Previous Meetings

January Annual General Meeting Dinner

The Annual General Meeting of the Association was held on 26th January 2012 and attended by 111 members. We were very fortunate to welcome as guests, Sergej Fedotovas, Main Board Director, David Southern, Managing Director, and newly appointed Director of Football, John Murray.

After the AGM business was concluded our guests took to the stage to answer questions from our members.

The first questions on the minds of the members were directed at Sergej regarding the charges brought against the Club by the Scottish Premier League regarding non payment of wages. Sergej was clear and emphatic in his answer that the Club had fully paid all the wages due on 16th January to the players and staff and that the Club had fully complied with the SPL requests and the SPL had been hasty in charging the Club. During the past few months income that the Club had expected had not materialised and this had caused cash flow problems. The sale of Eggert Jonsson to Wolves had helped to ease the problem. He felt too that although 14 players had reported the non payment of wages to the Professional Footballers Association, the PFA had been over robust in trying to punish the club which was not the intention of the players. Sergej added that the Press had had their usual field day but the Club would be strong in their defence of the charges brought against them.
Asked about the transfer fee due from Rangers for Lee Wallace, Sergej replied that as with most transfer payments in football this was being paid in instalments and was up to date. A request to Rangers to pay quicker for a lesser fee was turned down by Rangers. Hearts were happy to wait for the full fee.
Sergej was kept busy with the next few questions regarding Mr Romanov putting the Club up for sale and again there was a straight forward answer. His understanding is that Mr Romanov would sell the Club to a party who have the capital to finance the debts of the Club and to finance the required investment in the Club. There has, he says, been several enquiries regarding buying Hearts but none are able to say how they are going to do this. The short answer to the question is that he would only sell the Club to someone who has the passion and the capital to take the Club forward.

John Murray was then given the opportunity to speak when asked about the youth players at Hearts. After thanking the Members for the £5000 donation John believes that we have the best under 19 squad in Scotland and several will make the move up to the senior squad successfully. Ryan McGowan and Scott Robinson have become a first team regulars and players like Jamie Walker, Chris Tobin and Kevin McHattie will get their chance soon. It is difficult, he emphasised, to expect these youngsters to play more than 20 games a season at first team level at their age. Players in the under 17 squad are also making progress. John added that a lot will depend on the number of players who leave the Club in January and at the end of the season but he firmly believes that the Club will be in a far better situation with a policy of developing our own young players.

David was given the opportunity to speak on Club matters. He answered questions on the impact of television on attendances. As David says, TV income is very important to all Football Clubs but it is extremely important to keep season ticket holders happy and coming back but there has to be a balance. The prices for cup ties have been set at a lower level to increase attendances and has been successful. There have been special offers for some league games to atract ,in particular, youngsters but he is mindful that season ticket holders are the main life blood of the Club and are paying full price for all games at the beginning of the season. He also advised that talks were ongoing with Edinburgh City Council about moving to a new ground within the City. No decision has been made but the costs and difficulties of remaining at Tynecastle will be difficult to overcome.

We were indeed fortunate to have three senior Hearts officials at our AGM who answered the varied questions from our members both very openly and clearly which made for another excellent and informative meeting and we thank them for taking time out from their busy schedules to come along.

Post Script. The following day the SPL announced they were taking no action against Hearts for late payment of wages.

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October 26th 2011 Dinner

Our guest at the October meeting was an old friend of the Association, Campbell Ogilvie. Before taking up his current role as President of the Scottish Football Association, Campbell was, of course, Managing Director at Hearts and no stranger at our meetings.

After Saltire had served up an excellent meal, Campbell gave us an excellent presentation on the changes that are taking place at the SFA after the publication of the McLeish Report on Scottish Football.

His first point was to emphasise that the McLeish Report was not just sitting on a bookshelf at the SFA but is being treated very seriously and much of its recommendations have already been put in place. The SFA is looking at its whole management structure and how football is organised at all levels of the game. Traditionally it has been run by a large number of Committees and already the number of these have been cut and the Management structure is much more streamlined. One recent introduction is a self assessment of their own performance in specific target areas and Campbell admitted that their scores were not high and improvements have to be and are being made.

Much of Campbell’s presentation was spent on youth development and the importance of a structure being put in place at all levels and ages. He emphasised the importance of helping youth coaches both in their own development and that of the kids. This runs in parallel with the thoughts of Craig Levein who since his arrival at the SFA as International Team Manager is very keen to look at youth development, in particular, the amount of physical education and the hours of training required to keep up with other nations. Campbell is also very keen on the introduction of synthetic pitches at youth level and believes that we will see more of these in senior football in the future and that given time the kids will get used to them by the time they reach senior levels of the game.

More communication between the SFA and the SPL and SFL clubs was a consistent theme during the presentation and Campbell gave the example of refereeing, always a controversial area, where referees are now going out to the clubs and speaking to managers and players in an effort to build a better understanding between them.

Finance during these difficult economic times and the fans’ desire to have more football on a Saturday afternoon is a difficult balance says Campbell. Like a lot of fans he likes his football on a Saturday afternoon at 3.00pm. Although televised football with midday kick offs do bring money into the game he is aware that the crowds are less for these matches and wonders what the real amount of money is brought in from television. With TV contracts about to be renegotiated he believes that this would be an ideal time to work out a balance of what the fans want and television income.

Campbell agreed to answer questions from the audience and various subjects were covered ranging from sectarianism to goal line technology. Campbell believes that sectarianism is a national issue which manifests itself at football matches. He is not keen on goal line technology as he personally thinks that it would lead to further video analysis during the game and spoil the flow of the match. A new stadium for Hearts was discussed. Campbell is a big fan of Tynecastle but he is only too aware of the size restrictions and problems of compliance with EUFA rules for stadiums.

It was an absolute delight to welcome Campbell back to Tynecastle and there is little doubt that there can be no one better to explain the changes within the SFA than him and the audience went home having enjoyed a most interesting evening

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29th September: Hearts Legends, Henry Smith and Scott Crabbe

For our September meeting we were very fortunate to welcome Henry Smith and Scott Crabbe for another of our Hearts Legends Nights. It seems incredible that it is thirty years since Hearts paid £2000 to Leeds United for Henry’s services and that he kept the goalkeepers jersey for nearly fifteen years. This must be one of the best pieces of transfer business that Hearts have ever done. Scott, of course, came through Hearts Youth Development and although he did not serve the Club as long as Henry, his love of the Hearts is well known and indeed his transfer fee of £350,000 received from Dundee United’ with whom he went on to have an excellent career, was, in fact, very important to Hearts finances at the time.

We had an excellent attendance of over 160 members and their guests and the first topic in the Q and A session concerned the best players with whom they had played. Scott was the first to answer and it was no surprise that he chose John Robertson. As a youngster, Robbo was always his hero and during his playing career he continued to help and advise Scott. Today, of course, they are firm friends and have worked together as football coaches. Henry chose three players, all defenders who played in front of him. Sandy Jardine, who he described as a fantastic organiser and tactician, as well as Craig Levein and Alan McLaren. It was a tragedy, Henry says, that the careers of both Alan and Craig were cut short by serious injury. When asked about Hearts current goalkeepers Henry stated that the Club are very lucky to have three very good keepers but believes that Marian Kello is the best of the three and is an excellent guardian.

Scott recalled some of his goals for Hearts in particular a goal at Parkhead in a game when Hearts went on to win 2 1 and of course his early goal past Andy Goram in a 1 0 win against Rangers at Tynecastle which he insists was a deliberate shot at goal. Andy still insists that someone must have moved the goalposts! Henry remembered penalty saves against Rangers and Celtic and, of course, a penalty save against Hibs at Easter Road when he read in the pre match programme which way the penalty taker always puts the ball! He recalled with less affection a penalty shoot out miss in a League Cup tie at Dens Park , the ball, he says, has still not been found. He did remind us, however, that the miss came after a great penalty save at the other end.

As always the subject of referees came up and they both agreed that referees, particularly in today’s game, have a very difficult job but their biggest criticism of the men in black is their lack of consistency which confuses and frustrates players during a game.

They both believe that Hearts have got a good squad of players and were disappointed when Jim Jefferies left the Club. They are impressed with new Manager Paulo Sergio and think it will take time for the players to adapt to his way of playing. Of the current squad they are particularly impressed with David Templeton and Eggert Jonsson.

To sum up, the members and guests were treated to an excellent evening of stories and memories and, as always when we invite former players, the evening was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone who attended and we thank both Henry and Scott for coming along and making it such an entertaining evening.

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1st September: Paulo Sergio, Sergio Cruz and Gary Locke

The first of our monthly dinners for 2011-2012 took place on the 1st September, a week later than usual due to the club’s involvement in Europe, and we were very fortunate, at late notice, to welcome as guests, Manager Paulo Sergio and two of his coaching team Sergio Cruz and Gary Locke.

After an excellent meal, Paulo and his team took to the stage to answer questions from an audience of more than 200 members and guests.

The vast majority of the questions naturally centred on team selection, tactics, players and coaching.

As has been obvious from watching recent games, Paulo is very keen to have the team passing the ball patiently moving the ball up the park waiting for a situation to exploit. As he says the ball moves quicker by passing than running with the ball and high balls up the park generally mean a loss of possession to the opposition. He says the players are learning quickly to adapt to the style of football he wants to play but it will take time. He has also changed the weekly training schedule. The players are used to having a Wednesday off but Paulo has cancelled this believing that players should work hard on their fitness up to mid week and then keep their fitness topped up for the game at the weekend. He also is a firm believer in players practising their skills at the Academy in the afternoon. Practice makes perfect!

On team selection, Paulo would have liked to have added a central defender and midfielder to the squad before the January deadline. Although he is happy with Webster and Zaliukas in the central defence he feels there is no cover there for injuries and suspensions. He had two players in mind, a Portuguese and French player and was disappointed that they could not be signed before the deadline. On the injury front he feels it will be a number of weeks before Kevin Kyle and Suso are fit to play for the first team. On being asked why he has left out John Sutton since he scored two goals against Aberdeen , he said that he felt Sutton was a slower player than he likes up front, although a good finisher, but the coaching team are working on this.

When asked about working with Scottish players, Coach Sergio Cruz stated that he is very much enjoying his time in Scotland. He has worked with Paulo for many years and advised that Scottish players are different than their counterparts in Portugal. The Scots work and train harder and are keen to learn. He has changed the training schedule getting the players to train with the ball rather than concentrating on running. This he hopes will result in the players being more comfortable on the ball and using it and thinking more quickly. He hopes that training will be more interesting for them as well.

Gary Locke is very much enjoying the new regime at Tynecastle. As a young coach he is very keen to learn new things. While justifiably retaining a great respect for Jim Jefferies, he said it was great for him to work under a different Manager and is learning all the time. It was quite clear to the audience that the coaching staff all get on very well.

Youth development at the club is clearly very important to Paulo. One of the coaching team regularly watch the youth teams at training and it is clear that they have a very high regard for John and Darren Murray. Paulo proved his point by bring on Kevin McHattie late in the Aberdeen game that he is keen to blood young players at the appropriate time for the player and the team.
While Gary Locke’s devotion and hard work for the Club as well as his support for the Association is well known it was evident from the Q and A session that Paulo and Sergio are also professional individuals who are very keen to do their best for themselves and the Club and we wished them a long, successful and happy time in Edinburgh. In return, Paulo replied that he was delighted to come along to the dinner and would be very happy to come back any time we asked.

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31st March 2011: Craig Levein.

A magnificent attendance of 235 turned up to hear Hearts Legend and Scottish International Team Manager Craig Levein. They were not disappointed.

Much of the Q and A session centred round the Scottish Team but Craig had much to say about Hearts and his time there. Asked who was the best player that he signed for the club he immediately answered Paul Hartley. Although he took time to settle including a torrid derby match at Easter Road, Paul went on to have a great career at Hearts before moving on to Celtic as well as gaining several International caps. Talking about his own time as a player he could not split David Macpherson and Alan McLaren as the greatest defenders with whom he played . Alan’s early retirement from the game due to injury was a tragedy for himself and Scottish football. On the present day Hearts team he believes that Lee Wallace, Andrew Driver and David Templeton have a future as Scottish Internationals. Barring injuries Wallace and Driver would have been in the Scottish pool for the Brazil game.

On the friendly last week against Brazil, Craig considers the experience of playing world class opponents as very important, he was disappointed with the players’ performance. He does however now believe that he has now got a much improved pool of players than he started with and considers qualification in the European Championships as a real possibility. Regarding not playing a forward against the Czechs he still does not consider the decision as an error believing that a draw in that match with the players he had available would have been a good result. Furthermore he thinks that in the future Managers will do the same, citing that since the 1950’s the number of forwards used in a game has reduced from five to in many cases only one. Barcelona, regarded by many to be the best team in the world, only play with one forward.

Naturally many of the questions directed at Craig concerned his current job as boss of the National Team. Firstly he described the differences between club management and his job now. He found it strange not to have a squad together on a daily basis and believes the recent get together they had in Spain as very important as are meaningful friendly matches. Within a bureaucratic organisation like the SFA, full of committees, it is very difficult to change things quickly.

Craig is clearly passionate about Youth Development. He would love to see boys playing football every day as he did as a boy as well as much more organised training and development under a schools and youth team structure. He feels that the SFA should have a much better knowledge of players of good potential even down to an age of eleven or twelve. Obligatory physical training and football training at schools, particularly for players of potential is must if Scottish football is to develop and improve.

He is adamant the the SPL should be reduced to a ten team league. His main reasons for this are the lack of money in the game and therefore there will be more money for each team. And he rejects the idea that Managers will blood youngsters in a larger league. Most managers will not play younger players and will always go with experience.

To sum up, the Association was extremely fortunate that Craig found the time to spend with us and share his memories and views of the way forward for Scottish Football.

It is clear that the National Team is in very good hands and that when the time comes he will leave the Scottish Football Association in a much better place at all levels.

Thank you Craig.

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