Walker returns ( updated )

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

Walker's intelligence level hasn't changed over the years then!

[Prof]

2 minutes ago, Geoff Kilpatrick said:

Walker's intelligence level hasn't changed over the years then!

In keeping with a good few on JKB. The guy is a football player not a contestant on mastermind. 

[Jambof3tornado]

8 minutes ago, wavydavy said:

 

Oviously not the sharpest card in the pack with comments like this. Maybe he should just train hard and produce the goods on the pitch instead of coming out with this sort of rubbish.

Tool in the box shirley?

[William H. Bonney]

Yeah, should probably have just kept his mouth shut. 

[TheBigO]

9 minutes ago, wavydavy said:

 

Oviously not the sharpest card in the pack with comments like this. Maybe he should just train hard and produce the goods on the pitch instead of coming out with this sort of rubbish.

I don't think Jamie Walker would use a mixed metaphor even though he's not the sharpest tool in the deck.

[heartmussel]

6 minutes ago, Prof said:

In keeping with a good few on JKB. The guy is a football player not a contestant on mastermind. 

Excellent ?

[Jambof3tornado]

Just now, Dino Velvet said:

Yeah, should probably have just kept his mouth shut. 

Hard to do if he's asked questions and put on the spot. Not fast enough of tongue and brain to keep himself out of upsetting some.

 

I'll settle for his feet doing the talking, and i was one of his biggest critics during his first spell at us.

[Clark Griswold]

Article here for anyone interested:

 

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/hearts/latest-hearts-news/jamie-walker-on-ending-his-career-at-hearts-and-why-rangers-saga-was-handled-badly-1-4959309

 

The quote isn’t as bad as Norm is making out IMO. 

[droid]

8 minutes ago, Clark Griswold said:

Article here for anyone interested:

 

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/hearts/latest-hearts-news/jamie-walker-on-ending-his-career-at-hearts-and-why-rangers-saga-was-handled-badly-1-4959309

 

The quote isn’t as bad as Norm is making out IMO. 

Correct: I’m guessing he’s talking about being dropped by Cathro 

 

“I don’t have regrets about the departure, but maybe the whole Rangers thing. That turned into a bit of a mess. It was tough and I think maybe the club and myself didn’t deal with that in the best way. It’s all in the past. I’m looking to the future and to doing well for Hearts.

[Norm]

14 minutes ago, Clark Griswold said:

Article here for anyone interested:

 

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/hearts/latest-hearts-news/jamie-walker-on-ending-his-career-at-hearts-and-why-rangers-saga-was-handled-badly-1-4959309

 

The quote isn’t as bad as Norm is making out IMO. 

If you know that you have work to do to win over the fans, the last thing you should be doing is having even the slightest dig at the club. Even if he feels he was shafted, he should be keeping that to himself, at least if he's trying to buy some good will. 

 

And I still don't see anything wrong at all with the way the club handled it. As far as I'm concerned, they were right. His performances had dropped, so he was dropped. 

[Taffin]

1 minute ago, Normthebarman said:

If you know that you have work to do to win over the fans, the last thing you should be doing is having even the slightest dig at the club. Even if he feels he was shafted, he should be keeping that to himself, at least if he's trying to buy some good will. 

 

And I still don't see anything wrong at all with the way the club handled it. As far as I'm concerned, they were right. His performances had dropped, so he was dropped. 

 

 

Exactly. The club handled it really well in my opinion.

 

Unless there is more to it not in the public domain (which wouldn't surprise me) then if he genuinely thinks the club was partly to blame then he shouldn't be back here.

[Mr Elwood P]

37 minutes ago, wavydavy said:

 

Oviously not the sharpest card in the pack with comments like this. Maybe he should just train hard and produce the goods on the pitch instead of coming out with this sort of rubbish.

 

Superb! 

[Ribble]

1 hour ago, Normthebarman said:

So according to Walker, the club are partly to blame for the Rangers saga. He doesn't go in to why it was partly the clubs fault though. As far as I can tell, we told Rangers to pony up or **** off. Not sure how any blame lies at the clubs feet for that. 

 

If you want to try and get yourself back in to the good books, that's not that way I'd go about it. He's doing himself no favours with me when he comes out with that shite. It ended badly, we move on is what he should have stuck with. This whole "There was mistakes made on both sides" does nothing to make me think he's learned his lesson, and if he comes good again and Der Hun come sniffing a 2nd time, I'm not confident he'll not down tools a 2nd time. 

 

Not confident this will end well at all. 

 

ffs, are you really so precious about our club that nobody is allowed to say that maybe just maybe the club once done something that wasn't 100% right?

 

He doesn't go into details about why he feels there were mistakes made on both sides so we'll never know one way or the other, why not concentrate on the fact that he is self aware enough to know he needs to win over the fans again and that he wants to do that by scoring goals to help us finish higher than an unacceptable 6th place and win a trophy?? 

[Norm]

2 minutes ago, Ribble said:

 

ffs, are you really so precious about our club that nobody is allowed to say that maybe just maybe the club once done something that wasn't 100% right?

 

He doesn't go into details about why he feels there were mistakes made on both sides so we'll never know one way or the other, why not concentrate on the fact that he is self aware enough to know he needs to win over the fans again and that he wants to do that by scoring goals to help us finish higher than an unacceptable 6th place and win a trophy?? 

He can say what he likes about the club. But if he's trying to buy a bit of good will with the fans after he admitted it didn't end well, he'd be best to keep any negative opinions or views to himself. Saying "I made a mistake but so did Hearts" is not the best way to go about it. You say "I ****ed up, I'll do all I can to rectify it" while keeping your own views on how the club ****ed up private. 

[Alex Kintner]

Don’t see anything wrong with what he said. Very complimentary about the club in general.

[Ribble]

9 minutes ago, Normthebarman said:

He can say what he likes about the club. But if he's trying to buy a bit of good will with the fans after he admitted it didn't end well, he'd be best to keep any negative opinions or views to himself. Saying "I made a mistake but so did Hearts" is not the best way to go about it. You say "I ****ed up, I'll do all I can to rectify it" while keeping your own views on how the club ****ed up private. 

 

He's not going to win over the kind of fans that spit the dummy over that type of comment anyway

[i wish jj was my dad]

11 minutes ago, Ribble said:

 

ffs, are you really so precious about our club that nobody is allowed to say that maybe just maybe the club once done something that wasn't 100% right?

 

He doesn't go into details about why he feels there were mistakes made on both sides so we'll never know one way or the other, why not concentrate on the fact that he is self aware enough to know he needs to win over the fans again and that he wants to do that by scoring goals to help us finish higher than an unacceptable 6th place and win a trophy?? 

I don't know what the club dis wrong. They continued to play him when his form dipped, they offered to make him our highest paid player and corrected lies being spread on social media by his posse.  Oh and they wouldn't sell him to Rangers for buttons.

Nobody wants Jamie to be a success more than me but he really needs to engage his brain because it doesn't look like he has learned any humility and our 'support' has a nasty habit of turning on our own.

[DG_HMFC]

Nothing wrong with what he has said.

 

The boy is a Jambo to the core, and now that he's back he'll knuckle down and produce his best form, imo.

[Mr Elwood P]

18 minutes ago, To Be Frank said:

Don’t see anything wrong with what he said. Very complimentary about the club in general.

 

9 minutes ago, DG_HMFC said:

Nothing wrong with what he has said.

 

The boy is a Jambo to the core, and now that he's back he'll knuckle down and produce his best form, imo.

 

 

Correct.

[Beast Boy]

What was the mistake that the club made?

[Unknown user]

5 minutes ago, Icon of Symmetry said:

What was the mistake that the club made?

 

"Aye, of course you can discuss it with your dad"

[Beast Boy]

Just now, Smithee said:

 

"Aye, of course you can discuss it with your dad"

 

 

That's what I mean. To the best of my memory the club didn't do anything other than try and look after the boy. Maybe missed something.

[goldie83]

23 minutes ago, DG_HMFC said:

Nothing wrong with what he has said.

 

The boy is a Jambo to the core, and now that he's back he'll knuckle down and produce his best form, imo.

I’m with you mate. No issues at all. Water under the bridge. Kind of have that feeling that he knows this is his last chance of actually achieving something that could end up with a trophy over the next 3 years of his contract. People looking into this with maroon tinted glasses on. How do we know what went on behind the scenes. It could have been psychological games that Hearts were playing that didn’t sit right with him. We just don’t know. I’m happy he’s back and will support him 100%. He could score 30 goals next season and win us the Scottish single handily and folk will still be a Jamie Walker hater. It’s sad. 

[martoon]

Big fuss about nothing. 

 

Everyone sees things from their own point of view and few blame themselves entirely, even if they should. 

 

Harmless words in a harmless interview. At worst, a clumsy attempt to draw a line under an unfortunate episode. He's clearly pleased to have a shot at redemption (shamelessly lifted from Paul Simon), let him do it without pouncing on any word or pass that goes awry. 

[AllyjamboDerbyshire]

1 hour ago, droid said:

Correct: I’m guessing he’s talking about being dropped by Cathro 

 

“I don’t have regrets about the departure, but maybe the whole Rangers thing. That turned into a bit of a mess. It was tough and I think maybe the club and myself didn’t deal with that in the best way. It’s all in the past. I’m looking to the future and to doing well for Hearts.

In a fairly long piece, with nothing but positivity about Hearts, these few words are what's picked up on. Not that he realises now that Hearts are a bigger club than he previously realised. Not that he views winning a trophy with Hearts would make his career. Not that he hopes to spend the rest of his career at Hearts. Not that the tone of the whole interview suggests he knows his time away has taught him that Hearts is the best place for him to be.

 

No, what's picked up on is his failure to exonerate Hearts from any fault in 'the Rangers thing', as though nothing could have been said, by anyone at the club at the time, to upset him.

 

He's come back to Hearts knowing that a large element of the support bear a huge grudge over what happened in the lead up to him leaving. Not many players would want to face the pressure of trying to resurrect a career in those circumstances - unless that club is exactly where they want to be. That doesn't mean his return will be a success, or that we'll not be posting here how Hearts have signed yet another wage thief in 6 months time. And if we are (calling him a wage thief) he'll be hit harder than anyone else has been at Hearts because of all that's gone before, and even more so because Edinburgh is his home.

 

What this does show, though, is that the guy loves Hearts, has always loved Hearts, but fell victim to the love of (the promise of much more) money, like everyone can, and many more will continue to do in the future.

[Taffin]

15 minutes ago, AllyjamboDerbyshire said:

In a fairly long piece, with nothing but positivity about Hearts, these few words are what's picked up on. Not that he realises now that Hearts are a bigger club than he previously realised. Not that he views winning a trophy with Hearts would make his career. Not that he hopes to spend the rest of his career at Hearts. Not that the tone of the whole interview suggests he knows his time away has taught him that Hearts is the best place for him to be.

 

No, what's picked up on is his failure to exonerate Hearts from any fault in 'the Rangers thing', as though nothing could have been said, by anyone at the club at the time, to upset him.

 

He's come back to Hearts knowing that a large element of the support bear a huge grudge over what happened in the lead up to him leaving. Not many players would want to face the pressure of trying to resurrect a career in those circumstances - unless that club is exactly where they want to be. That doesn't mean his return will be a success, or that we'll not be posting here how Hearts have signed yet another wage thief in 6 months time. And if we are (calling him a wage thief) he'll be hit harder than anyone else has been at Hearts because of all that's gone before, and even more so because Edinburgh is his home.

 

What this does show, though, is that the guy loves Hearts, has always loved Hearts, but fell victim to the love of (the promise of much more) money, like everyone can, and many more will continue to do in the future.

 

 

Out of interest what was it the club did that want handling well?

[It should have been ten]

1 hour ago, i wish jj was my dad said:

I don't know what the club dis wrong. They continued to play him when his form dipped, they offered to make him our highest paid player and corrected lies being spread on social media by his posse.  Oh and they wouldn't sell him to Rangers for buttons.

Nobody wants Jamie to be a success more than me but he really needs to engage his brain because it doesn't look like he has learned any humility and our 'support' has a nasty habit of turning on our own.

 

Spot on 

[It should have been ten]

4 hours ago, Normthebarman said:

So according to Walker, the club are partly to blame for the Rangers saga. He doesn't go in to why it was partly the clubs fault though. As far as I can tell, we told Rangers to pony up or **** off. Not sure how any blame lies at the clubs feet for that. 

 

If you want to try and get yourself back in to the good books, that's not that way I'd go about it. He's doing himself no favours with me when he comes out with that shite. It ended badly, we move on is what he should have stuck with. This whole "There was mistakes made on both sides" does nothing to make me think he's learned his lesson, and if he comes good again and Der Hun come sniffing a 2nd time, I'm not confident he'll not down tools a 2nd time. 

 

Not confident this will end well at all. 

 

Agreed 

[Cruyff Turn]

1 hour ago, martoon said:

Big fuss about nothing. 

 

Everyone sees things from their own point of view and few blame themselves entirely, even if they should. 

 

Harmless words in a harmless interview. At worst, a clumsy attempt to draw a line under an unfortunate episode. He's clearly pleased to have a shot at redemption (shamelessly lifted from Paul Simon), let him do it without pouncing on any word or pass that goes awry. 

 

Some folk are going to be feeling rather silly by doubling down on their “**** Jamie Walker” stance when he’s banging worldies into the nets most weeks. 

[amadjambo]

1 hour ago, martoon said:

Big fuss about nothing. 

 

Everyone sees things from their own point of view and few blame themselves entirely, even if they should. 

 

Harmless words in a harmless interview. At worst, a clumsy attempt to draw a line under an unfortunate episode. He's clearly pleased to have a shot at redemption (shamelessly lifted from Paul Simon), let him do it without pouncing on any word or pass that goes awry. 

Spot on. I read the interview last night and didn’t see anything wrong with it at all. But some only see what they want to see. Personally, all I’m interested in is whether Jamie will bust a gut for the team and help us to improve.

[Norm]

I should make it clear I have no problem with Walker coming back. But as far as we can tell with the information we have, Hearts were blameless when he left. We told Rangers to pay more money. They refused. Walker's form dipped for what ever reason, he was dropped. If someone can tell me what we did wrong, then I'd more willing to agree with Walker. As it stands, I have no reason to believe the club did anything wrong. 

 

As I said, that's fair enough if he believes that but it's certainly not the tact I would use if I'm trying to get fans onside. Should have kept his mouth shut, stuck with "It's in the past and can't wait to get back to Hearts" and got his head down. "Ah, but they did bad stuff too!" is the kind of whataboutery I expect from my kids. 

[Shanks]

The only mistake we made was offering to make him highest earner at the club.  A couple of half decent performances and he'll drop his knickers to rangers again (thats if he manages that many games) 

 

I hope he does well for us like I do every Hearts player but I won't be welcoming him back with open arms.  

[hueyview]

This is a real chance for him too prove he is a genuinely good premier player................  Its in his hands..Good luck mate

[4marsbars]

The state of this thread.....

 

[rudi must stay]

2 minutes ago, Longshanks said:

The only mistake we made was offering to make him highest earner at the club.  A couple of half decent performances and he'll drop his knickers to rangers again (thats if he manages that many games) 

 

I hope he does well for us like I do every Hearts player but I won't be welcoming him back with open arms.  

 

He plays well and attracts attention it only helps one team and that's us. Walker was ridiculous in the Championship, and that player would hurt every team in the league

 

I don't think he's the highest earner (not that that means much with Hearts certainly not compared to Wigan) but as he says he has the chance to play every week and that can lead to good things for him (call ups maybe, goals etc) and the three years gives him a bit of security.

 

I say get behind him, Walker is very much a confidence player. And on form he's one of the top players I've seen in a Hearts Shirt

 

 

[It should have been ten]

11 minutes ago, Longshanks said:

The only mistake we made was offering to make him highest earner at the club.  A couple of half decent performances and he'll drop his knickers to rangers again (thats if he manages that many games) 

 

I hope he does well for us like I do every Hearts player but I won't be welcoming him back with open arms.  

 

[AllyjamboDerbyshire]

56 minutes ago, Taffin said:

 

 

Out of interest what was it the club did that want handling well?

Not got a clue. But then that doesn't mean there wasn't something the club didn't handle well, or, more likely, that there wasn't something said that upset Walker, justifiably upset or not. A lot has been made on kickback that Walker isn't the brightest of people, if so, it wouldn't take much for something to be said, or said badly, to make him feel degraded or unappreciated, or mislead him into thinking something to his benefit was going to happen, but didn't.

 

It might even be the case that someone, either still at the club, or away, said or did something to upset him and his remark was his way of letting that person know that he still remembers it.

 

It is also likely that any disharmony from that time was discussed in the recent signing negotiations, and Craig Levein being a decent guy agreed with Walker that there were mistakes on both sides, as it would be important to clear the air, and if that was so, then Walker is free to make the comment he did, unless he'd agreed not to mention it.

 

I freely admit that I am speculating, but no more so than those who seem to assume the problems were all created by Walker and that Hearts dealings with the situation were all masterful and to be admired, just because nothing came out of Tynecastle, or from Walker, himself, to suggest otherwise.

 

I'd suggest that in all contract discussions, in all areas of life, that don't work out well for both parties, that both parties part feeling the other side hasn't handled the negotiations well. In all such cases, a decent person will admit that both sides made mistakes.

 

Assuming Walker genuinely believes Hearts, or someone at Hearts, handled the matter badly, do people actually prefer that he should be insincere and just dish out ingratiating platitudes rather than add the mildest of hints that not everything is done 100% well at Hearts? To me, that one paragraph adds a sense of sincerity to the whole interview, often missing from player interviews on joining or returning to a club.

[It should have been ten]

1 minute ago, rudi must stay said:

 

He plays well and attracts attention it only helps one team and that's us. Walker was ridiculous in the Championship, and that player would hurt every team in the league

 

I don't think he's the highest earner (not that that means much with Hearts certainly not compared to Wigan) but as he says he has the chance to play every week and that can lead to good things for him (call ups maybe, goals etc) and the three years gives him a bit of security.

 

I say get behind him, Walker is very much a confidence player. And on form he's one of the top players I've seen in a Hearts Shirt

 

 

 

He means back when we offered him the highest wages to stay with us. 

[Flimsy]

2 hours ago, goldie83 said:

I’m with you mate. No issues at all. Water under the bridge. Kind of have that feeling that he knows this is his last chance of actually achieving something that could end up with a trophy over the next 3 years of his contract. People looking into this with maroon tinted glasses on. How do we know what went on behind the scenes. It could have been psychological games that Hearts were playing that didn’t sit right with him. We just don’t know. I’m happy he’s back and will support him 100%. He could score 30 goals next season and win us the Scottish single handily and folk will still be a Jamie Walker hater. It’s sad. 

 

I don't buy this. Andy Webster and Ryan Stevenson delivered on their returns to Hearts and were swiftly forgiven for the less than perfect way that they left. I think a lot of the doubt is whether Jamie Walker has it in him to reproduce his best form again. As someone else said, this thread is full of 'ifs'.

[...a bit disco]

15 minutes ago, Longshanks said:

The only mistake we made was offering to make him highest earner at the club.  A couple of half decent performances and he'll drop his knickers to rangers again (thats if he manages that many games) 

 

I hope he does well for us like I do every Hearts player but I won't be welcoming him back with open arms.  

 

I'll go with this.

[rudi must stay]

3 minutes ago, It should have been ten said:

 

He means back when we offered him the highest wages to stay with us. 

 

At that time he was one of our top players in my opinion, from a football Point of View it atleast made sense. His head was turned, he says it won't be this time. At 26 he may be an even better player than he was before, and if so then perhaps there may be a team comes in that's too big to turn down, and that's only good for us

[Taffin]

26 minutes ago, AllyjamboDerbyshire said:

Not got a clue. But then that doesn't mean there wasn't something the club didn't handle well, or, more likely, that there wasn't something said that upset Walker, justifiably upset or not. A lot has been made on kickback that Walker isn't the brightest of people, if so, it wouldn't take much for something to be said, or said badly, to make him feel degraded or unappreciated, or mislead him into thinking something to his benefit was going to happen, but didn't.

 

It might even be the case that someone, either still at the club, or away, said or did something to upset him and his remark was his way of letting that person know that he still remembers it.

 

It is also likely that any disharmony from that time was discussed in the recent signing negotiations, and Craig Levein being a decent guy agreed with Walker that there were mistakes on both sides, as it would be important to clear the air, and if that was so, then Walker is free to make the comment he did, unless he'd agreed not to mention it.

 

I freely admit that I am speculating, but no more so than those who seem to assume the problems were all created by Walker and that Hearts dealings with the situation were all masterful and to be admired, just because nothing came out of Tynecastle, or from Walker, himself, to suggest otherwise.

 

I'd suggest that in all contract discussions, in all areas of life, that don't work out well for both parties, that both parties part feeling the other side hasn't handled the negotiations well. In all such cases, a decent person will admit that both sides made mistakes.

 

Assuming Walker genuinely believes Hearts, or someone at Hearts, handled the matter badly, do people actually prefer that he should be insincere and just dish out ingratiating platitudes rather than add the mildest of hints that not everything is done 100% well at Hearts? To me, that one paragraph adds a sense of sincerity to the whole interview, often missing from player interviews on joining or returning to a club.

 

So everything we know suggests that Hearts handled the situation well. Walker is insinuating that they didn't. Until we know what they did then it's all just speculation.

 

Everything in the public domain paints Hearts in a good light in relation to the period he's talking about.

 

As for the bit in bold I don't agree with that. Why should the innocent party (if there is one) pretend they also made a mistake in order to be decent. Diplomacy isn't required when the other party negotiates in bad faith imo. And if the person who negotiated in bad faith then professes that both sides handled it badly, then frankly they have a cheek in doing so

Edited July 5, 2019 by Taffin

[martoon]

1 hour ago, Cruyff Turn said:

 

Some folk are going to be feeling rather silly by doubling down on their “**** Jamie Walker” stance when he’s banging worldies into the nets most weeks. 

 

1 hour ago, amadjambo said:

Spot on. I read the interview last night and didn’t see anything wrong with it at all. But some only see what they want to see. Personally, all I’m interested in is whether Jamie will bust a gut for the team and help us to improve.

 

If he stays fit we have a talented footballer, desperate to impress. My kind of signing. 

[Blacky87]

39 minutes ago, 4marsbars said:

The state of this thread.....

 

This.

[bajthejambo]

The man wants to score goals and bring success to Hearts. Winning over the doubters in the process. Let's hope that's exactly what happens.

[1874robbo]

I’ve read a few times he may be a better player now he’s back??

hes hardly kicked a ball since he left!! If anything he’s going to be slower which he was his last season with us, he may well be more intelligent seeing as he’s older?

this is only my opinion but I think we’ll be getting a worse player back.

[rudi must stay]

17 minutes ago, 1874robbo said:

I’ve read a few times he may be a better player now he’s back??

hes hardly kicked a ball since he left!! If anything he’s going to be slower which he was his last season with us, he may well be more intelligent seeing as he’s older?

this is only my opinion but I think we’ll be getting a worse player back.

 

No he'll be much better

[1874robbo]

2 minutes ago, rudi must stay said:

 

No he'll be much better

I hope you’re correct but I have big doubts.

[Tasavallan]

The proof is in the pudding is in the eating.  We will soon see Walker's intent.

[Robbo-Jambo]

Think Walker has grown up a bit and seen the grass is not always greener on the other side.

 

If he can keep fit I reckon we could have a guy who is bursting to make amends and could be a huge player for us this season.

 

Think he will have someone who is kicking his arse for 90 mins as in Steven Naismith.

 

He is a bit of a home bird as well similar to Lee Wallace so he will be more content now he is back home.