The Snodgrass and Humphry's Saga...

[Pasquale for King]

The plan was for Snodgrass to be pressured, to then lay it off to someone to pass through the opposition. The plan rarely worked, against Hibs and Aberdeen it worked,Martindale sussed it first around November and man marked him with Omeonga, then the others couldn’t do their jobs and it all fell apart. 
Humphrys scored in Florence and one of the best goal we have even seen against Urd, was quick/strong/good in the air and two footed. Whatever reason he was with us and still at Wigan was the probably part of why SN got rid of him.

[soonbe110]

1 hour ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

I don’t think he was naive tbh. I think he chucked it, after not getting the player/s he wanted in the Jan window. I think he quit mentally because he knew Joe had basically knifed him through the failure to address the known vulnerabilities in Jan. Robbie would’ve known which way the wind was blowing. It really did look to me like he just said **** it and gave up. 

He certainly knew his time was up well before he was fired. 

[John Findlay]

3 hours ago, droid said:

Did we ever actually find out why the club jettisoned both out the door so quickly after appointing Naismith?

It's history. I couldn't care for either player now. Heart of Midlothian have moved on and so should you.

[I P Knightley]

2 hours ago, Jim Panzee said:

interesting - I (and fairly sure many others on here) - thought Snodgrass was very good in his first handful of games. We played through him and he controlled the games.

 

but.

 

after those handful of games, opposition managers simply marked him out of the game and gave him zero time on the ball. From here on in - he / our gameplan was shit. Nielsen for some inexplicable reason didn't change this tactic and we fell off a cliff.

 

 

This is how I saw it. 

 

Hugely effective in his first half dozen or so games. It seemed as though he was the alpha of the team and shouted for everything to come through him; maybe the team were told to put everything through him. Either way, it became too easy to nullify him and he became the opposite of effective. 

[Bungalow Bill]

I was told that Snodgrsss was hated in the dressing room, and extremely disliked and Robbie failed to deal with it. That’s how he lost the dressing room. CG apparently went direct to AB and AMck and said Snodgrass needs binned. 

[droid]

20 minutes ago, John Findlay said:

It's history. I couldn't care for either player now. Heart of Midlothian have moved on and so should you.

Because you’ve said so John? Nah it’s something I’m interested in knowing the in’s and out’s of. It’s a footballing discussion after all .
If your not interested in the discussion then perhaps you should move on from this post? Just a thought hun. 

[Armageddon]

4 hours ago, droid said:

Did we ever actually find out why the club jettisoned both out the door so quickly after appointing Naismith?

 

No idea, but thank goodness Naismith had the balls to make these great calls to enhance the atmosphere within the squad.

[droid]

1 minute ago, Armageddon said:

 

No idea, but thank goodness Naismith had the balls to make these great calls to enhance the atmosphere within the squad.

He certainly wasn’t messing about.

Edited March 19 by droid

[A_A wehatethehibs]

25 minutes ago, John Findlay said:

It's history. I couldn't care for either player now. Heart of Midlothian have moved on and so should you.

Yes and history is interesting. Not every day you see a player actually get sacked. We literally paid snodgrass to leave. Just never happens.
 

What’ll happen is, Andy Halliday will spout off the full story on his podcast, about 1 hour after his Hearts contract ends. He’ll spill the beans 100% and we’ll know what happened 

[A_A wehatethehibs]

3 minutes ago, Armageddon said:

 

No idea, but thank goodness Naismith had the balls to make these great calls to enhance the atmosphere within the squad.

It’s not clear it was actually Naismiths call tbh, heard on multiple occasions it was Craig Gordon who as captain took it to the directors that snodgrass should follow Robbie & jig out the door  

[Sid]

6 minutes ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

It’s not clear it was actually Naismiths call tbh, heard on multiple occasions it was Craig Gordon who as captain took it to the directors that snodgrass should follow Robbie & jig out the door  

Couldn’t have been Naisey. He hadn’t done his badges so wouldn’t have covered “how to bin a disruptive influence” yet. 

[Armageddon]

16 minutes ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

It’s not clear it was actually Naismiths call tbh, heard on multiple occasions it was Craig Gordon who as captain took it to the directors that snodgrass should follow Robbie & jig out the door  

 

Gordon wanted Snodgrass to do a Jig out the door?

[A_A wehatethehibs]

12 minutes ago, Armageddon said:

 

Gordon wanted Snodgrass to do a Jig out the door?

🕺

[OTT]

Pretty crazy situation to be universally disliked by the other players. 

 

On Humps, he wasn't shifting Shanks. IMO he got frustrated and wanted minutes he wasn't getting. His actual return for us goals to games wise was shocking and every time we actually needed him he was injured too. 

Edited March 19 by OTT

[Batistuta87]

Played with Snodgrass briefly in youth football and he was a wee wideo. Have seen plenty stuff online since then suggesting he's never changed. I got the impression that Humphrys was much the same and was probably a bit of a mouth. Snodgrass' family never moved up here and stayed in London. He was up and down between games seeing them. I don't buy the wage issues being the reason for Humphrys leaving - no need for him to return home permanently to resolve it and surely could just have spoken to the club and his representatives to find out what was happening. 

 

My take on it is that they both didn't fit the personality profile that Naismith was looking for and were told their game time would be very limited, so they were given the option of going home quietly and they took it. Probably all ended in handshakes and back slaps. 

 

Edited March 19 by Batistuta87

[Fort Vallance]

2 hours ago, Shooter McGavin said:

If this thread proves anything, it's that nobody actually knows what went on. All just rumours and hearsay.

You're just guessing that. You don't actually know.

[Armageddon]

Turns out the fake Kate Middleton was the blame.  Shambles.

[HeartsandonlyHearts]

“ Snodgrass receives the pass, looks up, fakes left turns right. Right in to the pressing opponent and another Hearts possession goes South”

[upgotheheads]

5 hours ago, Jim Panzee said:

interesting - I (and fairly sure many others on here) - thought Snodgrass was very good in his first handful of games. We played through him and he controlled the games.

 

but.

 

after those handful of games, opposition managers simply marked him out of the game and gave him zero time on the ball. From here on in - he / our gameplan was shit. Nielsen for some inexplicable reason didn't change this tactic and we fell off a cliff.

 

 

 

That's what I remember, but the biggest mystery of all is why did Robbie persist in starting him rather than bringing him off the bench as  an impact sub. Snodgrass was still a clever player, just past his best.

[stirlo]

6 hours ago, Lambo85 said:

Snodgrass was absolutely awful for us. He was completely finished as a player and its no surprise that he hasn't played again since leaving us.

 

Terrible signing, file him under Aaron Hughes and Glenn Whelan!

 

As others have pointed out, it was very much a season of two halves for Snodgrass. The first half he was very good - I'm sure if you check some of the old threads from the time, people on here were raving about him saying how he was outstanding and a great influence on the team. His form then dipped and I think other teams also tried to target him because of his lack of pace. So comparing him to Glenn Whelan is just silly. The truth is he was very good - and then he became not very good.

[Doc Rob]

We’ve had a good few players like this over the years - strong pedigree, usually towards the end of their careers, looked great for a few games, and then got found out. Usually with a strong suggestion that they thought they were slumming it playing for Hearts and they were much bigger than the club. Kingston and Tziolis spring to mind as well as Snodgrass and Whelan.

[Watt-Zeefuik]

Snodgrass's downturn was directly related to Baningime and Haring both being hurt at the same time and Kio being shit. When he was playing in front of a true holding mid, he was an unquestioned asset. When he had to play holding mid, he was just an ass. Couldn't keep the ball under pressure and it didn't help that our defensive line behind him had gotten cut to shit by injuries.

 

I am a thousand miles from ITK (literally) but the more credible reports on here certainly sounds like Snoddy was being an abusive arse in the locker room (under guise of being a "character") and that with the losing streak it was breaking the team.

 

He was very good until our midfield and defence were totally broken by injuries and he wasn't good enough at holding the ball to make it work. And the one thing that Robbie doesn't know how to change is a system where the ball goes through the CMs.

[Jim Panzee]

12 hours ago, upgotheheads said:

 

That's what I remember, but the biggest mystery of all is why did Robbie persist in starting him rather than bringing him off the bench as  an impact sub. Snodgrass was still a clever player, just past his best.

yeap. 

 

@Pasquale for King suggested Nielsen's plan was for Snodgrass to draw opposition players to him - but then release the ball to our unmarked players. If so - that's one hell of a risky tactic - given we could all see Snodgrass couldn't cope with having a man or two right on top of him. Even then, after a couple of games of it not working, you'd expect a manager to ditch this.

 

@Watt-Zeefuik is right - Nielsen either didn't know how to change his playing system - or perhaps was so convinced it would come right again he stuck with it - and we saw us go on a terrible run. Nielsen should've either changed tactics or dropped Snodgrass - obvs felt he could do neither.

[Chimp]

20 hours ago, MCW1976 said:

 

If you look back through the Kickback archives, I'd say you'll find that Hearts fans (most of them) were creaming their drawers over Snodgrass - and for a sustained period of time.

 

For a while, he was outstanding.

 

Correct. No point pretending he wasn't good at all. He absolutely strolled games.

 

There's a reason teams started putting 2 or 3 men on him at a time to nullify him.  It obviously worked and ultimately he became ineffective in games after that. I think his one footedness ended up being his downfall in that central position.

[PTBCAL]

18 hours ago, Bungalow Bill said:

I was told that Snodgrsss was hated in the dressing room, and extremely disliked and Robbie failed to deal with it. That’s how he lost the dressing room. CG apparently went direct to AB and AMck and said Snodgrass needs binned. 

You are way closer to the truth than anyone here. Dressing was divided. 

[Watt-Zeefuik]

5 hours ago, Jim Panzee said:

yeap. 

 

@Pasquale for King suggested Nielsen's plan was for Snodgrass to draw opposition players to him - but then release the ball to our unmarked players. If so - that's one hell of a risky tactic - given we could all see Snodgrass couldn't cope with having a man or two right on top of him. Even then, after a couple of games of it not working, you'd expect a manager to ditch this.

 

@Watt-Zeefuik is right - Nielsen either didn't know how to change his playing system - or perhaps was so convinced it would come right again he stuck with it - and we saw us go on a terrible run. Nielsen should've either changed tactics or dropped Snodgrass - obvs felt he could do neither.

 

TBF he tried a couple of times. Snoddy was unavailable for the league match at Celtic Park and played Kio in the middle of a 4-5-1. That didn't work.  After the fiasco at Kilmarnock where we couldn't even pull level for a draw against 10 men, Robbie did try to change it for St. Mirren. This is what the BBC has for our lineup against Mirren:

 

 

It didn't work either (and Snoddy idiotic red card didn't help). Which is just to say that I don't think it was stubborness on the part of Neilson, but just that his philosophy is and always has been to play a passing game through the midfield, no matter what shape the rest of the team takes around it. If that doesn't work, his whole system breaks.

[boag1874]

Interesting interview from McCulloch here saying there was opposition to Shanks being made captain. Pure speculation but hazarding a guess could it have been Snodgrass feeling he should be made captain as the most experienced player in the side? Interestingly it wasn’t long after that he got sussed out and the dressing room issues started, took the huff maybe?

 

https://www.footballscotland.co.uk/spfl/scottish-premiership/lawrence-shankland-hearts-captaincy-opposition-28856373

[Hearts1975]

57 minutes ago, boag1874 said:

Interesting interview from McCulloch here saying there was opposition to Shanks being made captain. Pure speculation but hazarding a guess could it have been Snodgrass feeling he should be made captain as the most experienced player in the side? Interestingly it wasn’t long after that he got sussed out and the dressing room issues started, took the huff maybe?

 

https://www.footballscotland.co.uk/spfl/scottish-premiership/lawrence-shankland-hearts-captaincy-opposition-28856373

Wouldn't trust a word that comes out of McCulloch's mouth, in all honesty. A joker in the pack. Never understood what value he really added. 

 

Hopefully when he catches up with shanks, he will keep his comments about joining the orcs, to a minimum .... Pity he couldn't have done likewise in the press. 

 

Or is that just wishful thinking. 

[boag1874]

12 minutes ago, Hearts1975 said:

Wouldn't trust a word that comes out of McCulloch's mouth, in all honesty. A joker in the pack. Never understood what value he really added. 

 

Hopefully when he catches up with shanks, he will keep his comments about joining the orcs, to a minimum .... Pity he couldn't have done likewise in the press. 

 

Or is that just wishful thinking. 

Nah McCulloch is a complete clown I know that just found that particular comment interesting considering everything else that happened 

[AlimOzturk]

Well McCulloch can say what ever he wants it transpired that Shanks got the captains arm band and has never looked back. That’s all that matter

[Hearts1975]

4 minutes ago, boag1874 said:

Nah McCulloch is a complete clown I know that just found that particular comment interesting considering everything else that happened 

I was a bit abrupt with the post and it wasn't aimed at you, or what you were getting at. Apologies if it came across that way.

Just hold a bit of a tainted view where he is concerned. 

I wonder if we will ever know what really happened. 

[boag1874]

27 minutes ago, Hearts1975 said:

I was a bit abrupt with the post and it wasn't aimed at you, or what you were getting at. Apologies if it came across that way.

Just hold a bit of a tainted view where he is concerned. 

I wonder if we will ever know what really happened. 

Don't worry I knew what you were getting at!

[Watt-Zeefuik]

I can absolutely buy Snoddy having a fit over Shanks getting the armband and becoming a problem. That would roughly track with the timeline.

 

Doesn't absolve McCulloch of his absolute dereliction of duty to basically let the first team implode when he was the coach in charge of it, walking out of the dressing room saying, "you deal with it."

[mud and mullets]

On 19/03/2024 at 19:00, Doc Rob said:

We’ve had a good few players like this over the years - strong pedigree, usually towards the end of their careers, looked great for a few games, and then got found out. Usually with a strong suggestion that they thought they were slumming it playing for Hearts and they were much bigger than the club. Kingston and Tziolis spring to mind as well as Snodgrass and Whelan.

 

"Wage thief" gets thrown at too many players who are just struggling with form or whatever, but Whelan has to the dictionary definition of that. Obviously a very good footballer but he came up here with zero interest in the club at all. Snodgrass at least showed some genuine desire to help the team.

 

Jim Bett and Sandy Jardine spring to mind as mid-30s veteran signings who were brilliant for us. Craig Gordon too obviously second time around.

[Corstorphine Jambo]

9 hours ago, mud and mullets said:

 

"Wage thief" gets thrown at too many players who are just struggling with form or whatever, but Whelan has to the dictionary definition of that. Obviously a very good footballer but he came up here with zero interest in the club at all. Snodgrass at least showed some genuine desire to help the team.

 

Jim Bett and Sandy Jardine spring to mind as mid-30s veteran signings who were brilliant for us. Craig Gordon too obviously second time around.

Sandy Jardine is my all time favourite Hearts player. Sheer class

[BigAlim]

On 21/03/2024 at 13:09, Watt-Zeefuik said:

I can absolutely buy Snoddy having a fit over Shanks getting the armband and becoming a problem. That would roughly track with the timeline.

 

Doesn't absolve McCulloch of his absolute dereliction of duty to basically let the first team implode when he was the coach in charge of it, walking out of the dressing room saying, "you deal with it."

I think coming to the conclusion that McCulloch and Snodgrass are both bellends is a very agreeable stance that we should all be able to come to a consensus on

[gerryjambo41]

On 19/03/2024 at 12:55, Jambo61 said:

He was playing in a tournament in Dubai a few weeks back! Think Tennent's 6's!

It didn't get played , a Scotland v England legends thingy there was a storm and it was cancelled 

[The Gorgie]

Robert Snodgrass is the king of Tynecastle. Truly one of the most horrific chants in our clubs history. 

[Wee Mikey]

9 minutes ago, The Gorgie said:

Robert Snodgrass is the king of Tynecastle. Truly one of the most horrific chants in our clubs history. 

 

Never, ever heard that. Nor this, thankfully. The very thought.

 

🎶🎵🎶

We love you Snodric, we do

etc.

🎶🎵🎶

[OTT]

On 22/03/2024 at 08:10, mud and mullets said:

 

"Wage thief" gets thrown at too many players who are just struggling with form or whatever, but Whelan has to the dictionary definition of that. Obviously a very good footballer but he came up here with zero interest in the club at all. Snodgrass at least showed some genuine desire to help the team.

 

Jim Bett and Sandy Jardine spring to mind as mid-30s veteran signings who were brilliant for us. Craig Gordon too obviously second time around.

 

Yep, I don't think you fall out with teammates in the manner he did unless you give a shit. 

 

We can criticise Snodgrass for many things, but I do genuinely believe he wanted the best for the team. Just struggled reconciling himself with the fact he wasn't the player he was and unfortunately, by the sounds of things some teammates were victims of that frustration. 

 

Stronger man management and tactics from Neilson could have saved that situation. We were playing a midfield 2, then Martindale/Robinson clocked about shutting down Snodgrass and it all fell by the wayside. If Robbie had shown any intelligence here, he could have went to a 3 man midfield, given Snodgrass options, and rotated who was picking the ball up from defence. Let Snodgrass go further forward where he could be more effective - he was an attacker that we were playing as a holding mid.. Similarly, getting him to reign his heid in when he was clearly bothering his teammates would have been good man management that clearly wasn't there. 

 

I don't know what Lee McCulloch brought to the club. If he was supposed to be the friendly players mate type coach, Gary Locke would have been a far more effective choice. There was a reason JJ, Paulo and McGlynn kept him around. Morale matters and it doesn't matter what the tactics are, a squad with rock bottom morale aren't going to perform. Given Naismith has kept Forrest, it sounds like he was the quality coach of the 3. 

[pettigrewsstylist]

15 hours ago, Corstorphine Jambo said:

Sandy Jardine is my all time favourite Hearts player. Sheer class

Was like watching a wizard.

[mud and mullets]

15 hours ago, Corstorphine Jambo said:

Sandy Jardine is my all time favourite Hearts player. Sheer class

 

Not only one of our best ever defenders, but helped develop another of our best ever defenders and co-managed one of our best ever teams. One of my all-time favourite Hearts goals was his free kick in a 7-0 tanking of Hamilton. As I remember it he went mental in contrast to his usual cool self. I don't think he scored many goals in his career.

[Drylaw Hearts]

I see Snodgrass thinks Liam Kelly should keep his place in the Euros squad ahead of Craig Gordon…….

[Boris5115]

17 hours ago, Corstorphine Jambo said:

Sandy Jardine is my all time favourite Hearts player. Sheer class

Sandy Jardine was calmness personified. Would love to have seen how good he would have been on our current surface as opposed to the tattie field back then. 

[The Gorgie]

3 hours ago, Wee Mikey said:

 

Never, ever heard that. Nor this, thankfully. The very thought.

 

🎶🎵🎶

We love you Snodric, we do

etc.

🎶🎵🎶

It was to the tune of this, which is a classic tune, but Snodgrass never deserved that level of praise 😂

 

https://youtu.be/DXSyQjppqG0?si=aMo9qi37xyZ_fP44

[mud and mullets]

2 hours ago, OTT said:

 

Yep, I don't think you fall out with teammates in the manner he did unless you give a shit. 

 

We can criticise Snodgrass for many things, but I do genuinely believe he wanted the best for the team. Just struggled reconciling himself with the fact he wasn't the player he was and unfortunately, by the sounds of things some teammates were victims of that frustration. 

 

Stronger man management and tactics from Neilson could have saved that situation. We were playing a midfield 2, then Martindale/Robinson clocked about shutting down Snodgrass and it all fell by the wayside. If Robbie had shown any intelligence here, he could have went to a 3 man midfield, given Snodgrass options, and rotated who was picking the ball up from defence. Let Snodgrass go further forward where he could be more effective - he was an attacker that we were playing as a holding mid.. Similarly, getting him to reign his heid in when he was clearly bothering his teammates would have been good man management that clearly wasn't there. 

 

I don't know what Lee McCulloch brought to the club. If he was supposed to be the friendly players mate type coach, Gary Locke would have been a far more effective choice. There was a reason JJ, Paulo and McGlynn kept him around. Morale matters and it doesn't matter what the tactics are, a squad with rock bottom morale aren't going to perform. Given Naismith has kept Forrest, it sounds like he was the quality coach of the 3. 

 

I always think Lockie never got the credit he deserved for his one season in charge. He got some great performances out of a team of kids. If he'd been allowed to sign Rudi we could even have stayed up. He must have something about him as a coach, especially man management.

[BigAlim]

I remember watching Off the Ball (I know) when they had Kal Naismith on and he played with Snodgrass at Luton. He spoke highly of him but made a very clear statement that Snodgrass demanded the ball constantly and would be angry if he didn’t get it and they basically had to tell him to shut up

[DS98]

He got binned for being an absolute bellend of a guy, same as Humphrys.
 

Both were told they were free to leave just weeks before the season ended when we were scrapping for 3rd and desperate for points. Ability wise they 100% could’ve contributed in the run in but they were such a bad influence Naisy (ex team mate and friend of Snodgrass) decided he’d rather go without. What does that tell you.

Edited March 23 by DS98

[the posh bit]

On 22/03/2024 at 08:10, mud and mullets said:

 

"Wage thief" gets thrown at too many players who are just struggling with form or whatever, but Whelan has to the dictionary definition of that. Obviously a very good footballer but he came up here with zero interest in the club at all. Snodgrass at least showed some genuine desire to help the team.

 

Jim Bett and Sandy Jardine spring to mind as mid-30s veteran signings who were brilliant for us. Craig Gordon too obviously second time around.

 

I never had that feeling about Jim Bett at all. 

[Watt-Zeefuik]

12 hours ago, BigAlim said:

I think coming to the conclusion that McCulloch and Snodgrass are both bellends is a very agreeable stance that we should all be able to come to a consensus on