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Gary Locke


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Last season we had a team of kids and a rookie manager. We started brightly, but then reality set in and it very quickly was clear that not only would we fail to make up the 15 points but that talent and experience wise we were out of our depth and were going to lose plenty of games.

 

The thing about last season that really impressed me though, was the fight that we showed. Only once were we beaten by more than 3 goals (Celtic cup game) and we finished the season with a flourish that also played a massive part in Hibs demise.

 

Gary Locke might not have had us playing brilliant football or winning games, but he instilled a never say die attitude in our young players, and I think that there's a legacy of that in our performance this season. Obviously Robbie has changed training and made the guys ultra fit, but I reckon last season really toughened the players up and Locke deserves credit for steering them through that and not allowing their heads to drop when they were being beaten week in week out. The team never threw in the towel that season, and I reckon that mentality has been a really good platform for us to build off this season.

 

 

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Randy Marsh

These threads have been done to death.  He deserves credit for trying his best but fell well below par.  We were ultimately relegated because he failed to give our youngsters a chance from the start of last season and played a full back as a lone striker. 

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SectionDJambo

There are a lot of "what ifs" from last season, which are best left alone. We will never know the reasons or answers. We were in a position where a number of positive factors would have needed to come together to have avoided being relegated. The ultimate aim was to still have a club to support and we won that battle.

Enjoy our resurgence and have hope that we can draw a parallel with 1982/83, and go onto establish ourselves again as a serious player in Scottish football.

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Unknown user

Last season we had a team of kids and a rookie manager. We started brightly, but then reality set in and it very quickly was clear that not only would we fail to make up the 15 points but that talent and experience wise we were out of our depth and were going to lose plenty of games.

 

The thing about last season that really impressed me though, was the fight that we showed. Only once were we beaten by more than 3 goals (Celtic cup game) and we finished the season with a flourish that also played a massive part in Hibs demise.

 

Gary Locke might not have had us playing brilliant football or winning games, but he instilled a never say die attitude in our young players, and I think that there's a legacy of that in our performance this season. Obviously Robbie has changed training and made the guys ultra fit, but I reckon last season really toughened the players up and Locke deserves credit for steering them through that and not allowing their heads to drop when they were being beaten week in week out. The team never threw in the towel that season, and I reckon that mentality has been a really good platform for us to build off this season.

I actually think that mentally they did throw the towel in and it was only once the cause was lost and the pressure was off that we got some results towards the end.

 

I like Locke but it was the brutal circumstances alone that toughened them up imo, this season's success is down to Levein, Neilson and our coaching team.

 

Robbie also wouldn't have brought in Paul McCallum so a big plus there!

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I actually think that mentally they did throw the towel in and it was only once the cause was lost and the pressure was off that we got some results towards the end.

I like Locke but it was the brutal circumstances alone that toughened them up imo, this season's success is down to Levein, Neilson and our coaching team.

Robbie also wouldn't have brought in Paul McCallum so a big plus there!

Paul McCallum = the worst panic buy ever in the history of the earth.

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I respect Lockie's efforts last season.

 

Always saddened at any vitriol aimed in his direction.

 

PHM who did his best in very difficult circs and beat H1b5 4 times out 5 last season. Derby wins that meant so much to us all last season.

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Francis Albert

I don't have a shadow of doubt that with Robbie in charge last season we would have avoided relegation quite comfortably.

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I respect Lockie's efforts last season.

 

Always saddened at any vitriol aimed in his direction.

 

PHM who did his best in very difficult circs and beat H1b5 4 times out 5 last season. Derby wins that meant so much to us all last season.

People with short memories on here.  Not only was he left with a shell of a team but it was also a team and staff facing late wages or no wages and redundancies.

 

He acted to the very best of his abilities and is a Jambo to the core.

 

These are not opinions, they are facts.

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No need to slight Locke but also no need to give him credit for anything this season either imo

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Guest Bilel Mohsni

Disagree. That period where we couldn't pick up points and Locke kept on saying it's because his team are young was frustrating as hell. It was torturous going along and watching a team completely devoid of self belief every week.

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Disagree. That period where we couldn't pick up points and Locke kept on saying it's because his team are young was frustrating as hell. It was torturous going along and watching a team completely devoid of self belief every week.

I think that is one of the areas he went wrong. By constantly saying it was beause they were young, it suggested that defeat was acceptable, or that the players could not do any better, when they clearly could have done, as the last few games of that season showed.

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Disagree. That period where we couldn't pick up points and Locke kept on saying it's because his team are young was frustrating as hell. It was torturous going along and watching a team completely devoid of self belief every week.

Respect your opinion opinion but looking at the overall situation, I can't share it.  I don't doubt his deficiencies as a coach but he did his best in desparate circumstances.

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Respect your opinion opinion but looking at the overall situation, I can't share it. I don't doubt his deficiencies as a coach but he did his best in desparate circumstances.

He did do his best, and I wish him well against Killie (except against us), but I do think he made several wrong calls.

 

It is done now, we are going back to the top league, and I have enjoyed this season.

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Guest Bilel Mohsni

Respect your opinion opinion but looking at the overall situation, I can't share it. I don't doubt his deficiencies as a coach but he did his best in desparate circumstances.

Perfectly reasonable to disagree.

 

I spent that period where he constantly talked about putting his arm around the boys a seething mess. One of the most infuriating times I can remember as a supporter.

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I don't have a shadow of doubt that with Robbie in charge last season we would have avoided relegation quite comfortably.

 

I'm not sure it would have been comfortably but I agree.

 

Locke didn't know how to change things when things were going wrong or just not working.

 

Last season seems a long time ago now though.

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Last season was last season. Time to move on, enjoy being champions and look forward to giving the premier teams a doing next season.

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I wish Gary the best of luck with his career - a Hearts man to the core who tried his best. Didn't get the luck needed at times.

 

Moving away from Hearts has been good for him so far and I think most people will be happy he's got a job back in management so soon.

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rossthejambo

I won't be giving credit to the man who relegated us and oversaw a run of nearly 3 months without a win, a 7-0 pumping against Celtic, who wouldn't fill the bench to try and score petty points with the SFA.

 

No doubt his cheerleaders who celebrate good results for Kilmarnock because he's a PHM will be on to defend him but he doesn't deserve credit for this season.

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Nookie Bear

Valid arguments all round but to say he "relegated us" is simplistic.

 

The man who truly relegated us (after saving us, of course) is Vladimir Romanov. Locke was one of many last season without the experience or know how to deal with the fall out.

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Guess The Crowd

Small pedantic point to OP - we lost 0-4 at home to Kilmarnock around Christmas.

 

That said, impossible to compare both seasons. Delighted with where we are now, and pleased to see things working out for GL.

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Can't be bothered getting into the whole Locke thing as it's been done to death, but surely blaming him for McCallum is a bit petty no?  Thought it was widely noted that it was John Murray who brought him in?

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Jambof3tornado

Things happen for a reason. As a club we have shown a great togetherness which administration and relegation have helped to create. The galvanising impact of such negative things have pushed up attendances to the point this season where we are once again selling out.

 

If we had managed to just stay up last year,would we have had a season like the one we have witnessed this year....mist likely not.

 

This season has been a joy from start to finish.

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wattie exploited

Gary Locke a hearts man !00%   tried his best  and made mistakes but you wont find me slagging him off  ! Best of luck to him with Killie  until we play them next year !!!   :rifle:  :rifle:

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He didn't relegate us . But time to move on from this it's been done to death

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Sub4TiddlerMurray

It's threads like this that make me really worry about fan ownership. How quickly some people throw former players under the bus and rewrite history to suit their new agenda.

 

Gary Locke is and always will be a legend who gave his all for this club. A hearts man through and through.

 

He laid the foundations of our success this year by toughening up our young talented players and creating a winning belief in the latter part of last season. That combined with RN's new signings gave us a platform to get this season off to a flier. (Hibs struggled to mentally adjust to relegation, for example, we didn't)

 

That said, even though I criticised his sacking when it happened, CL was correct in letting him go. CL put in place a radical (and very brave) new philosophy that GL couldn't be a part of because he represented the 'old school' way of football management.

 

Utmost respect to Gary Locke, the man has integrity and heart and deserves nothing less than the full appreciation of hearts fans for all he has given our club.

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Paulie Walnut

A good manager would have kept us up last season, there I said it now move along from the past.

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Ironically our improvement last season with the young guys showing up towards the end of the season was more likely down to Robbie than Locke

 

So credit to our improved form last season to Robbie

 

All the credit for this season to the new back room team and of course Robbie

 

:)

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I won't be giving credit to the man who relegated us and oversaw a run of nearly 3 months without a win, a 7-0 pumping against Celtic, who wouldn't fill the bench to try and score petty points with the SFA.

No doubt his cheerleaders who celebrate good results for Kilmarnock because he's a PHM will be on to defend him but he doesn't deserve credit for this season.

Get over it.

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Guest Bilel Mohsni

I hate that it's not okay to criticise Locke because he's a Hearts supporter.

 

He did his best last season, fair enough. His best was nowhere near good enough though.

 

"winning mentality" dumbstruck at that one...

 

So many players underperformed last season, and all we ever got was chat about putting an arm around them. Or they are too young.

 

Likeable guy, and loved him as a player but let's not rewrite that three months of torture out of the history books, eh?

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Unknown user

I hate that it's not okay to criticise Locke because he's a Hearts supporter.

 

He did his best last season, fair enough. His best was nowhere near good enough though.

 

"winning mentality" dumbstruck at that one...

 

So many players underperformed last season, and all we ever got was chat about putting an arm around them. Or they are too young.

 

Likeable guy, and loved him as a player but let's not rewrite that three months of torture out of the history books, eh?

Nail on the head Charles

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We_are_the_Hearts

Locke started well but bringing in Brown was a mistake for me. After that the style slightly changed and the young players seemed to lose that fearlessness they started with and we became more back to front . Doesn't help that after a few defeats the negative vibes started from Locke and Brown in the press about not getting any help, too much for the young players etc. Then not filling up the bench to prove a point was pathetic. Once the pressure was off again the players picked up at the end of the season. I don't think we would have survived but we could have got much closer with a more positive outlook and better management. 

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Last season we had a team of kids and a rookie manager. We started brightly, but then reality set in and it very quickly was clear that not only would we fail to make up the 15 points but that talent and experience wise we were out of our depth and were going to lose plenty of games.

 

The thing about last season that really impressed me though, was the fight that we showed. Only once were we beaten by more than 3 goals (Celtic cup game) and we finished the season with a flourish that also played a massive part in Hibs demise.

 

Gary Locke might not have had us playing brilliant football or winning games, but he instilled a never say die attitude in our young players, and I think that there's a legacy of that in our performance this season. Obviously Robbie has changed training and made the guys ultra fit, but I reckon last season really toughened the players up and Locke deserves credit for steering them through that and not allowing their heads to drop when they were being beaten week in week out. The team never threw in the towel that season, and I reckon that mentality has been a really good platform for us to build off this season.

 

 

Could not disagree more. Locke instilled a losing mentality and did 'throw in the towel'. I remember when we got pumped 7-0 off Celtic he came out and said "I've been saying for weeks that we're due a result like this". He actually said this. What a tit. Aye great way to encourage the boys and instill belief in them in training - going about saying we're due a pumping.

 

We strung together some meaningless wins when the pressure was off and we had already been relegated which showed how our lads were capable of playing all along had we had a half decent manger at the helm and not the joke Gary Locke.

 

I was jumping for joy the day Ann punted him. Thank Christ.

 

 

We could have avoided relegation last season if Locke hadn't been the manager.

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hmfc_liam06

I always find it funny on these threads about Locke that when you say something negative about the man it's "vitriol".

 

He was shite, get over it. 

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Talk-o-the-North

It's threads like this that make me really worry about fan ownership. How quickly some people throw former players under the bus and rewrite history to suit their new agenda.

 

Gary Locke is and always will be a legend who gave his all for this club. A hearts man through and through.

 

He laid the foundations of our success this year by toughening up our young talented players and creating a winning belief in the latter part of last season. That combined with RN's new signings gave us a platform to get this season off to a flier. (Hibs struggled to mentally adjust to relegation, for example, we didn't)

 

That said, even though I criticised his sacking when it happened, CL was correct in letting him go. CL put in place a radical (and very brave) new philosophy that GL couldn't be a part of because he represented the 'old school' way of football management.

 

Utmost respect to Gary Locke, the man has integrity and heart and deserves nothing less than the full appreciation of hearts fans for all he has given our club.

Great post.

 

As another poster pointed out earlier it was our former DoF who signed Paul McCallum.

 

Also, as Guess The Crowd says delighted where we are at now and wish GL all the best.

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the big show

It's threads like this that make me really worry about fan ownership. How quickly some people throw former players under the bus and rewrite history to suit their new agenda.

 

Gary Locke is and always will be a legend who gave his all for this club. A hearts man through and through.

 

He laid the foundations of our success this year by toughening up our young talented players and creating a winning belief in the latter part of last season. That combined with RN's new signings gave us a platform to get this season off to a flier. (Hibs struggled to mentally adjust to relegation, for example, we didn't)

 

That said, even though I criticised his sacking when it happened, CL was correct in letting him go. CL put in place a radical (and very brave) new philosophy that GL couldn't be a part of because he represented the 'old school' way of football management.

 

Utmost respect to Gary Locke, the man has integrity and heart and deserves nothing less than the full appreciation of hearts fans for all he has given our club.

100% this .

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Nookie Bear

Ironically our improvement last season with the young guys showing up towards the end of the season was more likely down to Robbie than Locke

 

So credit to our improved form last season to Robbie

 

All the credit for this season to the new back room team and of course Robbie

 

:)

 

Man crush post imo

 

Not sure how you know this but we need to see how Robbie and the rest of the team get on in the top division before we start talking statues. I have no doubt he will be fine but the circumstances he will face are VERY different to the 2013/14 season.

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I always find it funny on these threads about Locke that when you say something negative about the man it's "vitriol".

 

He was shite, get over it. 

 

So calling a true Hearts man "shite" isn't vitriol eh??? 

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So calling a true Hearts man "shite" isn't vitriol eh???

Not really. Its quite tame TBH.

 

But yet another Gary Locke thread? Could the mods just have a Locke superthread?

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It's threads like this that make me really worry about fan ownership. How quickly some people throw former players under the bus and rewrite history to suit their new agenda.

 

Gary Locke is and always will be a legend who gave his all for this club. A hearts man through and through.

 

He laid the foundations of our success this year by toughening up our young talented players and creating a winning belief in the latter part of last season. That combined with RN's new signings gave us a platform to get this season off to a flier. (Hibs struggled to mentally adjust to relegation, for example, we didn't)

 

That said, even though I criticised his sacking when it happened, CL was correct in letting him go. CL put in place a radical (and very brave) new philosophy that GL couldn't be a part of because he represented the 'old school' way of football management.

 

Utmost respect to Gary Locke, the man has integrity and heart and deserves nothing less than the full appreciation of hearts fans for all he has given our club.

Your bit about rewriting history struck a chord but for the opposite reason that you state. I like Gary Locke, there's no doubt he loves this club to his core, but he was an absolutely horrific manager last season with the tactical ability of a brick.

 

People are rewriting history now that Robbie's revolutionised the way we play and train to say that GL has somehow has a hand in setting this up last season. The only thing he helped set up is that we're down in this division which gives our young guys a bit more leeway for bedding in.

 

This season is 100% down to Robbie Neilson, Craig Levein, Anne Budge and the fans, and they deserve all the credit.

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Not really. Its quite tame TBH.

 

But yet another Gary Locke thread? Could the mods just have a Locke superthread?

 

Calling a true Hearts man "SHITE" is not tame - it is unacceptable. 

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Calling a true Hearts man "SHITE" is not tame - it is unacceptable.

Gies peace. So just because he's a PHM, he's above criticism? What utter nonsense.
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A_A wehatethehibs

The reason we were relegated last season was plain and simple: Calum Paterson, Brad McKay, Dylan McGowan, Danny Wilson, and Kevin McHattie all regularly made calamitous, match losing mistakes at the back, and they did not have the physical stregnth to defend or attack at set pieces. It was nothing to do with mental strength, lack of 'winning mentality' or tactical awareness of the manager as some fans often suggest. How on earth are you supposed to keep clean sheets or talk tactics with 5 defenders all playing their first full 1st team seasons? Inexperienced and physically weak players will cost you results, no matter what words a coach or manager says to them in training or in the dressing room. If Locke had even 3 or 4 more experienced, half decent players I believe he would have kept us up. It was Lockes job to remind the kids that they had to give 100% for Hearts, keep their heads up and keep believing in themselves and improving themselves. He had to minimize the psychological damage of getting beat week after week and make sure the players came out the other side with belief that they had good careers ahead of them still.

 

All the players were better players at the end of the season than they were so yes, Locke does deserve some credit. However from the Hearts point of view, the complete clean slate approach adopted by Levein this season has been vindicated - if Locke had remained there is no chance we'd have been in the position we are in now. We would not have won that first game at Ibrox. Robbie Neilson has made the job his own and has built the group of players into champions so he deserves far more credit than Locke.

 

From a Gary Locke perspective the job he does at Kilmarnock is what will determine whether he is a football manager, not the Hearts job, and it's good to hear that he is seemingly doing well in an unbeaten start to his career there. I hope that run continues until he faces Hearts again and sees the winning machines some of his former players have become.

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We lost a league cup semifinal against a team with nine men. That was the end of Locke for me.

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We lost a league cup semifinal against a team with nine men. That was the end of Locke for me.

From a winning position with two minutes to go. Horrific.

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Gies peace. So just because he's a PHM, he's above criticism? What utter nonsense.

 

Not above criticism, however it is a sad reflection on our education system that some on here can only express their opinion by calling Locke "SHITE"

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Not above criticism, however it is a sad reflection on our education system that some on here can only express their opinion by calling Locke "SHITE"

More nonsense. You're having an absolute mare here chief.
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