic sessions. He’s very clever. And that will be good for Hearts in the long term. But this is going to be a big test for him. It’s about winning at this level.’
Ritchie would have loved the job himself. However, Levein has had his eye on giving Cathro a shot at running a first team since appointing him head of Dundee United’s youth academy eight years ago.
Cathro’s route to a No 1 job in Scotland has been the subject of endless debate and searing comment, most notably from Killie striker Boyd, who berated the appointment of a ‘laptop coach’ and predicted he’d be out of his depth trying to handle a squad of pros.
‘Ian Cathro is going to have more scrutiny than any other manager who’s operated in the league because of his age and non-playing background,’ acknowledged Ritchie. ‘Mountains are going to be made out of molehills. But he’s not come from obscurity, look where he’s been.
‘We all speak about giving young players a chance. Now a young coach comes along and listen to the reaction. You’d think it should be great that someone like him has gone abroad. Let’s congratulate him for that. Now he’s back in Scotland and got a job, he’s told he’s not qualified for it. One win in five and people are saying he’s not capable of this. That’s rubbish.
‘I believe much of the criticism is jealousy. He’s got his badges and been abroad to learn and work. He’s had the courage to coach with teams in Portugal, Spain and recently worked under Rafa Benitez at Newcastle.
‘Now he’s got a job that any manager would have wanted and seen as a great chance to be part of something exciting and progressive. Can he go from assistant to head coach? I think he can.’
I believe much of the criticism is jealousy. He’s got his badges and been abroad to learn and work ONE OF THE FANS: US-based Ritchie has been back at Tynecastle among the supporters