Budge Speaks

[Gambo]

1 hour ago, Smith's right boot said:

 

Yeah Ofc, he might have kept us up, I think he would have. 

 

Doesn't detract from the fact he taken us from 2nd bottom to bottom tho. 

 

 

 

Do you not think the 'remit' you keep banging on about changed when the league was abruptly cut short?

 

If league was to shut down tomorrow with no promotion/demotion this time around I take it you will be down to Tynecastle with Neilson out banner?

[Gambo]

1 hour ago, Smith's right boot said:

 

 

I'll repeat it, all Stendel had to do was keep us second bottom, he wasn't tasked with getting to the top 6 or 3rd place. 

He was tasked with keeping us exactly were we where when he taken over. 

He was tasked to keep us just as shit as we had been all season, he made us worse. 

 

 

 

 

Did you read the post I replied to?

[Wee Mikey]

People not only wanting Jack Ross but imagining that this board would be the epitome of unity, harmony, and argument free? I wonder how long the refrain, "We've got a diamond Ja-ack Ro-oss" would last before the squabbling started. Oh wait, the squabbling would already have started although I suspect calls for "Ross Oot" would be overwhelming before long. Hibs are welcome to him. It's bad enough every thread getting infested with pointless drivel about ex-managers, crystal ball wielding experts, and 'square go' name callers without throwing a weirdly wistful desire for Jack Ross into the mix.

[Hashimoto]

11 hours ago, Silverwolf said:

Great and well thought out synopsis of the current situation.

I also have and issue with why so many are vocal about wanting Budge out. She stumped up her own money when the club desperately needed help. She is in the process of steering it towards fan ownership (a unique model in order to protect it from being a plaything of the super wealthy...in the case of Vlad...not so wealthy). She is a proven business woman who has has taken flack for making tough decisions last year in the best interests of the club. She took real heat in the media about it but was subsequently proved correct when all the other clubs that slated her followed suit. She has attracted significant benefactors who would not be supporting us without her influence.
 

I am as disappointed as anyone that the football side has not delivered during her tenure and I sincerely believe that she stuck with Levein for so long because she did not feel qualified to make changes on the football front. Indeed she has admitted as much. Consequently she has now appointed a CEO to provide daily business leadership at the club (not sure why he has been so quiet). As Chair, she is moving into a non-exec governance role which will suit her and the club very well.
 

If the answer is fan ownership, I cannot believe that this will mean that fans have a say over the day to day running of the business or even the football side. Through the FOH, they will, of course, have a voice in the boardroom but that does not mean that the team selection will be made in a poll on Kickback every week. There will still be a requirement for leadership, assurance and governance otherwise it will just be anarchy. 

 

The fans who have vilified her must believe there is a better candidate out there who could bring more to the party but I just cannot see it. Be careful what you wish for.

Maybe because she has led the club on a downward spiral for the past 5-years which has ultimately resulted in us playing 2nd tier football

[Malinga the Swinga]

That the same Jack Ross who lead Hibs to 2 semi final defeats, including a memorable win for us when it was all set up by authorities to aid Hibs. 

This place is getting worse. Used to be interlopers from Easter Road tried to disguise themselves, now they just post away. 

[Nookie Bear]

11 minutes ago, Malinga the Swinga said:

That the same Jack Ross who lead Hibs to 2 semi final defeats, including a memorable win for us when it was all set up by authorities to aid Hibs. 

This place is getting worse. Used to be interlopers from Easter Road tried to disguise themselves, now they just post away. 

 

I think we are able to compare the relative merits of different managers or players from other teams - even if its hibs. No?

 

Or are you saying i am hibs for suggesting we would have been better appointing Ross instead of Stendel. And remember there was chat at the time of both of us wanting Ross so it's a fair comparison.

[Hashimoto]

The two Neilson lovers will be dead easy to spot once we are able to return to Tynecastle.....Multiple orgasms, and messy seats every time the messiah walks over to the dug out. Just hope they don't sit next to me!

Back to serious stuff!......Budge lack of ambition when it comes to the appointment of coaches and managers. Why does she seem to lack the vision to appointment outwith those with a previous connection to the club?.....Before anyone mentions Cathro, let's not forget he was essentially working to under Levein. 

I know we are stuck with Neilson (for the time being).....But knowing Budge and her dreaming history, she'll in all probability wake up and think "Why didn't I think about Ian Cathro before now!"

[DH1986]

49 minutes ago, Gambo said:

Do you not think the 'remit' you keep banging on about changed when the league was abruptly cut short?

 

If league was to shut down tomorrow with no promotion/demotion this time around I take it you will be down to Tynecastle with Neilson out banner?

The obvious issue there is RN has us top and we are clearly “winning” the division......Stendel took us to rock bottom and his record against the teams around us was so bad that DS didn’t look like he was going to change that.

 

On the whole his tactics and set-up was every bit as bad as we have with RN and at some point everyone.....we’ll mostly everyone....will have to surely agree that since Neilson left in 2016 we’ve been a shambles on so many fronts and not one person in the dugout made the most of what they had.

 

CL gave us our best spell in that 5 years when we were top for a few months but other than that it’s been mostly shite.

 

Cathro, Levein, Stendel and Neilson (2nd time) will all be looked at to be poor appointments and eventually AB needs to accept this and leave the football side down to folk who are much better placed than her to choosing who to manage/coach the team.

 

 

 

[graygo]

9 hours ago, Bongo 1874 said:

Sorry you don't think rudi would of been worth a 2year deal with the view of becoming a coach? Why wasn't he offered this, yet went on to play for Raith, when you consider the likes of Aaron Hughes got an extension with a few others, it was nothing but a blatant disrespect to offer Rudi to be a technical coach, when he had made it very clear he wanted to play a couple more years. 

 

Before getting into his Coaching. 

 

But there was a reason why rudi wasn't offered a playing deal at Hearts 😉, that reason Rudi will always be a bigger legend to our support than Levein ever was. 

 

Levein wanted all the credit and nobody was going to overshadow him during his time as DOF, this is why Locke was binned as he isn't a yes man, if he didn't like what Levein said he wouldn't think twice to speak his mind, but in Robbie Neilson and Steven Crawford and Jack Ross with John Hill, Levein can be the puppet master and his word is final, hence why the next guy he brought in was Cathro a good coach, but certainly not his own man basically Leveins B***h. 

 

 

This is why our club will never reach it's potential sad but what can be done about it. 

 

Notice how John Robertson and Gary Locke have never been considered for anything coaching wise at Hearts when Levein was there, I'll never forget John Robertson that day the line was huge for our Scottish Cup tickets at home against Hibs, it's pissing down with rain and he's handing out cups of tea to people. 

 

That's the difference 👍. 

 

I love John Robertson as much as the next person but surely you could come up with a better argument for him being considered for a coaching position than "he handed out cups of tea to the ticket queue in the pissing rain"

[Nookie Bear]

33 minutes ago, DH1986 said:

The obvious issue there is RN has us top and we are clearly “winning” the division......Stendel took us to rock bottom and his record against the teams around us was so bad that DS didn’t look like he was going to change that.

 

On the whole his tactics and set-up was every bit as bad as we have with RN and at some point everyone.....we’ll mostly everyone....will have to surely agree that since Neilson left in 2016 we’ve been a shambles on so many fronts and not one person in the dugout made the most of what they had.

 

CL gave us our best spell in that 5 years when we were top for a few months but other than that it’s been mostly shite.

 

Cathro, Levein, Stendel and Neilson (2nd time) will all be looked at to be poor appointments and eventually AB needs to accept this and leave the football side down to folk who are much better placed than her to choosing who to manage/coach the team.

 

 

 

 

I lost all trust in Budge's judgement since her "the right man was just along the corridor all along" line.

[Silverwolf]

1 hour ago, Hashimoto said:

Maybe because she has led the club on a downward spiral for the past 5-years which has ultimately resulted in us playing 2nd tier football

Certainly we are back where we started in a footballing sense which is not acceptable. 
 

We are far better managed financially. She has a really good business brain and not afraid to take difficult, even unpopular, business decisions. That is her domain. With a CEO and a DOF she can now move to the Chair position and provide governance and assurance to the business. That is where she adds most value and is a real asset to the club.

[Rudy T]

2 hours ago, Jambo in Bathgate said:

It’s a waste of time arguing with the Stendel Bots. There is no doubt his tactics worked against Rangers twice and Hibs once. However he failed to beat the teams that mattered leaving us at the bottom of the league. As you say making us worse. He only tried to play one way that cost us against the long ball merchants. He and his assistants were on very good wages. With the pandemic we had to cut our cloth. 

Here’s the thing, everything that has brought us to this point is Craig Leveins fault and the club should’ve cleansed itself of anything that had his  ego driven paw prints on it.

 

It all started with Neilsons departure, he trotted in his wee project Cathro, now CL knows better than anyone the size of Hearts and our standing in Scottish football so to introduce Cathro mid season knowing him as he does was a piss take. Move on to him returning to the dug out while retaining DoF status it failed again, let’s make no mistake only fan pressure in the end had him removed. We could’ve had Jack Ross ( not saying I want him really but he’d have kept us up) but we couldn’t because CL had his grubby mits involved in that also. He then hangs around while his hand picked shite coaches made an arse of running the team. Had he picked a decent coaching set up they’d have steadied the ship. In comes Stendel, where did we get him from.. kickback would be my suggestion, because no one in their right mind after all that goes before picks some unknown quantity and dicks around for months while the team slides further down the league. Honestly an interim manager, even John Hughes, Neil McCann anyone with an ounce of Scottish football experience would’ve kept that squad up. And now here we back to the start with the fans not so favourite and CL prodigy Robbie Neilson. 
 

Ann Budge bought that mans nonsense paid him fortunes and now he has a laugh and a joke about on a Monday night. All roads in the catalog of calamities lead back to that one man.

 

 

 

 

[Francis Albert]

12 minutes ago, Silverwolf said:

Certainly we are back where we started in a footballing sense which is not acceptable. 
 

We are far better managed financially. She has a really good business brain and not afraid to take difficult, even unpopular, business decisions. That is her domain. With a CEO and a DOF she can now move to the Chair position and provide governance and assurance to the business. That is where she adds most value and is a real asset to the club.

Perhaps the most important decision for a football owner/chairman is the appointment of a manager and the timely replacement of failing managers. I am not sure her record there is too good. (Same applies to failing Directors of Football of course). 

Edited March 5, 2021 by Francis Albert

[Silverwolf]

Just now, Francis Albert said:

Perhaps the most important decision for a football owner/chairman is the appointment of a manager and the timely replacement of failing managers. I am not sure her record there is too good.

I would argue her primary remit was to put the club on a solid financial footing following near oblivion. She has achieved this in spite of a global pandemic and the financial damage of being relegated. I suspect the majority of clubs in Scotland admire her no nonsense decision making......from a business perspective.
 

I think she has admitted that she was none to clever on the footballing side. Too long leaning on the advice of CL.
 

 

[Cruyff]

Reading between the lines but I'm hoping she has brought it up with Robbie about performances recently hence her other comments admitting that, "we have got to start winning games - I'm frustrated, speaking with my supporter hat on.".... 

Edited March 5, 2021 by Cruyff

[Francis Albert]

9 minutes ago, Silverwolf said:

I would argue her primary remit was to put the club on a solid financial footing following near oblivion. She has achieved this in spite of a global pandemic and the financial damage of being relegated. I suspect the majority of clubs in Scotland admire her no nonsense decision making......from a business perspective.
 

I think she has admitted that she was none to clever on the footballing side. Too long leaning on the advice of CL.
 

 

We will always be grateful for the money she put up to keep the club alive, although I think credit for that should be shared with the administrator and FOH/the fans without whom it would not have happened. She has failed in relation to the biggest footballing decision she has had to take which is a bit more damning than being "not too clever" ... she is running a football business after all, although there are times when you have to wonder ...

There are also of course question marks over the management of the £20m plus (and counting) stand project. 

[chrystaf]

3 hours ago, Smith's right boot said:

 

Correct, we'll never know. 

 

Unfortunately for us we know what did happen, he taken us from 2nd bottom to bottom in his short tenure. 

 

We are we are now, Stendel chat about what if's are pointless. 

 

 

Agree. Let's all file this Stendel assumption and move on.

[GinRummy]

30 minutes ago, chrystaf said:

Agree. Let's all file this Stendel assumption and move on.

I agree. I’ve commented on Stendel plenty times but we should all either have a thread on it or just let it slide. Nobody has anything new to say and we’ve been hammering it for months. 

[NANOJAMBO]

53 minutes ago, Rudy T said:

Here’s the thing, everything that has brought us to this point is Craig Leveins fault and the club should’ve cleansed itself of anything that had his  ego driven paw prints on it.

 

It all started with Neilsons departure, he trotted in his wee project Cathro, now CL knows better than anyone the size of Hearts and our standing in Scottish football so to introduce Cathro mid season knowing him as he does was a piss take. Move on to him returning to the dug out while retaining DoF status it failed again, let’s make no mistake only fan pressure in the end had him removed. We could’ve had Jack Ross ( not saying I want him really but he’d have kept us up) but we couldn’t because CL had his grubby mits involved in that also. He then hangs around while his hand picked shite coaches made an arse of running the team. Had he picked a decent coaching set up they’d have steadied the ship. In comes Stendel, where did we get him from.. kickback would be my suggestion, because no one in their right mind after all that goes before picks some unknown quantity and dicks around for months while the team slides further down the league. Honestly an interim manager, even John Hughes, Neil McCann anyone with an ounce of Scottish football experience would’ve kept that squad up. And now here we back to the start with the fans not so favourite and CL prodigy Robbie Neilson. 
 

Ann Budge bought that mans nonsense paid him fortunes and now he has a laugh and a joke about on a Monday night. All roads in the catalog of calamities lead back to that one man.

 

 

 

 

Great post.

I have never got involved in the Stendl discussions because to me , largely, it's about deflection from the usual suspects about the very things you've laid out. 

AB/the board acted badly in appointing CL as manager (in fact very badly because we found out latterly from ABs own mouth just how "disorganised" Levein was) and acted badly in appointing Stendl. Anyone who blames Stendl for the relegation is off their heads because it was patently obvious what was going to happen (well, to some of us).  And even now, while some folks are STILL blaming Stendll, we're still seeing the same apathetic performances. 

[Rods]

Stendel needed a DOF in place he said it himself. The championship would have been a perfect place to build on Stendel's style and would have seen us heading into the premier league with excitement. 

 

Stendel was discarded too early by Budge and we have went backwards. This is now coming back to haunt us. The fans are seeing no progress on the field of play. Yes we may win the league but I see no real progress football wise on the pitch and furthermore I have fears for next season. 

 

 

[NANOJAMBO]

1 minute ago, Rods said:

Stendel needed a DOF in place he said it himself. The championship would have been a perfect place to build on Stendel's style and would have seen us heading into the premier league with excitement. 

 

Stendel was discarded too early by Budge and we have went backwards. This is now coming back to haunt us. The fans are seeing no progress on the field of play. Yes we may win the league but I see no real progress football wise on the pitch and furthermore I have fears for next season. 

 

 

I thought he was the right appointment at the wrong time. But it's scandalous that he wasn't given any chance to finish what he started. There's no doubt in my mind - given his short tenure- he would have ripped though the club and really sorted it out. He knew it was a retirement home , he could see the cushy number some of the players had but the same coaches and the same players are still there and we're still getting the same apathy.  Neilson has a lot of work to do and the hard stuff might not be on the pitch.   

[bobskeldon]

1 hour ago, Nookie Bear said:

 

I lost all trust in Budge's judgement since her "the right man was just along the corridor all along" line.

Exactly Nookie, although that lie was swallowed by many!

[Sertse]

https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/sport/football/robbie-neilson-shrugs-hearts-job-19972961

 

Robbie Neilson has brushed off questions over his Hearts future with a quip over the gap between themselves and second place.

 

The Jambos can move 15 points clear at the top of the Championship by beating Dundee tomorrow.

 

They also need to halt a run of three successive draws in which they’ve fallen behind in recent weeks.

 

 

Neilson has come in for stick despite being on course to secure a comfortable return to the top flight at the first time of asking.

 

Ann Budge was forced to field questions over whether his job was safe - she confirmed it absolutely was - but Neilson accepts it comes with the territory.

[ShedBoy]

29 minutes ago, Rods said:

Stendel needed a DOF in place he said it himself. The championship would have been a perfect place to build on Stendel's style and would have seen us heading into the premier league with excitement. 

 

Stendel was discarded too early by Budge and we have went backwards. This is now coming back to haunt us. The fans are seeing no progress on the field of play. Yes we may win the league but I see no real progress football wise on the pitch and furthermore I have fears for next season. 

 

 

 

💯

 

 

[Nelly Terraces]

The most glaring thing for me was what she DIDN'T mention, and that was anything relating to the opinions of the rest of the board members.

 

I think it's a bit of an own goal on her part really & an obvious 'admission via omission' of fact that their views account for very little, or that, as I suspect, they slavishly just do/follow what Budge says without question or scrutiny - they're too supine to bother looking up from the doggybowls that Budge has placed for them to lap out of & maybe challenge the direction the club is going in. 

 

It's obviously a case of "it's my way or no way" with her, and she's acting in a dictatorial manner, which in my experience is never a  constructive state of affairs, and rarely results in productive outcomes. I'm not saying she's not done some good things for the club, of course she has, but overall, her tenure (& probable legacy for that matter) is now looking pretty unsatisfactory, and that's putting it mildly.

[jock _turd]

Hate to say it because she has done so many things that have been a great benefit for the club BUT the blame for where we currently find ourselves is absolutely down to AB. The club was in trouble due to CL being unable to get the team playing and even she could see that BUT instead of having a plan she askes CL to do one and then takes an age to replace him??? In my opinion she would have been better doing nothing than what she did because like it or not CL would not have taken the team to the place we ended up. He may well have been a shoite manager but he would have got enough from the team to get us to safety. AB's problem is she has not a single clue about how to run a football team and she has let Hearts down badly the way she went about things plain and simple. Getting RN back in was just a stupid and frantic attempt to repair that damage! Only time will tell if he has what it takes to  establish Hearts in the SPL again, he did well last time but the football was a terrible sight to behold . The same thing could easily happen again as the fans will not put up with his brand of football but maybe  after all the shoite that has happened it could be that scrappy football and single goal wins will placate the fans this time round?

[kila]

3 hours ago, Gambo said:

Do you not think the 'remit' you keep banging on about changed when the league was abruptly cut short?

 

If league was to shut down tomorrow with no promotion/demotion this time around I take it you will be down to Tynecastle with Neilson out banner?

 

 

 

[Ethan Hunt]

35 minutes ago, NANOJAMBO said:

I thought he was the right appointment at the wrong time. But it's scandalous that he wasn't given any chance to finish what he started. There's no doubt in my mind - given his short tenure- he would have ripped though the club and really sorted it out. He knew it was a retirement home , he could see the cushy number some of the players had but the same coaches and the same players are still there and we're still getting the same apathy.  Neilson has a lot of work to do and the hard stuff might not be on the pitch.   

It really is laughable when you hear the half wits criticise Stendel given the absolute cluster feck he was left with, and the short time he had to try and sort it out.  You would have though the Neilson Defence League would have understood just how hard it is to try an keep a side that is absolutely struggling up, after all they need only look at Neilson’s successor - Dan Micciche - at MK Dons. He took over a Neilson led MK Dons who were sitting in 21st place after a run of one win in eleven games. Despite - what I’m sure were Micciche’s best efforts - he (and then Keith Millen) couldn’t keep MK Dons up and they were relegated, having played a full season I may add.

 

Strangely enough - after several of Neilson’s signings the season before were punted - MK Dons were promoted back to League One the following season. 

 

A lot of people would rather not see the similarities between Levein and Neilson. Neilson managed to take an establish League One club - who had actually just been relegated from the Championship the previous season - and within a year and a half put them firmly in relegation bother. Now, I am sure that wasn’t his remit!!!!!!

 

2016–2018: Slow decline

 

Robbie Neilson joined MK Dons as manager from Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian in his native Scotland,[46] with his first official game in charge coincidentally an FA Cup tie against Karl Robinson's new club Charlton Athletic.[47] Neilson's reign started off well, with his second game in charge a win over AFC Wimbledon,[48] and in late January 2017 a local derby win against Northampton Town.[49]

The following season started badly, however on 30 December 2017 the team was noted[50]for a remarkable 1–0 derby win against Peterborough, playing with 9-men for 68 minutes after controversial refereeing decisions[51][52] and 13 minutes of added time.[53] Neilson left by mutual consent on 20 January 2018 after a run of one win in eleven league games with the club 21st in the table;[54] he was sacked the same day as his last game, a disappointing away 2–1 derby defeat against relegation rivals Northampton Town.[55]

Under Neilson's successor Dan Micciche, the club continued to struggle in the relegation places. Following a run of poor results with only three wins in sixteen matches in charge, Micciche left the club on 22 April 2018, with assistant manager Keith Millen taking over as a caretaker.[56] On the penultimate weekend of the season another defeat mathematically relegated them to League Two (leaving them seven points from safety with one game to play).[57]

[Jodami]

And so we move towards season ticket sale time again with Budge publicly defending the manager. Would it be too much to ask to ever be in a situation where we sold season tickets on the strength of a good team to watch rather than blind loyalty and concern for the club? 

[eyesandears]

17 minutes ago, jock _turd said:

Hate to say it because she has done so many things that have been a great benefit for the club BUT the blame for where we currently find ourselves is absolutely down to AB. The club was in trouble due to CL being unable to get the team playing and even she could see that BUT instead of having a plan she askes CL to do one and then takes an age to replace him??? In my opinion she would have been better doing nothing than what she did because like it or not CL would not have taken the team to the place we ended up. He may well have been a shoite manager but he would have got enough from the team to get us to safety. AB's problem is she has not a single clue about how to run a football team and she has let Hearts down badly the way she went about things plain and simple. Getting RN back in was just a stupid and frantic attempt to repair that damage! Only time will tell if he has what it takes to  establish Hearts in the SPL again, he did well last time but the football was a terrible sight to behold . The same thing could easily happen again as the fans will not put up with his brand of football but maybe  after all the shoite that has happened it could be that scrappy football and single goal wins will placate the fans this time round?

I will take drab 1-0 wins every weekend. Boring winning football and European football at Tynecastle. I'll take that and this man seemed to get that as well 🙂

 

[Pasquale for King]

13 hours ago, Hectormasson said:

U in smithfield st then, I don't mind how many charity shops there is , as long as tyney still there ladbrokes and kebab xpress, I'm easily amused,,,,

Yeah just the two, two tattooists too . Try saying that when you’re drunk 😜. 

[Pasquale for King]

4 hours ago, Wee Mikey said:

People not only wanting Jack Ross but imagining that this board would be the epitome of unity, harmony, and argument free? I wonder how long the refrain, "We've got a diamond Ja-ack Ro-oss" would last before the squabbling started. Oh wait, the squabbling would already have started although I suspect calls for "Ross Oot" would be overwhelming before long. Hibs are welcome to him. It's bad enough every thread getting infested with pointless drivel about ex-managers, crystal ball wielding experts, and 'square go' name callers without throwing a weirdly wistful desire for Jack Ross into the mix.

I don’t think the Hibs fans are all that happy with him either, considering their low standards and the fact they’re third shows he’s not great. 
He would definitely be getting hounded by now, but with the same people defending him that stick up for Neilson. 

[Beni]

29 minutes ago, jock _turd said:

Hate to say it because she has done so many things that have been a great benefit for the club BUT the blame for where we currently find ourselves is absolutely down to AB. The club was in trouble due to CL being unable to get the team playing and even she could see that BUT instead of having a plan she askes CL to do one and then takes an age to replace him??? In my opinion she would have been better doing nothing than what she did because like it or not CL would not have taken the team to the place we ended up. He may well have been a shoite manager but he would have got enough from the team to get us to safety. AB's problem is she has not a single clue about how to run a football team and she has let Hearts down badly the way she went about things plain and simple.

 

By the time Levein was sacked the board should have had a shortlist of candidates to be approached, there should have been a short period for applications, followed by a few days of interviews and an appointment.

Instead there couldn't be any contingency planning to replace the manager, because he was also DOF and a board member.

Although after he was sacked the sense of urgency at board level was palpable, with the CEO immediately...

going on holiday for a week.

 

With leadership like that it's no wonder how often you read on here how good a business woman Ann is.

[No Idle Talk]

I wonder if part of Joe Savage's remit will be to appoint the next Hearts manager(assuming Savage is still at the club obviously)?

 

Or will it again fall on the owner/board to make that decision?

 

I think Ann Budge realises she is not a football person. A fan yes, but not someone who fully understands how to run the football side of the club. I believe she has admitted as much and that is why she is trying to surround herself with 'football people'. So with that in mind, it would surely make sense for it to be Savage who would make the final decision on who the next manager would be?

 

Does anybody know?

[kila]

4 minutes ago, No Idle Talk said:

I wonder if part of Joe Savage's remit will be to appoint the next Hearts manager(assuming Savage is still at the club obviously)?

 

Or will it again fall on the owner/board to make that decision?

 

I think Ann Budge realises she is not a football person. A fan yes, but not someone who fully understands how to run the football side of the club. I believe she has admitted as much and that is why she is trying to surround herself with 'football people'. So with that in mind, it would surely make sense for it to be Savage who would make the final decision on who the next manager would be?

 

Does anybody know?

 

She's too stubborn to realise that.

 

She took massive offence to Stendel's initial impression of Hearts being 'unprofessional' despite the club being in the relegation zone. So much offence she could not wait to get rid of him and even appointed Robbie first.

 

Budge thinking she understands football is why we're in this mess. Despite the football being a shambles it was too emotional for her to sack Levein (his words during the documentary). Unbelievable way to run a football team. The owner has feelings for the manager and that's more important than results or the fans.

 

[Rogue Daddy]

1 hour ago, NANOJAMBO said:

I thought he was the right appointment at the wrong time. But it's scandalous that he wasn't given any chance to finish what he started. There's no doubt in my mind - given his short tenure- he would have ripped though the club and really sorted it out. He knew it was a retirement home , he could see the cushy number some of the players had but the same coaches and the same players are still there and we're still getting the same apathy.  Neilson has a lot of work to do and the hard stuff might not be on the pitch.   

Completely agree with this post... I've also said on numerous threads that it was the 'right man, wrong time'. I thought it was a brave decision by the club and also breath of fresh air - instead of the usual merry-go-round of the same old faces in Scottish football. I also though he was treated pretty harshly by the club when RN was hired. 

But, we go on and yes, RN does have some hard decisions to make going forward. DS certainly wasn't afraid to call them, I hope RN does the same. 

[Pasquale for King]

3 hours ago, Silverwolf said:

Certainly we are back where we started in a footballing sense which is not acceptable. 
 

We are far better managed financially. She has a really good business brain and not afraid to take difficult, even unpopular, business decisions. That is her domain. With a CEO and a DOF she can now move to the Chair position and provide governance and assurance to the business. That is where she adds most value and is a real asset to the club.

Are you sure about that? What part of the business would you say is run well?  If it wasn’t for £12m from the FoH and £9m from benefactors we would be in all sorts of problems. RN has just said we need that money to offset the losses incurred this season, and Budge has said maybe cost cutting for three years. What happens on the pitch is the most important part of the business, everything else feeds off that. After 7 years I’m still not sure she understands that. 

[davemclaren]

27 minutes ago, No Idle Talk said:

I wonder if part of Joe Savage's remit will be to appoint the next Hearts manager(assuming Savage is still at the club obviously)?

 

Or will it again fall on the owner/board to make that decision?

 

I think Ann Budge realises she is not a football person. A fan yes, but not someone who fully understands how to run the football side of the club. I believe she has admitted as much and that is why she is trying to surround herself with 'football people'. So with that in mind, it would surely make sense for it to be Savage who would make the final decision on who the next manager would be?

 

Does anybody know?

The board will always decide the appointment of managers. Others may assist them in their deliberations though. 

[A_A wehatethehibs]

The good thing about Budge is, she’s rebuilt the club from basically ashes/rubble and kept us on solid ground financially. The new stand etc is all great genuinely great for the club that she drove that all over the line. 

 

I think the fans should be grateful for what she’s offered us in her time. But change and forward progression is important for any club, for me it’s time for her to take a significant step back and announce she will now stop issuing statements and talking to the press. It should be Andrew McKinlay and Savage taking over the leadership reigns now of the running of the club, and also the public face of the senior management of the club. Budge should be taking a step back from things, the fans need to hear from the new blood who have their own new ambitions to take us forward. Once the fans get back to the stadium with the team back in the premier, we give her a round of applause, she’s left a legacy in the stand and the financial aide for the club to kick on and get stronger. And that is a good legacy. But the time is now for the fans to start seeing the new blood that’s been brought in to take responsibility. 

[Pasquale for King]

33 minutes ago, No Idle Talk said:

I wonder if part of Joe Savage's remit will be to appoint the next Hearts manager(assuming Savage is still at the club obviously)?

 

Or will it again fall on the owner/board to make that decision?

 

I think Ann Budge realises she is not a football person. A fan yes, but not someone who fully understands how to run the football side of the club. I believe she has admitted as much and that is why she is trying to surround herself with 'football people'. So with that in mind, it would surely make sense for it to be Savage who would make the final decision on who the next manager would be?

 

Does anybody know?

He will surely have a say in it as Sporting Director but he’s at the same level as the manager so it will be up to the CEO and the board to make the decision you would imagine. 

[Hashimoto]

1 hour ago, jock _turd said:

Hate to say it because she has done so many things that have been a great benefit for the club BUT the blame for where we currently find ourselves is absolutely down to AB. The club was in trouble due to CL being unable to get the team playing and even she could see that BUT instead of having a plan she askes CL to do one and then takes an age to replace him??? In my opinion she would have been better doing nothing than what she did because like it or not CL would not have taken the team to the place we ended up. He may well have been a shoite manager but he would have got enough from the team to get us to safety. AB's problem is she has not a single clue about how to run a football team and she has let Hearts down badly the way she went about things plain and simple. Getting RN back in was just a stupid and frantic attempt to repair that damage! Only time will tell if he has what it takes to  establish Hearts in the SPL again, he did well last time but the football was a terrible sight to behold . The same thing could easily happen again as the fans will not put up with his brand of football but maybe  after all the shoite that has happened it could be that scrappy football and single goal wins will placate the fans this time round?

Good post......A hits all the right area's IMO........Common denominator through this lot = Queen Ann 

[Gambo]

12 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

The board will always decide the appointment of managers. Others may assist them in their deliberations though. 

Let's hope when the time comes all phone lines to Fife are cut off.

[Rogue Daddy]

8 minutes ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

The good thing about Budge is, she’s rebuilt the club from basically ashes/rubble and kept us on solid ground financially. The new stand etc is all great genuinely great for the club that she drove that all over the line. 

 

I think the fans should be grateful for what she’s offered us in her time. But change and forward progression is important for any club, for me it’s time for her to take a significant step back and announce she will now stop issuing statements and talking to the press. It should be Andrew McKinlay and Savage taking over the leadership reigns now of the running of the club, and also the public face of the senior management of the club. Budge should be taking a step back from things, the fans need to hear from the new blood who have their own new ambitions to take us forward. Once the fans get back to the stadium with the team back in the premier, we give her a round of applause, she’s left a legacy in the stand and the financial aide for the club to kick on and get stronger. And that is a good legacy. But the time is now for the fans to start seeing the new blood that’s been brought in to take responsibility. 

Good post mate... and you've hit the nail on the head with Andrew McKinley. Time for him to start leading and being the public face.

The only time I can recall him 'being our face' was on Sportsound with dungcaster- and I liked how he handled himself. Had a couple snide of pot-shots at the spfl IIRC.

[davemclaren]

1 minute ago, Gambo said:

Let's hope when the time comes all phone lines to Fife are cut off.

What you got against Jim Leishman? 😕

[TheBigO]

34 minutes ago, fancy a brew said:

 

By the time Levein was sacked the board should have had a shortlist of candidates to be approached, there should have been a short period for applications, followed by a few days of interviews and an appointment.

Instead there couldn't be any contingency planning to replace the manager, because he was also DOF and a board member.

Although after he was sacked the sense of urgency at board level was palpable, with the CEO immediately...

going on holiday for a week.

 

With leadership like that it's no wonder how often you read on here how good a business woman Ann is.

I really hate to say this as I don't like bashing Ann, but this is true.  There's so much "integrity" and "trust" within our club, little of which is merited or earnt.  Most clubs on a bad run have their shortlist drawn up.  We just kept hoping Levein would sort it, and when we HAD to let him go, basically hoped his team would sort it.

 

Here it is, and this won't be popular:

 

We interviewed Alan Irvine, probably not a bad shout actually, in the Steve Clarke kind of mould.  He left the interview not even knowing what position he had been interviewed for - manager or SD.  There was no clear plan, no clear indication of what they needed from him.

 

We were also interviewing guys like Stuart McCall!!!  What??!?!  There was input and advice and "you should speak to this guy" coming from "trusted people".  No professional criteria of what we wanted.

 

Hibs, looking for a manager at the same time, contacted a shortlist of 3 or 4, asked if they'd be interested first of all, then establishing that important fact, gave them a brief containing expectations and detailed role profile, asking them to come to interview prepared to show how they could meet it.

 

Done, got their man.  I happen to think he's shit and look forward to his demise and usual Hibsing of the whole thing, but the fact is people close to both parties couldn't believe the sheer gulf in professionalism when it came to the process.

 

I shouldn't even post this.  Not cos "ITK" and all that, I just don't like negativity on here.  This isn't meant for that.  What I'm doing is pointing out that at that time, we didn't have a single person in a position of authority with any football knowledge whatsoever.  Crazy.

 

Where we are now is we have Andrew McKinlay, who is great, and Joe Savage, who's jib I like the cut of.  Things wouldn't have played out like that had they been in place at that time.  Perhaps even had they been in place in the summer, things may have been different.

 

Daniel Stendel openly admitted he wasn't a recruitment guy - he prefered to be on the training ground and a DOF to work on getting his players.  In the knowledge an SD was on the way, could we not have given the guy a chance.  So what he took us to bottom, he was a character who gave us hope, and he was tearing apart a bunch of total underachievers who we had lost all faith in.  He should have been allowed to finish his project.

 

It all comes down to Levein.  The lack of leadership on the football side, the ego of him taking on dual roles, the laissez faire approach to management, where his team basically did 90% and he rocked up and picked the team, and the legacy he left not only of a lopsided, unmotivated and pampered squad, but of a footballing setup with zero structure or leadership.

 

Yes, Ann shouldn't have trusted him.  Yes, she should have had contingency in place.  He's the prick that got it all wrong.

 

I reiterate, we now have good people in authority with decision making powers over our football operations.  This won't happen again.

 

We have Robbie.  He is what he is.  We need to hope he can adapt and learn.  If he can't, and we look like despite all the budget etc, that we are mediocre, mid table fodder, then he won't last.  I'm sure of it.  (I like Robbie by the way, I so want him to do well for us - he just needs to loosen up)

 

Best case scenario, he nails it.

 

Don't focus on 3 years like Ann said, all she's saying there is 1) promote, 2) be solid when back (ie better than we were) 3) be up the top 4 area.  That's the next 3 years.  Can anyone disagree that would be OK?  As long as the football isn't teeth grinding, then it is OK, but that may be the issue.

[The Grim Reaper]

12 minutes ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

The good thing about Budge is, she’s rebuilt the club from basically ashes/rubble and kept us on solid ground financially. The new stand etc is all great genuinely great for the club that she drove that all over the line. 

 

I think the fans should be grateful for what she’s offered us in her time. But change and forward progression is important for any club, for me it’s time for her to take a significant step back and announce she will now stop issuing statements and talking to the press. It should be Andrew McKinlay and Savage taking over the leadership reigns now of the running of the club, and also the public face of the senior management of the club. Budge should be taking a step back from things, the fans need to hear from the new blood who have their own new ambitions to take us forward. Once the fans get back to the stadium with the team back in the premier, we give her a round of applause, she’s left a legacy in the stand and the financial aide for the club to kick on and get stronger. And that is a good legacy. But the time is now for the fans to start seeing the new blood that’s been brought in to take responsibility. 

 

Agreed the fans should be grateful and the majority are in my opinion.

 

She has however made a mess of managerial appointments throughout her time and Robbie is another mistake. Regardless of how Stendel was treated, if she had just advertised the position, invited applicants and selected the best manager based on merit she would have had all the fans onside.

[Martin_T]

https://www.maroonspecs.com/robbie-and-the-ghost-of-daniel-stendel/

 

My thoughts on the Neilson vs Stendel debate are in the blog link above. In summary, Stendel wasn't given a fair shake, but the memory of those wins over Hibs and Rangers, fresh as it was as they were amongst the last high profile games in front of fans, before the football stopped, probably skews perspective on his overall performance. However his preferred playing style was undoubtedly exciting and it would have been good to have gotten the chance to see if he could have implemented it and had success with the team. We'll never know either way.

[Robbo-Jambo]

6 minutes ago, Rogue Daddy said:

Good post mate... and you've hit the nail on the head with Andrew McKinley. Time for him to start leading and being the public face.

The only time I can recall him 'being our face' was on Sportsound with dungcaster- and I liked how he handled himself. Had a couple snide of pot-shots at the spfl IIRC.

Yip, he seems to be a bit like the invisible man at the moment. 

 

[davemclaren]

4 minutes ago, Martin_T said:

https://www.maroonspecs.com/robbie-and-the-ghost-of-daniel-stendel/

 

My thoughts on the Neilson vs Stendel debate are in the blog link above. In summary, Stendel wasn't given a fair shake, but the memory of those wins over Hibs and Rangers, fresh as it was as they were amongst the last high profile games in front of fans, before the football stopped, probably skews perspective on his overall performance. However his preferred playing style was undoubtedly exciting and it would have been good to have gotten the chance to see if he could have implemented it and had success with the team. We'll never know either way.

For me it was enjoyable to watch when it worked but calamitous to watch when it didn’t. 

[Rogue Daddy]

18 minutes ago, TheBigO said:

I really hate to say this as I don't like bashing Ann, but this is true.  There's so much "integrity" and "trust" within our club, little of which is merited or earnt.  Most clubs on a bad run have their shortlist drawn up.  We just kept hoping Levein would sort it, and when we HAD to let him go, basically hoped his team would sort it.

 

Here it is, and this won't be popular:

 

We interviewed Alan Irvine, probably not a bad shout actually, in the Steve Clarke kind of mould.  He left the interview not even knowing what position he had been interviewed for - manager or SD.  There was no clear plan, no clear indication of what they needed from him.

 

We were also interviewing guys like Stuart McCall!!!  What??!?!  There was input and advice and "you should speak to this guy" coming from "trusted people".  No professional criteria of what we wanted.

 

Hibs, looking for a manager at the same time, contacted a shortlist of 3 or 4, asked if they'd be interested first of all, then establishing that important fact, gave them a brief containing expectations and detailed role profile, asking them to come to interview prepared to show how they could meet it.

 

Done, got their man.  I happen to think he's shit and look forward to his demise and usual Hibsing of the whole thing, but the fact is people close to both parties couldn't believe the sheer gulf in professionalism when it came to the process.

 

I shouldn't even post this.  Not cos "ITK" and all that, I just don't like negativity on here.  This isn't meant for that.  What I'm doing is pointing out that at that time, we didn't have a single person in a position of authority with any football knowledge whatsoever.  Crazy.

 

Where we are now is we have Andrew McKinlay, who is great, and Joe Savage, who's jib I like the cut of.  Things wouldn't have played out like that had they been in place at that time.  Perhaps even had they been in place in the summer, things may have been different.

 

Daniel Stendel openly admitted he wasn't a recruitment guy - he prefered to be on the training ground and a DOF to work on getting his players.  In the knowledge an SD was on the way, could we not have given the guy a chance.  So what he took us to bottom, he was a character who gave us hope, and he was tearing apart a bunch of total underachievers who we had lost all faith in.  He should have been allowed to finish his project.

 

It all comes down to Levein.  The lack of leadership on the football side, the ego of him taking on dual roles, the laissez faire approach to management, where his team basically did 90% and he rocked up and picked the team, and the legacy he left not only of a lopsided, unmotivated and pampered squad, but of a footballing setup with zero structure or leadership.

 

Yes, Ann shouldn't have trusted him.  Yes, she should have had contingency in place.  He's the prick that got it all wrong.

 

I reiterate, we now have good people in authority with decision making powers over our football operations.  This won't happen again.

 

We have Robbie.  He is what he is.  We need to hope he can adapt and learn.  If he can't, and we look like despite all the budget etc, that we are mediocre, mid table fodder, then he won't last.  I'm sure of it.  (I like Robbie by the way, I so want him to do well for us - he just needs to loosen up)

 

Best case scenario, he nails it.

 

Don't focus on 3 years like Ann said, all she's saying there is 1) promote, 2) be solid when back (ie better than we were) 3) be up the top 4 area.  That's the next 3 years.  Can anyone disagree that would be OK?  As long as the football isn't teeth grinding, then it is OK, but that may be the issue.

Well said mate. 👍