Closing the gap

[Bull's-eye]

1 minute ago, mr fox said:

I think we could close it by half if we had a manager in that played a consistent team. Arsenal are top of the league with playing the same formation players most weeks. Chelsea are a shambles as they rotate the team formation every week. 
Every good team plays the same formation every week we change it 3-4 times a game. 
Some people on here that cannot see this is beyond belief. 
 

We need to stick to a 4231 for example and stick to it we are an utter shambles under Neilson. He is only getting away with it as 3rd is the aim. 
 

We won’t close the gap with him in charge also our record v rangers under him is the worst I have seen 

 

Glad you think all that. Good job the stadiums full every week and the mass majority don't care what you think.

 

 

[Sinbad the Sailor]

21 minutes ago, mr fox said:

I think we could close it by half if we had a manager in that played a consistent team. Arsenal are top of the league with playing the same formation players most weeks. Chelsea are a shambles as they rotate the team formation every week. 
Every good team plays the same formation every week we change it 3-4 times a game. 
Some people on here that cannot see this is beyond belief. 
 

We need to stick to a 4231 for example and stick to it we are an utter shambles under Neilson. He is only getting away with it as 3rd is the aim. 
 

We won’t close the gap with him in charge also our record v rangers under him is the worst I have seen 

FFS now Robbie just doesn't need to worry about being ahead if the OF its the London clubs. Give it a rest.

[JamboAl]

59 minutes ago, Bazzas right boot said:

 

If we finish 3rd twice in a row, then literally only 1 manger has done better than that in 30 years.

Guess who that was?

 

You're reality of doing better is just made up, you don't know.

Your expectations are coming from a place of little or no context,  balance or logic.

It's made up in your head.

 

If Bob ends up with 3 x3rd place finishes out of 3 seasons with us then he'll be  the best performing Hearts manager probably since we last won the league. 

 

3rd in the league may  very well be the best it gets, ever.

That's a shit reality of Scottish football.

 

Hopefully a cup win will come alone tho- we've been close already.

 

 

 

 

 

For any manager to have done that they would have had to be with us for 3 seasons so you're working from a very short list.

Edited February 24, 2023 by JamboAl

[Jambo 4 Ever]

23 minutes ago, mr fox said:

I think we could close it by half if we had a manager in that played a consistent team. Arsenal are top of the league with playing the same formation players most weeks. Chelsea are a shambles as they rotate the team formation every week. 
Every good team plays the same formation every week we change it 3-4 times a game. 
Some people on here that cannot see this is beyond belief. 
 

We need to stick to a 4231 for example and stick to it we are an utter shambles under Neilson. He is only getting away with it as 3rd is the aim. 
 

We won’t close the gap with him in charge also our record v rangers under him is the worst I have seen 

Agree

 

think neilson has taken us as far as he can

 

 

[Fozzyonthefence]

27 minutes ago, Byyy The Light said:

 

 

That's not next level.  It's having a slightly better season.  Next level is winning the league, qualifying for champions league and consistently winning the cups in Scotland.  Not as a one off but as genuine contenders every year.

 

I couldn't care if we are 3rd and finish 50 point behind or 30 or 10, we still get the same for it. Feck all.

 

3rd is 3rd and that's our level.  Robbie has proved he is the man to do that consistently for us.  More than any manager in the last 30 years.

 

In Scotland with things set up the way they are, no manager in world football will take us to the "next level".  

 

 

Well, that’s your definition of next level, it’s not necessarily everyone else’s. For me, even achieving one of the things you listed, even as a one off, would be next level.  Achieving that every year is just fantasy stuff.  
 

As for finishing 3rd, I don’t think many would dispute that we currently easily have both the 3rd best team and 3rd best squad (hasn’t always been the case in recent seasons) so finishing 3rd is what we should be doing.  It’s not really much of an achievement and Robbie isn’t the only manager out there who would achieve that with this squad.  On the flip side, it makes no sense to bring someone new in unless he is going to improve things but there will no doubt become a point where things become stale under Neilson and it’s time for a change, whether that is in 1 year, 2 years, 5 years….

[Bazzas right boot]

9 minutes ago, JamboAl said:

For any manager to have done that they would have had to be with us for 3 seasons so you're working from a very short list.

 

Yip.

 

[Brick Tamland]

13 minutes ago, Jambo 4 Ever said:

Agree

 

think neilson has taken us as far as he can

 

 

Who do you suggest for his replacement that can take Hearts further?

What attributes does that person have that makes him better than Robbie? 

[Bazzas right boot]

42 minutes ago, mr fox said:

I think we could close it by half if we had a manager in that played a consistent team. Arsenal are top of the league with playing the same formation players most weeks. Chelsea are a shambles as they rotate the team formation every week. 
Every good team plays the same formation every week we change it 3-4 times a game. 
Some people on here that cannot see this is beyond belief. 
 

We need to stick to a 4231 for example and stick to it we are an utter shambles under Neilson. He is only getting away with it as 3rd is the aim. 
 

We won’t close the gap with him in charge also our record v rangers under him is the worst I have seen 

 

 

Arsenal....

Getting  the benefits from sticking by a manager that was under performing for a few seasons and was allowed time to build a team.

Arsenal,  cracking example to compare Hearts to tho.

🙃

 

Do they?

Do we?

 

There was a thread a few weeks ago with many saying Bob is inflexible in his formation,  now he changes it too much.

Can't be both.

 

Utter shambles...we're 3rd, after 3rd last season on promotion. 

 

Rangers, someone posted his record v Rangers, it's above average for us iirc and he's won at Ibrox. 

 

We might not, but he actually by winning promotion then finishing 3rd has closed the gap to Rangers - twice, not to mention actually finishing above them once in the past.

 

 

Aye, but Arsenal eh?

 

 

 

 

Edited February 24, 2023 by Bazzas right boot

[mr fox]

1 minute ago, Bazzas right boot said:

 

 

Arsenal....

Getting  the benefits from sticking by a manager that was under performing for a few seasons and was allowed time to build a team.

Arsenal,  cracking example to compare Hearts to tho.

🙃

 

So they?

Do we?

 

There was a thread a few weeks ago with many saying Bob is inflexible in his formation,  now he changes it too much.

Can't be both.

 

Utter shambles...were 3rd, after 3rd last season on promotion. 

 

Rangers, someone posted his record v Rangers, it's above average for us iirc and he's won at Ibrox. 

 

We might not, but he actually by winning promotion then finishing 3rd has closed the gap to Rangers - twice, not to mention actually finishing above them once.

 

 

Aye, but Arsenal eh?

 

 

 

 

It’s an example what a settled team can do. Do you not get this 

[mr fox]

19 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said:

Well, that’s your definition of next level, it’s not necessarily everyone else’s. For me, even achieving one of the things you listed, even as a one off, would be next level.  Achieving that every year is just fantasy stuff.  
 

As for finishing 3rd, I don’t think many would dispute that we currently easily have both the 3rd best team and 3rd best squad (hasn’t always been the case in recent seasons) so finishing 3rd is what we should be doing.  It’s not really much of an achievement and Robbie isn’t the only manager out there who would achieve that with this squad.  On the flip side, it makes no sense to bring someone new in unless he is going to improve things but there will no doubt become a point where things become stale under Neilson and it’s time for a change, whether that is in 1 year, 2 years, 5 years….

Any manager would finish third with our squad it’s the best squad we have had since Romanov era 

[mr fox]

23 minutes ago, Sinbad the Sailor said:

FFS now Robbie just doesn't need to worry about being ahead if the OF its the London clubs. Give it a rest.

[Getintaethem]

16 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said:

Well, that’s your definition of next level, it’s not necessarily everyone else’s. For me, even achieving one of the things you listed, even as a one off, would be next level.  Achieving that every year is just fantasy stuff.  
 

As for finishing 3rd, I don’t think many would dispute that we currently easily have both the 3rd best team and 3rd best squad (hasn’t always been the case in recent seasons) so finishing 3rd is what we should be doing.  It’s not really much of an achievement and Robbie isn’t the only manager out there who would achieve that with this squad.  On the flip side, it makes no sense to bring someone new in unless he is going to improve things but there will no doubt become a point where things become stale under Neilson and it’s time for a change, whether that is in 1 year, 2 years, 5 years….

Can’t agree that successive third place finishes wouldn’t be a great achievement.  Think you’re devaluing it to be honest.  Getting to 3 out of the last 4 Scottish cup finals is also an achievement.  Especially when you take into account the fact the we were only recently promoted.

 

  Regularly qualifying for European group stage football should be our main aim going forward.  The financial rewards of that should put us in a position to close the gap.

 

  I certainly don’t think RN has performed badly enough to warrant losing his job.  Who knows what the future holds, but while he’s in the post he’ll get my full backing.

[Byyy The Light]

2 minutes ago, mr fox said:

Any manager would finish third with our squad it’s the best squad we have had since Romanov era 

The squad just assemble itself did it? Out of thin air?

 

 

[Getintaethem]

2 minutes ago, mr fox said:

Any manager would finish third with our squad it’s the best squad we have had since Romanov era 

who built this squad?

[mr fox]

Just now, mr fox said:

24 minutes ago, Sinbad the Sailor said:

FFS now Robbie just doesn't need to worry about being ahead if the OF its the London clubs. Give it a rest.

Many are happy with the chopping and changing it seems. Many are not happy with it. Personally think sinbad you should stick to sailing. Name one team that changes formations as much as us ???? 

[mr fox]

Just now, Byyy The Light said:

The squad just assemble itself did it? Out of thin air?

 

 

Your not getting this read the bloody post 

[mr fox]

Just now, Getintaethem said:

who built this squad?

Money 

[Byyy The Light]

Just now, mr fox said:

Your not getting this read the bloody post 

You bash on howling at the moon. 

[Libertarian]

Interesting article in today's Herald. https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/23340744.fan-owned-hearts-closing-gap-celtic-rangers/ 

 

How fan-owned Hearts are closing the gap on Celtic and Rangers

 

AS a boy growing up in Belfast, Gerry Mallon always resisted the lure of the Old Firm clubs despite the passion which so many of his compatriots had for them and his love of football.

“My view was that we had enough Irish sectarianism without needing to import the Scottish variety,” he said.

These days, though, Mallon devotes a great deal of his time and energy to helping Hearts draw nearer to Celtic and Rangers.

The Tesco Bank chief executive took over as the Foundation of Hearts (FoH) chairman last summer and has thrown himself wholeheartedly into the role. He has high hopes for the future.

The FoH have well over 8,000 members who collectively contribute in the region of £143,00 every month and the Tynecastle club is the largest to be fan-owned in the entire United Kingdom as a result.

In the coming months, the total amount that Hearts supporters have pledged since a company limited by guarantee was set up by concerned Jambos during the catastrophic Vladimir Romanov era back in 2010 will pass the £15m mark. 

It has been an improbable, uplifting, unprecedented success story.

But Mallon, who is also one of two FoH representatives on the Hearts board, is eager to see the third-placed outfit in the cinch Premiership build on what has been achieved to date and narrow the gap on the top two teams in the country even further.

That is a tall order give the respective size of their fan bases. However, he is confident that with the ongoing backing of the FoH members and wealthy benefactors James Anderson and Ann Budge, involvement in the Conference League group stages this season and player sales, even better times lie ahead on and off the park. 

“Success in football is highly correlated with income,” he said. “There are some exceptions to that, but, in the long-term, the more money you have the more successful you will be.

“The club is really prudent about the stewardship of its resources. It will never spend more money than it has. It will cut its cloth to suit its income. The money from the foundation and the money from benefactors is not absolutely necessary for the club to survive. We are more than capable of functioning with a healthy surplus without them.

“What it does do is provide a real boost which allows us to invest in the physical infrastructure and the team on the pitch. No other club has the sort of income that we have from the foundation. Everything else being equal, we have a head start on every other team.

“Game changers in terms of income for any club will be money which comes from Europe and money which they can make on player trading over the longer term. Both in terms of the players you bring through the development pathway and those you buy and develop.

AS a boy growing up in Belfast, Gerry Mallon always resisted the lure of the Old Firm clubs despite the passion which so many of his compatriots had for them and his love of football.

“My view was that we had enough Irish sectarianism without needing to import the Scottish variety,” he said.

These days, though, Mallon devotes a great deal of his time and energy to helping Hearts draw nearer to Celtic and Rangers.

The Tesco Bank chief executive took over as the Foundation of Hearts (FoH) chairman last summer and has thrown himself wholeheartedly into the role. He has high hopes for the future.

 

The FoH have well over 8,000 members who collectively contribute in the region of £143,00 every month and the Tynecastle club is the largest to be fan-owned in the entire United Kingdom as a result.

In the coming months, the total amount that Hearts supporters have pledged since a company limited by guarantee was set up by concerned Jambos during the catastrophic Vladimir Romanov era back in 2010 will pass the £15m mark. 

It has been an improbable, uplifting, unprecedented success story.

READ MORE: Fan ownership pioneer on the way ahead for Scottish champions Celtic

But Mallon, who is also one of two FoH representatives on the Hearts board, is eager to see the third-placed outfit in the cinch Premiership build on what has been achieved to date and narrow the gap on the top two teams in the country even further.

That is a tall order give the respective size of their fan bases. However, he is confident that with the ongoing backing of the FoH members and wealthy benefactors James Anderson and Ann Budge, involvement in the Conference League group stages this season and player sales, even better times lie ahead on and off the park. 

“Success in football is highly correlated with income,” he said. “There are some exceptions to that, but, in the long-term, the more money you have the more successful you will be.

“The club is really prudent about the stewardship of its resources. It will never spend more money than it has. It will cut its cloth to suit its income. The money from the foundation and the money from benefactors is not absolutely necessary for the club to survive. We are more than capable of functioning with a healthy surplus without them.

“What it does do is provide a real boost which allows us to invest in the physical infrastructure and the team on the pitch. No other club has the sort of income that we have from the foundation. Everything else being equal, we have a head start on every other team.

“Game changers in terms of income for any club will be money which comes from Europe and money which they can make on player trading over the longer term. Both in terms of the players you bring through the development pathway and those you buy and develop.

 

“Being in the group stages of a European competition has been very significant (Hearts banked £5m from their involvement in the Conference League, £3m of which was profit). Joe Savage has also done a phenomenal job as sporting director in terms of identifying talent and bringing it to the team for the benefit of the team and with resale potential.

“Those are two areas where we haven’t been incredibly strong in the past. But we can see right now we have developed a capability which puts us in a very strong place. If we do it right, we should have a clear path to continuing to improve and continuing to close the gap on the big two.”

Mallon, who has a first class degree in economics from Cambridge University and has previously held senior management roles at Northern Bank, Danske Bank and Ulster Bank, is the latest highly-qualified executive to join the FoH board.

Their collective professional expertise – a chartered account, corporate lawyer, technology specialist, sales director, chartered taxation adviser and business adviser work alongside him for no return – is a major reason why the fan group has flourished.

Other supporters’ organisations hoping to emulate their success would be well advised to take note. Enthusiastic amateurs, no matter how well-meaning their intentions, cannot offer the security and transparency which the paying public need to see when they are parting with millions of pounds, tens of millions of pounds even, of their hard-earned cash.  

“Having a capable board definitely gives a sense of trust in the pledgers,” said Mallon. “There is no financial return on their investment. There is no way of them getting their money back. It is a donation to the foundation which then goes to the club.

“Where they get their money back is seeing the future of the club guaranteed and the success of the club enhanced. There is a personal pride in feeling that you are part of the club that you love.

“We as a board feel an enormous sense of responsibility. We have to demonstrate we are being responsible in how we are managing the funds that are pledged to us. We have to be responsible stewards and illustrate we aren’t wasting money on anything.”

He added: “The really important mantra of our model is that the club is fan owned but not fan run. There is real separation between the foundation board as the largest shareholder with 75.1 per cent of the shares and the board of the club.

“In order to run a professional football club, you need professional people making the right long-term decisions. Sometimes as a fan it is really difficult to separate your passion from the more dispassionate view that you need to take as a professional running the football club as a business.

“That space is there deliberately. We have a couple of seats on the board so we can understand what is going on and have an opinion and input into what is going on. But we don’t have control of the board.

“We are not in the majority. We want to believe we have the right talent and ability and strategy and the board is running the club in the right way to ensure stability and success.”

That Hearts is run by professional business people who hold firm in adversity, not hysterical fans who overreact to a dip in form or bad result, was underlined back in 2021 when they were beaten in the second round of the Scottish Cup by Highland League rivals Brora.

The Gorgie club were on top of the Championship at the time and set to win promotion back to the top flight. However, furious supporters protested, called for manager Robbie Neilson to be sacked from his job and directed much of their wrath at the FoH directors.

Mallon, a former chairman of the Irish Football Association who had enjoyed a “whirlwind romance” with Hearts after moving to Edinburgh to take up his job with Tesco Bank two years earlier, sympathised and got in touch with then FoH chairman Stuart Wallace to offer his support. 

“Fans were really upset,” he said. “It got really nasty online. Social media wasn’t pleasant. The foundation board members were getting quite a lot of grief. They were coming under pressure.

“We had been through our own Brora moment when Northern Ireland lost to Luxembourg in 2013. People were calling for Michael O’Neill to be fired. But the board could see what Michael was doing, stayed true to their long-term vision and stuck by him. He ended up taking Northern Ireland to the Euros in 2016 and being the best manager we had had in 30 years.

“You have seperate the emotion of the short-term with your long-term vision and maintain your belief and trust in individuals. We all personally struggle to do it. Football is a game of opinions and some of those opinions are very strongly-held and forcibly expressed.  

“I reached out to the chairman Stuart Wallace on LinkedIn and offered him a message of solidarity. I said: ‘Look the board has to have the courage of their convictions, the ill-feeling will subside when everything starts to go well’. I offered support and we maintained dialogue over a period of time.”

The Hearts board’s faith in Neilson has certainly proved justified; the capital club are sitting third in the Premiership for the second season running and are through the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup.

When Wallace stood down, he thought that Mallon would, with his track record in both business and football, be the ideal man to step into his shoes.

The Northern Irishman knows that he is late to the party. But his dedication to the Hearts cause and desire to see them do well is just as great as any of the Jambos he sits alongside on match days in Gorgie. He is devoted to delivering more great results in the future.

“The pledges into the foundation have been incredibly resilient and stable,” he said. “Despite the cost-of-living crisis, despite the energy crisis, despite the high cost of travel to Europe – and, believe me, the beer isn’t cheap in Zurich – we have still seen people continuing to donate.

“I think this season the connection between the fans and the team has really developed to another level following the European campaign. Florence felt like a real turning point. The atmosphere was superb even though we got beat. The celebration was the fact we were there and were playing Fiorentina. It was amazing. It was a massive party.

“There is an enormous sense of pride among Hearts supporters that they saved the club. The club would not exist if it had not been for the supporters, the foundation and Ann all working together over a long period of time. There is no way you can’t feel even more emotionally connected to the success of the team as a consequence of it. Everybody is much more invested.

“The feedback we get from people is that when they look at all the direct debits coming out of their bank accounts every month, The Foundation of Hearts one is the only one that puts a smile on their faces.”

 

[Bazzas right boot]

3 minutes ago, mr fox said:

It’s an example what a settled team can do. Do you not get this 

 

It's taken  them about 4/5 years time to get  there, lots of money and patience. 

Do you not get that?

 

It's not happened quickly,  it's happened over time as the board and fans backrd a old player as manager even although they had a few seasons of underperforming.

Bob hasn't even underperformed as much as Aterta did early on.

 

It wasn't built on knee jerk reactions, fantasy  and emotional drivel driven by a small group of irate fans.

 

Do you not get that?

 

It's an example that contradicts your point tbh, and you can't even see it.

 

 

 

[Jambo 4 Ever]

12 minutes ago, Brick Tamland said:

Who do you suggest for his replacement that can take Hearts further?

What attributes does that person have that makes him better than Robbie? 

Let people apply for the job and see who does 

 

rather than going straight to an ex hearts player 

[Bazzas right boot]

8 minutes ago, mr fox said:

Any manager would finish third with our squad it’s the best squad we have had since Romanov era 

 

You don't know that. Nobody does.

 

Also, who built this team?

[Pasquale for King]

2 minutes ago, Getintaethem said:

who built this squad?

I think you have to credit everyone who is involved in building the squad, when he did it alone we ended up with Roberts/Frear/GMS/Gnanduillet/Popescu whilst bringing in 15 players to get promoted while ignoring youngsters. 
Getting the best out a squad is the challenge, statistically we haven't really improved as much as anyone would like. 

[Bazzas right boot]

5 minutes ago, Libertarian said:

Interesting article in today's Herald. https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/23340744.fan-owned-hearts-closing-gap-celtic-rangers/ 

 

How fan-owned Hearts are closing the gap on Celtic and Rangers

 

AS a boy growing up in Belfast, Gerry Mallon always resisted the lure of the Old Firm clubs despite the passion which so many of his compatriots had for them and his love of football.

“My view was that we had enough Irish sectarianism without needing to import the Scottish variety,” he said.

These days, though, Mallon devotes a great deal of his time and energy to helping Hearts draw nearer to Celtic and Rangers.

The Tesco Bank chief executive took over as the Foundation of Hearts (FoH) chairman last summer and has thrown himself wholeheartedly into the role. He has high hopes for the future.

The FoH have well over 8,000 members who collectively contribute in the region of £143,00 every month and the Tynecastle club is the largest to be fan-owned in the entire United Kingdom as a result.

In the coming months, the total amount that Hearts supporters have pledged since a company limited by guarantee was set up by concerned Jambos during the catastrophic Vladimir Romanov era back in 2010 will pass the £15m mark. 

It has been an improbable, uplifting, unprecedented success story.

But Mallon, who is also one of two FoH representatives on the Hearts board, is eager to see the third-placed outfit in the cinch Premiership build on what has been achieved to date and narrow the gap on the top two teams in the country even further.

That is a tall order give the respective size of their fan bases. However, he is confident that with the ongoing backing of the FoH members and wealthy benefactors James Anderson and Ann Budge, involvement in the Conference League group stages this season and player sales, even better times lie ahead on and off the park. 

“Success in football is highly correlated with income,” he said. “There are some exceptions to that, but, in the long-term, the more money you have the more successful you will be.

“The club is really prudent about the stewardship of its resources. It will never spend more money than it has. It will cut its cloth to suit its income. The money from the foundation and the money from benefactors is not absolutely necessary for the club to survive. We are more than capable of functioning with a healthy surplus without them.

“What it does do is provide a real boost which allows us to invest in the physical infrastructure and the team on the pitch. No other club has the sort of income that we have from the foundation. Everything else being equal, we have a head start on every other team.

“Game changers in terms of income for any club will be money which comes from Europe and money which they can make on player trading over the longer term. Both in terms of the players you bring through the development pathway and those you buy and develop.

AS a boy growing up in Belfast, Gerry Mallon always resisted the lure of the Old Firm clubs despite the passion which so many of his compatriots had for them and his love of football.

“My view was that we had enough Irish sectarianism without needing to import the Scottish variety,” he said.

These days, though, Mallon devotes a great deal of his time and energy to helping Hearts draw nearer to Celtic and Rangers.

The Tesco Bank chief executive took over as the Foundation of Hearts (FoH) chairman last summer and has thrown himself wholeheartedly into the role. He has high hopes for the future.

 

The FoH have well over 8,000 members who collectively contribute in the region of £143,00 every month and the Tynecastle club is the largest to be fan-owned in the entire United Kingdom as a result.

In the coming months, the total amount that Hearts supporters have pledged since a company limited by guarantee was set up by concerned Jambos during the catastrophic Vladimir Romanov era back in 2010 will pass the £15m mark. 

It has been an improbable, uplifting, unprecedented success story.

READ MORE: Fan ownership pioneer on the way ahead for Scottish champions Celtic

But Mallon, who is also one of two FoH representatives on the Hearts board, is eager to see the third-placed outfit in the cinch Premiership build on what has been achieved to date and narrow the gap on the top two teams in the country even further.

That is a tall order give the respective size of their fan bases. However, he is confident that with the ongoing backing of the FoH members and wealthy benefactors James Anderson and Ann Budge, involvement in the Conference League group stages this season and player sales, even better times lie ahead on and off the park. 

“Success in football is highly correlated with income,” he said. “There are some exceptions to that, but, in the long-term, the more money you have the more successful you will be.

“The club is really prudent about the stewardship of its resources. It will never spend more money than it has. It will cut its cloth to suit its income. The money from the foundation and the money from benefactors is not absolutely necessary for the club to survive. We are more than capable of functioning with a healthy surplus without them.

“What it does do is provide a real boost which allows us to invest in the physical infrastructure and the team on the pitch. No other club has the sort of income that we have from the foundation. Everything else being equal, we have a head start on every other team.

“Game changers in terms of income for any club will be money which comes from Europe and money which they can make on player trading over the longer term. Both in terms of the players you bring through the development pathway and those you buy and develop.

 

“Being in the group stages of a European competition has been very significant (Hearts banked £5m from their involvement in the Conference League, £3m of which was profit). Joe Savage has also done a phenomenal job as sporting director in terms of identifying talent and bringing it to the team for the benefit of the team and with resale potential.

“Those are two areas where we haven’t been incredibly strong in the past. But we can see right now we have developed a capability which puts us in a very strong place. If we do it right, we should have a clear path to continuing to improve and continuing to close the gap on the big two.”

Mallon, who has a first class degree in economics from Cambridge University and has previously held senior management roles at Northern Bank, Danske Bank and Ulster Bank, is the latest highly-qualified executive to join the FoH board.

Their collective professional expertise – a chartered account, corporate lawyer, technology specialist, sales director, chartered taxation adviser and business adviser work alongside him for no return – is a major reason why the fan group has flourished.

Other supporters’ organisations hoping to emulate their success would be well advised to take note. Enthusiastic amateurs, no matter how well-meaning their intentions, cannot offer the security and transparency which the paying public need to see when they are parting with millions of pounds, tens of millions of pounds even, of their hard-earned cash.  

“Having a capable board definitely gives a sense of trust in the pledgers,” said Mallon. “There is no financial return on their investment. There is no way of them getting their money back. It is a donation to the foundation which then goes to the club.

“Where they get their money back is seeing the future of the club guaranteed and the success of the club enhanced. There is a personal pride in feeling that you are part of the club that you love.

“We as a board feel an enormous sense of responsibility. We have to demonstrate we are being responsible in how we are managing the funds that are pledged to us. We have to be responsible stewards and illustrate we aren’t wasting money on anything.”

He added: “The really important mantra of our model is that the club is fan owned but not fan run. There is real separation between the foundation board as the largest shareholder with 75.1 per cent of the shares and the board of the club.

“In order to run a professional football club, you need professional people making the right long-term decisions. Sometimes as a fan it is really difficult to separate your passion from the more dispassionate view that you need to take as a professional running the football club as a business.

“That space is there deliberately. We have a couple of seats on the board so we can understand what is going on and have an opinion and input into what is going on. But we don’t have control of the board.

“We are not in the majority. We want to believe we have the right talent and ability and strategy and the board is running the club in the right way to ensure stability and success.”

That Hearts is run by professional business people who hold firm in adversity, not hysterical fans who overreact to a dip in form or bad result, was underlined back in 2021 when they were beaten in the second round of the Scottish Cup by Highland League rivals Brora.

The Gorgie club were on top of the Championship at the time and set to win promotion back to the top flight. However, furious supporters protested, called for manager Robbie Neilson to be sacked from his job and directed much of their wrath at the FoH directors.

Mallon, a former chairman of the Irish Football Association who had enjoyed a “whirlwind romance” with Hearts after moving to Edinburgh to take up his job with Tesco Bank two years earlier, sympathised and got in touch with then FoH chairman Stuart Wallace to offer his support. 

“Fans were really upset,” he said. “It got really nasty online. Social media wasn’t pleasant. The foundation board members were getting quite a lot of grief. They were coming under pressure.

“We had been through our own Brora moment when Northern Ireland lost to Luxembourg in 2013. People were calling for Michael O’Neill to be fired. But the board could see what Michael was doing, stayed true to their long-term vision and stuck by him. He ended up taking Northern Ireland to the Euros in 2016 and being the best manager we had had in 30 years.

“You have seperate the emotion of the short-term with your long-term vision and maintain your belief and trust in individuals. We all personally struggle to do it. Football is a game of opinions and some of those opinions are very strongly-held and forcibly expressed.  

“I reached out to the chairman Stuart Wallace on LinkedIn and offered him a message of solidarity. I said: ‘Look the board has to have the courage of their convictions, the ill-feeling will subside when everything starts to go well’. I offered support and we maintained dialogue over a period of time.”

The Hearts board’s faith in Neilson has certainly proved justified; the capital club are sitting third in the Premiership for the second season running and are through the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup.

When Wallace stood down, he thought that Mallon would, with his track record in both business and football, be the ideal man to step into his shoes.

The Northern Irishman knows that he is late to the party. But his dedication to the Hearts cause and desire to see them do well is just as great as any of the Jambos he sits alongside on match days in Gorgie. He is devoted to delivering more great results in the future.

“The pledges into the foundation have been incredibly resilient and stable,” he said. “Despite the cost-of-living crisis, despite the energy crisis, despite the high cost of travel to Europe – and, believe me, the beer isn’t cheap in Zurich – we have still seen people continuing to donate.

“I think this season the connection between the fans and the team has really developed to another level following the European campaign. Florence felt like a real turning point. The atmosphere was superb even though we got beat. The celebration was the fact we were there and were playing Fiorentina. It was amazing. It was a massive party.

“There is an enormous sense of pride among Hearts supporters that they saved the club. The club would not exist if it had not been for the supporters, the foundation and Ann all working together over a long period of time. There is no way you can’t feel even more emotionally connected to the success of the team as a consequence of it. Everybody is much more invested.

“The feedback we get from people is that when they look at all the direct debits coming out of their bank accounts every month, The Foundation of Hearts one is the only one that puts a smile on their faces.”

 

 

 

Good read.

 

 

[Pasquale for King]

12 minutes ago, mr fox said:

Any manager would finish third with our squad it’s the best squad we have had since Romanov era 

Spot on

[Bazzas right boot]

1 minute ago, Pasquale for King said:

I think you have to credit everyone who is involved in building the squad, when he did it alone we ended up with Roberts/Frear/GMS/Gnanduillet/Popescu whilst bringing in 15 players to get promoted while ignoring youngsters. 
Getting the best out a squad is the challenge, statistically we haven't really improved as much as anyone would like. 

 

 

So everyone gets credit for buildiing the squad, but when it goes wrong it's Bobs fault.

This is the best narrative yet. 

 

Do well- players, Savage, fans , FoH etc, not just the manager. 

Do poorly- Bob oot!

 

The mental gymnastics are next level stuff.

 

Folk cannae be serious with this shite?

 

[Bazzas right boot]

2 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

Spot on

 

Not it's not, it can't be proved

it's not spot on.

It's the opposite from spot on, it's an opinion. 

 

Bob having us third again is spot on.

 

 

 

[Fozzyonthefence]

17 minutes ago, mr fox said:

Any manager would finish third with our squad it’s the best squad we have had since Romanov era 

Which was my point.  Finishing 3rd ahead of a team who has a better squad would be a good achievement - if we don’t get 3rd this season then another manager will be doing just that.  I still think we’ll be 3rd though.  And we certainly should be. 
 

Martindale is a manager who gets his team punching above their weight almost week in week out.  I just don’t see Robbie getting his team punching above it’s weight, rather a case of just being where we should be.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Fozzyonthefence

[Bull's-eye]

1 minute ago, Bazzas right boot said:

 

 

So everyone gets credit for buildiing the squad, but when it goes wrong it's Bobs fault.

This is the best narrative yet. 

 

Do well- players, Savage, fans , FoH etc, not just the manager. 

Do poorly- Bob oot!

 

The mental gymnastics are next level stuff.

 

Folk cannae be serious with this shite?

 

 

It's the same trolls that predict 8000 season tickets only renewed every season, can't wait for that thread this year.

[pettigrewsstylist]

Finish 3rd for next 3 years and euro groups for the same.

That wont happen but should remain aim. Much easier than 2nd in scotland.

[Fozzyonthefence]

17 minutes ago, Byyy The Light said:

The squad just assemble itself did it? Out of thin air?

 

 

Savage and the recruitment team wasn’t it?

[Fozzyonthefence]

3 minutes ago, pettigrewsstylist said:

Finish 3rd for next 3 years and euro groups for the same.

That wont happen but should remain aim. Much easier than 2nd in scotland.

Euro groups will be very difficult when the automatic spot disappears.

[pettigrewsstylist]

Just now, Fozzyonthefence said:

Euro groups will be very difficult when the automatic spot disappears.

Oh yes indeedy.

[Byyy The Light]

21 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

I think you have to credit everyone who is involved in building the squad, when he did it alone we ended up with Roberts/Frear/GMS/Gnanduillet/Popescu whilst bringing in 15 players to get promoted while ignoring youngsters. 
Getting the best out a squad is the challenge, statistically we haven't really improved as much as anyone would like. 

 

It was during a fecking pandemic where we were unfairly demoted.  It was literally a case of take whatever crap was available and willing to move away from their families and operate in a bubble.  There is absolutely zero point ever using that period to compare anything. It was do what you can with the goal of getting out the division and move on.

[Bazzas right boot]

16 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said:

Savage and the recruitment team wasn’t it?

 

 

What about the 1st time he got us 3rd after winning the championship?

 

 

 

 

 

[Bazzas right boot]

3 minutes ago, Byyy The Light said:

 

It was during a fecking pandemic where we were unfairly demoted.  It was literally a case of take whatever crap was available and willing to move away from their families and operate in a bubble.  There is absolutely zero point ever using that period to compare anything. It was do what you can with the goal of getting out the division and move on.

 

This group also forget about the 1st Championship win and 3rd place finish.

 

Bob's lucky, much more lucky then lots if other Hearts managers. 

 

He gets given these 3rd best teams from nowhere by other folk who finish 3rd.

 

He's a tad unlucky that he can't take any credit for the good stuff ( as it's not him that delivers that, it's this ready made best of the rest team)but when it goes wrong it's all his fault.

 

Poor Bob

 

[Chimp]

29 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

I think you have to credit everyone who is involved in building the squad, when he did it alone we ended up with Roberts/Frear/GMS/Gnanduillet/Popescu whilst bringing in 15 players to get promoted while ignoring youngsters. 
Getting the best out a squad is the challenge, statistically we haven't really improved as much as anyone would like. 

Correct. It wasnt Neilson single handedly building this squad. Also acquiring good players doesn’t automatically make you a good manager. Surely that’s obvious.Plenty managers have assembled quality players and not managed to get the best out of them. Exactly what’s going on here at Hearts.

[Byyy The Light]

14 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said:

Savage and the recruitment team wasn’t it?

 

If that is the comfort blanket that helps you then bash on.  It was all them and Robbie just sits and waits to see who walks through the door for training.

 

Genuinely baffles me why people can't even give him the slightest bit of credit for anything.  It's wild.

 

Is he perfect, absolutely not.  Does he make a complete arse of things at times, absolutely he does.

 

On weight of balance is he doing a good job. Yes.

 

Moving him on at this stage shouldn't even be a discussion.  It's batshit mental.

 

 

[Getintaethem]

29 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said:

Savage and the recruitment team wasn’t it?

By all accounts RN identifies the type of player he needs, the Savage and his scouts come up with a list of suitable candidates, then RN makes the final decision.  
 

  That kind of suggests RN has a good deal of input into the squad.

[HeartsandonlyHearts]

13 minutes ago, pettigrewsstylist said:

Finish 3rd for next 3 years and euro groups for the same.

That wont happen but should remain aim. Much easier than 2nd in scotland.

In Scotland if you want to split the two butt cheeks you have to also beat all that comes with them. A nigh near impossible task.
A dysfunctional football association. They don’t want them split. So obvious.
Biased second and third level match officials. Cheats. So obvious.
A football sports media wearing blinkers. Petrified to write or speak the truth. So obvious.

For me 3rd is the best we can hope to do for the next 3/5 years. That has to be the team goal but more importantly us the fans. Do we want to get higher up the league? Obviously. But we all know in our Hearts that right now it won’t be allowed. When we were demoted and lost our court case, Hearts issued a statement

 

Today we focus on one thing

And one thing alone:

ONLY HEARTS

 

Its time we started to live by that statement. **** them all. We should be calling out every single one of them. Every single week.

I don’t know who the ref is for our QF but I know for a fact there will be threads on here prior when he’s named. And if past history is anything to go by lots of threads after. 
Scottish football is a farce and every fan knows it.
 

 

[Fozzyonthefence]

22 minutes ago, Byyy The Light said:

 

If that is the comfort blanket that helps you then bash on.  It was all them and Robbie just sits and waits to see who walks through the door for training.

 

Genuinely baffles me why people can't even give him the slightest bit of credit for anything.  It's wild.

 

Is he perfect, absolutely not.  Does he make a complete arse of things at times, absolutely he does.

 

On weight of balance is he doing a good job. Yes.

 

Moving him on at this stage shouldn't even be a discussion.  It's batshit mental.

 

 

What comfort blanket is that?  I don’t need a comfort blanket.  I have stated many times I don’t want him sacked but bash on if that make makes you feel better.  
 

As for recruitment, it was confirmed at a Q&A session (possibly AGM?) that Savage is responsible for recruitment while Robbie gets final say on who gets through the door or not.  If you choose not to believe that then that’s up to you but I wouldn’t imagine we’ll be spending hundreds of thousands on a recruitment team if Robbie does it all anyway. 

 

You know what genuinely baffles me? People jumping trough hoops and going to ridiculous lengths to defend him and make him out to be some sort of Pep.  As you just did earlier, trying to give him credit for a job he doesn’t even do!

Edited February 24, 2023 by Fozzyonthefence

[Byyy The Light]

4 minutes ago, Getintaethem said:

By all accounts RN identifies the type of player he needs, the Savage and his scouts come up with a list of suitable candidates, then RN makes the final decision.  
 

  That kind of suggests RN has a good deal of input into the squad.

 

Savages role in it all really kicks in when it comes to negotiation and dealing with agents.  I'm glad he's with us but his role in the identification of players is way overstated.

 

It's very much a team effort and has many moving parts.  Robbie is integral to it.

[Fozzyonthefence]

12 minutes ago, Getintaethem said:

By all accounts RN identifies the type of player he needs, the Savage and his scouts come up with a list of suitable candidates, then RN makes the final decision.  
 

  That kind of suggests RN has a good deal of input into the squad.

RN says yes or no at the end of the day.  He doesn’t source them.  

[Nelly Terraces]

I'd really just like to see us just managing to beat the likes of shite such as Livingston & Motherwell before we can have any chat about 'closing the gap' on the 2 Glasgow clubs. 

 

Alas, as it stands, with the current manager, I don't see any chance of that happening anytime soon. 

[Ex member of the SaS]

The usual suspects are banging on and on about third two seasons in a row, and how other Hearts managers have struggled to manage this, but don't forget that apart from the Romanov years, we are better financed and have the best scout/recruiter than ever before and have better players than ever before, so to compare past teams/managers performances to those of today is apples and pears.

No one is doubting Robbie has done well, but many of us believe he could do much, much better, and because he doesn't seem to be improving as a manager we believe he has reached his limits. The constant chopping and changing tactics /formations does nothing to make us believe any different.

[Byyy The Light]

8 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said:

What comfort blanket is that?  I don’t need a comfort blanket.  I have stated many times I don’t want him sacked but bash on if that make makes you feel better.  
 

As for recruitment, it was confirmed at a Q&A session (possibly AGM?) that Savage is responsible for recruitment while Robbie gets final say on who gets through the door or not.  If you choose not to believe that then that’s up to you but I wouldn’t imagine we’ll be spinning hundreds of thousands on a recruitment team if Robbie does it all anyway. 

 

You know what genuinely baffles me? People jumping trough hoops and going to ridiculous lengths to defend him and make him out to be some sort of Pep.  As you just did earlier, trying to give him credit for a job he doesn’t even do!

 

"Is he perfect, absolutely not.  Does he make a complete arse of things at times, absolutely he does.

 

On weight of balance is he doing a good job. Yes."

 

 

Did you not read this part?

 

 

[Fozzyonthefence]

4 minutes ago, Byyy The Light said:

 

Savages role in it all really kicks in when it comes to negotiation and dealing with agents.  I'm glad he's with us but his role in the identification of players is way overstated.

 

It's very much a team effort and has many moving parts.  Robbie is integral to it.

So you think Robbie finds the players and Savage only deals with the agents?  I think you’re wrong if so but yes, of course it is a team effort.  We do seem to be attracting a better standard of player since Savage came ok board though.  Sure there will always be some that don’t work out though. 

[Byyy The Light]

4 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said:

So you think Robbie finds the players and Savage only deals with the agents?  I think you’re wrong if so but yes, of course it is a team effort.  We do seem to be attracting a better standard of player since Savage came ok board though.  Sure there will always be some that don’t work out though. 

 

Savage's remit is huge, covers loads of aspects at the club.  He doesn't sit all day on wyscout sourcing players, that's the job of the recruitment team, Savage is just the figurehead for that in a reporting sense.

 

It's a team, but essentially all activity comes from Robbie.  He tells them what he's looking for and they go off and find it.  He'll also have an idea of players he likes and is aware of through his own connections.

[Fozzyonthefence]

1 minute ago, Byyy The Light said:

 

"Is he perfect, absolutely not.  Does he make a complete arse of things at times, absolutely he does.

 

On weight of balance is he doing a good job. Yes."

 

 

Did you not read this part?

 

 

Yes I read that but I was picking up on you earlier trying to insinuate that the strong squad is all down to Robbie.  It was quite clear you meant that.  And I was also referencing how other posters also behave when it comes down to Robbie.  
 

There are two real extremes with views on Robbie when I think most are somewhere in the middle ground.  However, if you make an ounce of criticism towards him you are immediately rounded upon as being a Robbie hater or Hibs and it’s tedious.  In my case there, I wasn’t even criticising him yet you’re all over me accusing me of clinging to a comfort blanket.  I don’t know if you’re normally like that but I can think of several who are!

[Fozzyonthefence]

1 minute ago, Byyy The Light said:

 

Savage's remit is huge, covers loads of aspects at the club.  He doesn't sit all day on wyscout sourcing players, that's the job of the recruitment team, Savage is just the figurehead for that in a reporting sense.

 

It's a team, but essentially all activity comes from Robbie.  He tells them what he's looking for and they go off and find it.  He'll also have an idea of players he likes and is aware of through his own connections.

I’d imagine that we would still have signed Shankland if recruitment was done the old fashioned way (manager only) but we wouldn’t have seen lots of the others that are here now. So it seems to be working better.