Stendel - Would you take him back?

[Spellczech]

4 minutes ago, Des Lynam said:

Apologies I picked you up wrong. And it might have helped if I had read the article. It does seem as though there wasn’t much of a concern we could get relegated within the club. I’m sure Naismith said the same at the time but don’t quote me on that. 🤣

And that would be even more worrying still!!!! 

[Bazzas right boot]

1 hour ago, blairdin said:

Sorry to be pedantic, but I didn't say anything about form - at the time the league was suspended, results had been poor.

 

My position is I seen enough in our matches in Dingwall and Easter Road, plus improved performances (granted not yet results) that the manager was starting to get his ideas across, to believe form and results would've improved, particularly at home.

 

That's just my opinion though. Opinions are like assholes - everybody has one.

 

 

Fair doos. 

 

I also think he'd have kept us up. 

[sac]

2 hours ago, frankblack said:

 

You can understand the RN appointment as we needed someone with a proven record of getting teams out of the Championship.  The Levein one was a bit of an act of desperation, after better options fell through.

Sorry, but anyone in the game up here could have got us out of the championship, she just took the easy option again.

Stendal would have pished it with the squad we had.

[sadj]

This place is mental , wonder if people in football have different opinions to the football manager playing wannabe peeps on here

Edited June 8, 2021 by sadj

[frankblack]

25 minutes ago, sac said:

Sorry, but anyone in the game up here could have got us out of the championship, she just took the easy option again.

Stendal would have pished it with the squad we had.

 

You are overlooking how poor we were when we got demoted.  We were in freefall,  thanks to Dan. 

 

Dundee United were a couple of years down, Hibs three.

 

I don't see how anyone could be sure Stendel would get us promoted given he put us down there and couldn't hack it against the premiership bottom six.

[sac]

5 minutes ago, frankblack said:

 

You are overlooking how poor we were when we got demoted.  We were in freefall,  thanks to Dan. 

 

Dundee United were a couple of years down, Hibs three.

 

I don't see how anyone could be sure Stendel would get us promoted given he put us down there and couldn't hack it against the premiership bottom six.

So going down was Dan’s fault?😂😂😂 Try Levein, Budge, MacPhee & Cathro first.

[martoon]

 

3 hours ago, Auldbenches said:

I can't understand why they got levein to show him around or still be at the club when he started.  Posters on here were saying that if levein was to stay away, we would've had to pay him all his salary.  I don't understand that.  Surely he would've agreed to getting his wages paid up knowing it would've been more beneficial to Stendel and the atmosphere around the club.  Unless he was demanding all his wages, I can't understand why the club didn't just ask him to take gardening leave.  

Sorry for bringing levein into this, but him still being at the club was part if the problem. 

 

 

No apology required, bud.

 

I brought Levein into it but with good reason. Stendel and his assistants were fighting a lost cause from day 1.

 

Not only having to work with Levein's, ahem, legacy but also with him still lurking in the background.

 

No chance, whatsoever.

 

A disgraceful farce.

Edited June 8, 2021 by martoon

[Guest ToqueJambo]

So none of the people wanting Stendel back are concerned at all that he thought a new goalie wasn't a priority and that playing a sweeper keeper (not only that but am inexperienced one low on confidence and making mistakes all over the shop) was the way to escape relegation and beat the likes of St J, Ross County, St Mirren and Hamilton? That's basic managerial stuff that he got completely wrong - not recognising when a player needs dropping and not doing your research into the opposition.

 

It's like taking your car on a road trip involving a very long descent down a hill in the full knowledge that your brakes are faulty. Sorting out the goalie position should've been top of his to-do list when he arrived. Did he not watch any videos of our games in the long time it took to finalise his appointment?

Edited June 8, 2021 by ToqueJambo

[Beni]

53 minutes ago, frankblack said:

You are overlooking how poor we were when we got demoted.  We were in freefall,  thanks to Dan.

 

Making up more 'facts'?

 

Stendel's 12 games in 2020:

 

W 5*

D 4

L 3

 

*Includes cup win over Glasgow Rangers.

 

Just for context, Neilson's last 12 games this season:

 

W 6

D 4

L 2**

 

**Includes cup loss to Brora Rangers.

 

You're gonna have to search for a pretty special gif to deflect this inconvenient truth.

 

 

Edited June 8, 2021 by fancy a brew

[Last Laff]

20 minutes ago, ToqueJambo said:

So none of the people wanting Stendel back are concerned at all that he thought a new goalie wasn't a priority and that playing a sweeper keeper (not only that but am inexperienced one low on confidence and making mistakes all over the shop) was the way to escape relegation and beat the likes of St J, Ross County, St Mirren and Hamilton? That's basic managerial stuff that he got completely wrong - not recognising when a player needs dropping and not doing your research into the opposition.

 

It's like taking your car on a road trip involving a very long descent down a hill in the full knowledge that your brakes are faulty. Sorting out the goalie position should've been top of his to-do list when he arrived. Did he not watch any videos of our games in the long time it took to finalise his appointment?

Who signed the goalie again>?

[Joey J J Jr Shabadoo]

17 minutes ago, Last Laff said:

Who signed the goalie again>?

More to the point, who signed every shite goalie we had at that time?

Edited June 8, 2021 by Joey J J Jr Shabadoo

[Spellczech]

39 minutes ago, ToqueJambo said:

So none of the people wanting Stendel back are concerned at all that he thought a new goalie wasn't a priority and that playing a sweeper keeper (not only that but am inexperienced one low on confidence and making mistakes all over the shop) was the way to escape relegation and beat the likes of St J, Ross County, St Mirren and Hamilton? That's basic managerial stuff that he got completely wrong - not recognising when a player needs dropping and not doing your research into the opposition.

 

It's like taking your car on a road trip involving a very long descent down a hill in the full knowledge that your brakes are faulty. Sorting out the goalie position should've been top of his to-do list when he arrived. Did he not watch any videos of our games in the long time it took to finalise his appointment?

Didn't help that it took about 2 months to get his assistant in who was a GK as a player...TBF that one note covers more than half your points... Actually, it covers them all.

[Kiwidoug]

I think having levein sitting under his desk was unnerving Stendel.

[Baxfee]

I would - but only cos we could then sing the song again. 

[sandylejambo]

Stengel-Would you take him back? Can he play Midfield?

[frankblack]

49 minutes ago, fancy a brew said:

 

Making up more 'facts'?

 

Stendel's 12 games in 2020:

 

W 5*

D 4

L 3

 

*Includes cup win over Glasgow Rangers.

 

Just for context, Neilson's last 12 games this season:

 

W 6

D 4

L 2**

 

**Includes cup loss to Brora Rangers.

 

You're gonna have to search for a pretty special gif to deflect this inconvenient truth.

 

 

 

Mixing competition stats to suit your argument is ridiculous.

 

The argument was over form in the league and your desperation to find a way to fit Neilson and the Brora cup result into a league form discussion is embarrassing.

 

The only stats that matter are DS took us from 10th to 12th.

[frankblack]

54 minutes ago, Last Laff said:

Who signed the goalie again>?

 

He had alternatives to pick from for his match day squad.

Edited June 8, 2021 by frankblack

[frankblack]

1 hour ago, sac said:

So going down was Dan’s fault?😂😂😂 Try Levein, Budge, MacPhee & Cathro first.

 

Were Levein, Budge or McPhee involved in the coaching, tactics or team selection?

[Hearts1975]

11 hours ago, TheBigO said:

100% yes from me if it's a toss up between what we have or Daniel and his team.

 

I'm behind Robbie because I don't have a choice and just hope he can be less pragmatic and let the players have some freedom.

 

In Daniel, we finally had a coach who showed us some passion and demanded the same of his players.

 

For all those saying he was shite, don't for a second underestimate the mess he came in to and then didn't even have coaching staff to help him.  It was a complete shitshow of a squad and coaching setup and he got plumped in to the middle of it and had to weed it out in no uncertain terms.

 

Get him in, with Joe Savage, and we'd be golden imo.

 

Daniel himself said he isn't a transfer market guy, he's a coach.  So he also didn't have someone like Joe to help him then, remember.

Agree with all of this. With the 1 in 1 out situation at the transfer window, and him being on his own at that time, was probably a bit too much time spent on recruitment and impacted his time coaching 

 

will always wonder what would have happened if he got his coaching team in place and from the very beginning. No question he was a good coach as you could identify several players who improved their play underneath him 

[Unknown user]

4 minutes ago, Hearts1975 said:

Agree with all of this. With the 1 in 1 out situation at the transfer window, and him being on his own at that time, was probably a bit too much time spent on recruitment and impacted his time coaching 

 

will always wonder what would have happened if he got his coaching team in place and from the very beginning. No question he was a good coach as you could identify several players who improved their play underneath him 

 

Pereira.

[Beni]

29 minutes ago, frankblack said:

 

Mixing competition stats to suit your argument is ridiculous.

 

The argument was over form in the league and your desperation to find a way to fit Neilson and the Brora cup result into a league form discussion is embarrassing.

 

The only stats that matter are DS took us from 10th to 12th.

 

Nope.

The discussion was about Stendel's potential to win promotion from the championship, not league form. But ok, looking just at league form the results in 2020 actually reduced the deficit at the bottom of the league, by definition the opposite of freefall, so you're still wrong.

 

 

[Armageddon]

Daniels near first move was to punt Christophe out the door - all go greetin' to the press about the space at the trough.

Robbie's near first move was to return Christophe to the starting XI - we start shipping goals for absolute fun.

Robbie's near last move of the season was to punt Christophe and sign Logan and reshuffle the pack - Logan plays 5 and concedes zero.

 

Daniel 1 - Robbie 0

 

Pumped Hibs at Easter Road on the first attempt

 

Daniel 2 - Robbie 0

[Hearts1975]

26 minutes ago, Smithee said:

 

Pereira.

Even Pep couldn’t improve Pereira 

[No Idle Talk]

1 hour ago, Baxfee said:

I would - but only cos we could then sing the song again. 

 

This. I miss the song.

[Unknown user]

25 minutes ago, Hearts1975 said:

Even Pep couldn’t improve Pereira 

 

Bet he wouldn't have picked him though 

[Libertonian_II]

11 hours ago, Mysterion said:

Ship has sailed. 

Showed us what attacking football at it's best and worst could be. 

 

Looked like he had made some strong choices (Berra) then screwed up and carried on with Pereira in goals when it was clear he was not good enough. Not sure Stendel had worked out the Scottish game quickly enough... gave us 2 strong wins over Rangers and defeat against St Mirren shortly after. 

 

Really liked him but sadly no. 

 

 

This. A good manager would have tailored his tactics accordingly. Stendhal didn't. Keeping Pereira in goals was a huge misjudgement 

 

 

[richierich]

yes

 

[Bongo 1874]

13 hours ago, frankblack said:

 

If he had replaced the hologram with Zlamal we might have got extra points.

Yeah and Doyle too 🤔. 

[A_A wehatethehibs]

5 hours ago, Armageddon said:

Daniels near first move was to punt Christophe out the door - all go greetin' to the press about the space at the trough.

Robbie's near first move was to return Christophe to the starting XI - we start shipping goals for absolute fun.

Robbie's near last move of the season was to punt Christophe and sign Logan and reshuffle the pack - Logan plays 5 and concedes zero.

 

Daniel 1 - Robbie 0

 

Pumped Hibs at Easter Road on the first attempt

 

Daniel 2 - Robbie 0

Berra only played 9 out of 27 games. Neilson didn’t “bring him back” he inherited him, he had a contract ffs. I can list selective facts to make stendel look bad too:

 

Career relegations - Daniel 2 Robbie 0

career promotions - Daniels 1 Robbie 3

Career sackings - Daniel 3 Robbie 1

 

Neither manager takes any blame for the pish players they inherited. But Neilson got his job done despite inheriting shite. Stendel, was naive about going for style over results first to get us safe, but i would never say never to him coming back if he wanted it and the timing was right. He was denied his rightful last 7 games to save us, I will always feel an injustice about that.

[bobskeldon]

Yes

[frankblack]

7 hours ago, fancy a brew said:

 

Nope.

The discussion was about Stendel's potential to win promotion from the championship, not league form. But ok, looking just at league form the results in 2020 actually reduced the deficit at the bottom of the league, by definition the opposite of freefall, so you're still wrong.

 

 

 

He took us from 10th to rock bottom 12th with a 4 point gap.  Those are the important numbers, not the batshit comparison you were trying to make.

 

The evidence was there for all to see that he wasn't going to recover.  There is a reason you rarely see a demoted manager retain their job, and that is because the board lack confidence that someone who can't keep you up is going to turn it around and bring you back up.

[frankblack]

3 hours ago, Bongo 1874 said:

Yeah and Doyle too 🤔. 

 

Even Doyle might have got us an extra few points - that is how bad the goals we were shipping were.

[A_A wehatethehibs]

2 minutes ago, frankblack said:

 

He took us from 10th to rock bottom 12th with a 4 point gap.  Those are the important numbers, not the batshit comparison you were trying to make.

 

The evidence was there for all to see that he wasn't going to recover.  There is a reason you rarely see a demoted manager retain their job, and that is because the board lack confidence that someone who can't keep you up is going to turn it around and bring you back up.

The “in 2020” caveat is pretty dim witted tbh given he only had 15 league games. It’s like, “he was almost semi decent after his car crash of a start 5 L’s in a row…” not much of a new manager bounce. 
 

I still like him though, and do feel it was an injustice the way he was denied his chance to save us. It’s like the matter gets left undecided forever, did he save us? Or did he fail? We’ll never know, because those games never got played. That’s why he still gets debated 

 

 

[frankblack]

1 minute ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

The “in 2020” caveat is pretty dim witted tbh given he only had 15 league games. It’s like, “he was almost semi decent after his car crash of a start 5 L’s in a row…” not much of a new manager bounce. 
 

I still like him though, and do feel it was an injustice the way he was denied his chance to save us. It’s like the matter gets left undecided forever, did he save us? Or did he fail? We’ll never know, because those games never got played. That’s why he still gets debated 

 

 

 

The real question is deep down do you think he showed that he was going to be able to fix the problems in the team and get us set up to bounce straight back up?

 

My view is the board had doubts and Neilson's record in the Championship and Premiership with us would be seen as a much safer bet.

 

If he had taken over Neilson's team instead of Cathro we might have been asking a different question, but the reality is he is one of these managers that works best with teams that are on the up rather than struggling.

[A_A wehatethehibs]

9 minutes ago, frankblack said:

 

The real question is deep down do you think he showed that he was going to be able to fix the problems in the team and get us set up to bounce straight back up?

 

My view is the board had doubts and Neilson's record in the Championship and Premiership with us would be seen as a much safer bet.

 

If he had taken over Neilson's team instead of Cathro we might have been asking a different question, but the reality is he is one of these managers that works best with teams that are on the up rather than struggling.

 

I agree, it was the risk factor, the club went for the guarantee. It was never about punishing the relegation because it mostly wasn’t stendels fault, the club looking to the championship just wasn’t prepared to risk it, Neilson was available to give that guarantee. The guarantee has been cashed in, decision is vindicated by the promotion.
 

But as for Stendel one day returning? I’ll be honest I wouldn’t be that unhappy, think the hearts fans always believe the real secret to Scottish football, to breaking the old firm dominance, is to get people in from the better levels of the game in the big football countries. It was a rare chance to get a guy like that in stendel and with a better foundation and a full season, who knows. 

Edited June 9, 2021 by A_A wehatethehibs

[frankblack]

1 minute ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

 

I agree, it was the risk factor, the club went for the guarantee. It was never about punishing the relegation because it mostly wasn’t stendels fault, the club looking to the championship just wasn’t prepared to risk it, Neilson was available to give that guarantee. The guarantee has been cashed in, decision is vindicated by the promotion.
 

But as for Stendel one day returning? I’ll be honest I wouldn’t be that unhappy, think the hearts fans always believe the real secret to Scottish football, to breaking the old firm dominance, is to get people in from the better levels of the game in the big football countries. It was a rare chance to get a guy like that in stendel. 

 

I've no problem with us going for someone outside Scottish football in future, providing the DOF can pinpoint decent candidates who can handle the nonsense that goes on in the game up here.

[TexasAndy]

There was an instant buzz about the place when Stendel came in.  I would welcome him back for this enthusiasm and attacking philosophy but without the suicide defending and awful goalkeeper we had!!

[Hearts1975]

8 hours ago, Smithee said:

 

Bet he wouldn't have picked him though 

It’s been well documented that he picked Pereira. What isn’t known is the reasons why. It may very well be that it was through his own choice but it could also be another reason and something that isn’t known 

 

it’s also been well documented we asked about Craig Gordon and were told no. If Stendel thought Pereira was the bees knees why were we then asking about another keeper when we already had 3 in place 

 

 

[Scottie Wanshot.]

Definitely NOT, WE all have to remember, He was the one who continued to play Pereira even though everyone knew, even the players that he was absolutely crap, and all the goals he let in put us down, so the manager was responsible for playing him.

[Unknown user]

13 minutes ago, Hearts1975 said:

It’s been well documented that he picked Pereira. What isn’t known is the reasons why. It may very well be that it was through his own choice but it could also be another reason and something that isn’t known 

 

it’s also been well documented we asked about Craig Gordon and were told no. If Stendel thought Pereira was the bees knees why were we then asking about another keeper when we already had 3 in place 

 

 

 

Nonsense, Stendel said exactly why he picked Pereira, he wanted a keeper that could play out from the back.

 

 

[Dazo]

1 hour ago, Hearts1975 said:

It’s been well documented that he picked Pereira. What isn’t known is the reasons why. It may very well be that it was through his own choice but it could also be another reason and something that isn’t known 

 

it’s also been well documented we asked about Craig Gordon and were told no. If Stendel thought Pereira was the bees knees why were we then asking about another keeper when we already had 3 in place 

 

 

That’s pretty much as wrong as you can get regarding the situation. 

[Armageddon]

4 hours ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

Berra only played 9 out of 27 games. Neilson didn’t “bring him back” he inherited him, he had a contract ffs. I can list selective facts to make stendel look bad too:

 

Career relegations - Daniel 2 Robbie 0

career promotions - Daniels 1 Robbie 3

Career sackings - Daniel 3 Robbie 1

 

Neither manager takes any blame for the pish players they inherited. But Neilson got his job done despite inheriting shite. Stendel, was naive about going for style over results first to get us safe, but i would never say never to him coming back if he wanted it and the timing was right. He was denied his rightful last 7 games to save us, I will always feel an injustice about that.

 

At least my facts were specific to their times as Hearts manager!

 

Robbie should have punted Berra to commentate on Hearts TV.

[Martin_T]

I covered off most of the points re Stendel in my blog for Maroon Specs back in February. The text of which is below:

 

tl;dr? The team was already in freefall when he was appointed, he had 5 games in 10 days immediately following his appointment including games vs Celtic, Hibs and Aberdeen, with no fit strikers. His coaching team weren't recruited until February. So there wasn't a good platform on which to build success. Equally the games against teams in and around the bottom 6 were often poor results, but the Aberdeen, Rangers (x2) and Hibs away games showed there was potentially something special. We'll never know.

 

There have often been debates on Hearts social media following a bad result this season concerning the merits of Robbie Neilson and Daniel Stendel, Neilson’s predecessor in the Hearts dugout. Looking at their respective records at Hearts, it should be no contest – Neilson is the clear winner, but why is it that Stendel is still held in such affection by some of the Hearts support? The answer lies in the circumstances of their respective tenures in the Tynecastle hotseat.

Robbie Neilson has always been a divisive figure amongst the Hearts support. For every fan who lauded his wholeheartedness and consistency, there were others who were irked by his limitations and who were driven disproportionately furious by the occasional shank out of play into the main stand from his usual right back berth.

Nonetheless, the abiding memories of ‘Robbie the player’, as he is often referred to in the mononymous way which infers affection, will be two things: the last minute goal in Basel, which secured a magnificent away victory in the UEFA cup, and the game-saving slide tackle on Gretna’s David Graham, which helped to secure the Scottish Cup in 2006. He was, for many years, a steady 7/10 player every week in the match ratings: consistent, reliable, never likely to inspire the team to victory nor make a calamitous error.

When Ann Budge assumed control of Hearts in 2014, he was a somewhat unexpected choice as Head Coach. He had no prior experience in a Head Coach role and was replacing the ‘brutally axed’ Gary Locke, who had done much to keep the spirits up at the club during the endurance test that was the 2013/14 season. Still, at his first press conference, standing alongside both Craig Levein and Ann Budge, he cut a smartly-dressed, confident and assured figure and there was a feeling that the club was in good hands. This was to prove emphatically correct as the team romped home in a Scottish Championship that, unusually, also had Hibs and Rangers amongst its number.

There were hints of problems to come though: Hearts’ record versus Hibs that season was mixed (P4, W1, D2, L1) with both draws coming from losing positions. Hibs under Alan Stubbs, despite the sparsely populated stands at Easter Road, often appeared to be more up for the games. The imperious league victory, with the title wrapped up before the school Easter holidays, served to reduce these concerns to mere murmurs of discontent at the time.

Robbie continued the good league form into his second season: indeed, the team started so strongly, winning our first five league games in a row, that those of us who get carried away with such things were even talking about potential title challenges. Subsequent losses to Hamilton and Inverness CT knocked that on the head.

Then came Aberdeen at Tynecastle and we all got a huge reality check, with the Dons racing into a 3-0 half time lead and looking a good few levels above their opponents. Hearts went on to recover their form though and put in a respectable challenge in the league to the eventually 2nd placed Dons, finishing 3rd, 6 points behind the Pittodrie men. Few of us would have predicted that our third place position in the league in May 2016, would be as high as we would finish for at least six years.

Perhaps the beginning of some fans turning against Robbie was the Scottish Cup 5th round game versus Hibs. Hearts, 2-0 up and coasting against their lower league opponents thanks to first half goals from Sam Nicholson and Arnaud Djoum, incredulously went on to concede goals from Jason Cummings and Paul Hanlon to draw the game 2-2, leading to a replay which Neilson infamously described in his post-match comments as ‘Money Spinning’.

Hibs would go on to win the 2016 Scottish Cup, their first win since 1902, thus robbing the Hearts fans of their 100+ years in a row terrace chant, often used to taunt their rivals. Neilson was the man at the wheel when this happened and will forever be tainted by it. This ultimately led to some fans going to the extreme of hiring a plane to fly over Tynecastle with the banner “No bottle, No Style, Neilson Out”, which still seems as absurd now as it did then.

Then there was Birkirkara in summer 2016. The club’s first foray into Europe since the 2012 game against Liverpool had seen us comfortably dispatch Estonian opponents in the first tie, before being drawn against the Maltese side – it looked to be a winnable tie. After drawing 0-0 in Malta, a game in which we had chances to win, Hearts went on to lose 2-1 at Tynecastle. Given the lowly standing of Maltese football, the result could only really be perceived as an embarrassment.

Nevertheless, the club made a solid start to the 2016/7 league season and, even with Rangers back in the league, were sitting in second place in November 2016, following a 2-0 home win over the Ibrox men. This proved to be Robbie’s last game in charge in his first spell as Hearts coach, as he chose to take up an offer to become Head Coach of MK Dons in England’s League One the following day. It seemed an odd choice at the time (MK Dons are and always will be a smaller club than Hearts) but the discontent many fans had expressed, including the infamous plane banner, may well have played a part in his decision.

It can be argued that the club’s subsequent decline in league performance can be traced back to the departure of Neilson in November 2016; certainly our subsequent finishing positions of 5th, 6th, 6th, 12th* (*league called early by Zoom meeting due to Covid 19 after 30 games played), have been nowhere near good enough.

Fast forward to December 2019 and the appointment of former Barnsley Head Coach, Daniel Stendel, to the Hearts hot seat. Described as ‘unkempt’ by Graham Spiers, on the basis of his appearance during his first press conference, there was perhaps an immediate contrast in sartorial elegance with that of some of his predecessors. But, more importantly for the fans, the German’s preferred playing style, gegenpressing (the high intensity, high press, attacking style of play popularised by Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool), promised a contrast with the dull, pragmatic and defensive football that had become the norm in preceding seasons at Hearts.

Stendel inherited a shambles. An injury-ravaged, out-of-form, unbalanced squad which lacked, amongst many other things, a competent goalkeeper. His forward options for his first game amounted to 37-year old Steven MacLean and the unproven Aidan Keena, both of whom have since left the club. After just a few days training with the squad, he was thrown into a hectic schedule involving five fixtures in 15 days from December 14th to 29th, including games against Celtic, Aberdeen and Hibs.

The squad he inherited had none of the qualities required to play a high defensive line with an aggressive press. Christophe Berra should rightly be remembered as a fine player for Hearts but, at this stage of his career, asking him to play a high line was pretty cruel. The midfield lacked aggression and pace. Glenn Whelan, brought in as something of a marquee signing, was a lacklustre and disappointing presence. Of the forwards, perhaps the most ideally suited to an aggressive pressing game was Conor Washington and he was injured. So it was unsurprising that he started with four defeats in four games, before a spirited draw in his fifth game against Aberdeen.

Stendel’s ability to coach the players in his preferred style was also hindered by the fact that his coaching staff, Jorg Sievers and Dale Tonge, weren’t recruited by the club until several weeks after his appointment. There was also the farcical situation of his immediate predecessor still hanging around the club in a de facto Director of Football role. The environment in the club was far from ideal, the timing was far from ideal and it would have been difficult for any Head Coach to be successful.

Despite this, there were some encouraging signs after the winter break. Making full use of the club’s young players, Euan Henderson, Lewis Moore and Andy Irving all featured prominently. Hearts played 12, won five, drew four and lost three from January until the league was halted in March. Stendel’s coaching visibly improved some of the players: Henderson and Moore became energetic, pacy options in attack; Sean Clare a revelation as a goal scoring, attacking right back; Irving a classy playmaker; Bozanic an energetic and dynamic goalscoring midfielder. There were stunning victories over Rangers (twice) and Hibs, where there was evidence that the high-energy attacking football could work.

To say it was all good would be pushing it though. The spring board that the league win over Rangers in January could have provided, was quickly flattened by defensive frailties exposed as the team let a lead slip against St Johnstone before snatching a 3-3 draw, and the Kilmarnock game at home saw the team go 3-0 down before very nearly coming back to draw 3-3, eventually falling a goal short.

The defensive weakness wasn’t helped by his key January defensive midfield signing, Toby Sibbick, contracting glandular fever. Sibbick would only feature in two games for the club: the win over Rangers and the following game in Perth. He has since gone on to claim a first team starting jersey back in the English Championship for Barnsley and had a great game versus Chelsea recently in the FA Cup.

Perhaps the biggest case for the prosecution of Stendel’s time at Hearts was his persistence in goals with the Manchester United loanee Joel Pereira, the goalkeeper who many have speculated had hands made of poppadum, such was his inability to save even the most basic of shots.

I’ll confess, I personally bought into the hype around our new found high defensive line and the need to have a sweeper keeper, and defended Pereira because I reasoned that he was good with the ball at his feet. Yet, Pereira was so bad at saving shots, that we might have been as well playing a midfielder in goals if that was the case. It is possible that there were punitive clauses in Pereira’s loan deal that meant it would cost the club more not to play him, but no single player contributed more to the club being bottom of the table.

In Stendel’s last game, the team lost 1-0 away to St Mirren, having played poorly, leaving them adrift at the bottom of the league and in scope for demotion when the league was called. It was very poor by all accounts of those who were there.

Yet, it is perhaps the excitement of those high-tempo exciting wins over Hibs and Rangers that gave a tantalising glimpse of what could be. The hairs still stand up on the back of my neck whenever I watch the Bozanic goal at Easter Road, the memory made all the more visceral by the wild celebrations in the packed away end when the ball hit the back of the net.

It all creates a feeling of ‘what if‘? What if Stendel had been given more time to build his own squad? What if he had more time to train the players in his preferred style? What if he had come into a more stable and successful club?

The truth is that Robbie Neilson is probably the right man for our current circumstances and, as mentioned earlier, there has been a consistent decline in the team’s performances since he left first time around. But, whenever the team churns out another dull and pragmatic performance, it is perhaps too easy to hark back to the brief tenure of Stendel and place disproportionate emphasis on those swashbuckling attacking performances, forgetting the dreadful ones and wondering what could have been?

Given the circumstances the club found itself in last summer, appointing Robbie was a pragmatic choice due to his track record in achieving promotion and, despite some ropey performances this season, I hope in the longer term that he will take the club back to where we all want to be – contending for European places in the Premiership. However, there’s still plenty of room for improvement and, given how short his tenure proved to be, there will always be some debate as to whether we did indeed have a diamond in Daniel Stendel.

 

 

[Ethan Hunt]

Yes!

[Beni]

4 hours ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

The “in 2020” caveat is pretty dim witted tbh given he only had 15 league games. It’s like, “he was almost semi decent after his car crash of a start 5 L’s in a row…” not much of a new manager bounce. 
 

I still like him though, and do feel it was an injustice the way he was denied his chance to save us. It’s like the matter gets left undecided forever, did he save us? Or did he fail? We’ll never know, because those games never got played. That’s why he still gets debated 

 

 

 

I used the 2020 stats because it was being argued we were in freefall when we were demoted.

You'd have to have a poor understanding of what freefall means to marry the results with that description, because the gap at the bottom was reduced not increased in 2020.

I never argued for Stendel's retention, but he inherited a pile of shit, and we'll never know if he could have kept us up. People are entitled to speculate about that, but they're not entitled to their own facts.

Speaking of which, he wasn't in charge for 15 league games, and didn't lose the first 5.

[A_A wehatethehibs]

3 minutes ago, fancy a brew said:

 

I used the 2020 stats because it was being argued we were in freefall when we were demoted.

You'd have to have a poor understanding of what freefall means to marry the results with that description, because the gap at the bottom was reduced not increased in 2020.

I never argued for Stendel's retention, but he inherited a pile of shit, and we'll never know if he could have kept us up. People are entitled to speculate about that, but they're not entitled to their own facts.

Speaking of which, he wasn't in charge for 15 league games, and didn't lose the first 5.

The point being that the “in 2020” line is an arbitrary line given he was not here long, and it just gives him a pass for the absolutely awful start he got off to.

 

You look at the full picture of a short spell like that, he was brought in to give us a lift, and try to turn things round and get us away from the bottom of the table. 3 wins from 14 (?) is not turning things round.
 

In particular his cavalier approach to defending which saw us leave our absolute pish center halves and shocking goalkeeper totally exposed, you’d think a good manager would at least make some attempt to mitigate those weaknesses but he never did. 

 

But anyway it’s all gone now and done to death. For the future most folk wouldn’t be opposed to a stendel return if the timing worked and the team was in a better position sat 5th or 6th or something. 

[Hearts1975]

3 hours ago, Smithee said:

 

Nonsense, Stendel said exactly why he picked Pereira, he wanted a keeper that could play out from the back.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Dazo said:

That’s pretty much as wrong as you can get regarding the situation. 

I don’t think he should have picked Pereira. It was obvious he was costing us a lot of points.
 

There were also rumours that there may have been an agreement with Man Utd to give Pereira playing time. Not saying any of these things are true but these rumours were circulating at the time 

 

Everyone seems to forget the reasons as to why we had Doyle, Zlamal and Pereira signed and playing for us in the first place. That’s a bigger failure for me the fact that these were the guys that he had to pick from 

 

 

[mitch41]

I'd have Daniel Stendel back in a heartbeat or Alex Neil ASAP.

[Bongo 1874]

1 hour ago, Hearts1975 said:

 

I don’t think he should have picked Pereira. It was obvious he was costing us a lot of points.
 

There were also rumours that there may have been an agreement with Man Utd to give Pereira playing time. Not saying any of these things are true but these rumours were circulating at the time 

 

Everyone seems to forget the reasons as to why we had Doyle, Zlamal and Pereira signed and playing for us in the first place. That’s a bigger failure for me the fact that these were the guys that he had to pick from 

 

 

Wasting you're time bud same people mention pereira, but say nothing about Berra with Neilson, who was costing us goals, the exact same situation but because it's Neilson, well enough said. 

 

And he had a fair transfer window 🤔. 

 

Yep Neilson had the same circumstances. 

Edited June 9, 2021 by Bongo 1874

[Forever Hearts]

A poll would be good on this just to see exactly how much support there is for re-hiring him sometime in the future.