Zal speaks

[alex plode]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14401070.stm

[Captain Lithuania]

Title.

 

[Rastajambo]

[amadjambo]

Good piece to be fair.

 

VR wasn't happy that our challenge collapsed. No arguments here.

[berrasbraw]

Well Zal maybe if you never cost us a goal a game,we'd do much better

[Jambof3tornado]

Whats wrong with that,did we expect Vlad to tell the players he wants them to finish best of the rest?? Just because as fans we have accepted that splitting the old firm is the best we can managed,clearly Uncle Vlad reckons we arent that far behind the uglies and last season we got very close but blew it due to injuries and a few poor results.

 

Who knows what we can achieve but the old firm are as poor as they have been in years.

[alex plode]

Nothing wrong with being ambitious but he would need to open the cheque book and let the new manager bring in a few quality players.

[Jezza]

Whats wrong with that,did we expect Vlad to tell the players he wants them to finish best of the rest?? Just because as fans we have accepted that splitting the old firm is the best we can managed,clearly Uncle Vlad reckons we arent that far behind the uglies and last season we got very close but blew it due to injuries and a few poor results.

 

Who knows what we can achieve but the old firm are as poor as they have been in years.

 

The old firm shite on us in terms of players and finance.

 

I have no problem with being ambitious but with ambitious words it needs to be backed up financially.

 

We have not seen this for a good few seasons now so it's ludicrous to aim for the league with what we have.

[Jezza]

P.s it would be nice if "uncle vlad" attended a few more games and seen first hand the team he has on the pitch before forming an opinion.

 

The opinion if myself, who goes most weeks is again, he's talking out his bum if he thinks were not that far behind.

[Diego10]

Our budget is a third of what the Of spend, at best

[simplesimon]

Seems like Vlad is interested in us again though. Maybe the new manager will get backed in the transfer market like Burley did.

[topcat]

The old firm shite on us in terms of players and finance.

 

I have no problem with being ambitious but with ambitious words it needs to be backed up financially.

 

We have not seen this for a good few seasons now so it's ludicrous to aim for the league with what we have.

 

Ludicrous to expect it? Certainly

 

Ludicrous to aim for it? that's another issue.

[Diego10]

Ludicrous to expect it? Certainly

 

Ludicrous to aim for it? that's another issue.

This is a key point. I expect us to try and win every game, and your ambition should always be to win every competition you enter.

 

But we simply don't invest enough (either incash or patience) to expect any better than what JJ delivered.

[PauloSergioBentoBrito]

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY.

 

VR has the right idea! Who the hell wants to target third.

 

Let's get stuck right into the cups aswell.

[jambonian]

Nae pressure on the new guy then!? We'd all like the title but you need loads of cash to bring better players in, sorry Vlad, nice thought but this squad will do well to finish third. Defence Zaliukas in particular is a mess, no recognised right-back and a journeyman left-back with no real competition, a defensive midfield, no Cameron or Hartley type to link up with the forwards, big strikers (good physically) but no penalty box Robbo type and dodgy ref standards, as i say, nice thought but unless money and i mean money, not a few dribbly bits here and there, we don't have a chance.

[Diego10]

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY.

 

VR has the right idea! Who the hell wants to target third.

 

Let's get stuck right into the cups aswell.

If Hibs finished 3rd and then Petrie sacked Calderwood saying he wanted to win the league, what would you think of that? For a less fantastical scenario, use Dundee Utd instead of Hibs.

[Zibi]

If Hibs finished 3rd and then Petrie sacked Calderwood saying he wanted to win the league, what would you think of that? For a less fantastical scenario, use Dundee Utd instead of Hibs.

We are Heart of Midlothian, not Dundee United or Hibs. Our club has far more ambition, fans and money than these two clubs.

[PauloSergioBentoBrito]

Why target 3rd? Target winning the league. Vlad has the right idea.

 

What's the point in setting out to not win your competition or even come runner up?

 

Its a near impossible target but damn it Vlad and the lads will have a good go!

[Diego10]

We are Heart of Midlothian, not Dundee United or Hibs. Our club has far more ambition, fans and money than these two clubs.

We are far closer in all of those areas to Hibs and United than we are to the Weegies.

 

Also, if he wants to win the title I'd advise against selling our best player to the champions.

[Diego10]

Why target 3rd? Target winning the league. Vlad has the right idea.

 

What's the point in setting out to not win your competition or even come runner up?

 

Its a near impossible target but damn it Vlad and the lads will have a good go!

ffs. Di you really think JJ sat in the dressing room and said 'right guys, 3rd is our Target this season. And maybe a cup semi'

 

Shouting your mouth off in the press about wanting to win the league just makes you look thick when you inevitably finish way off the pace.

[redm]

P.s it would be nice if "uncle vlad" attended a few more games and seen first hand the team he has on the pitch before forming an opinion.

 

The opinion if myself, who goes most weeks is again, he's talking out his bum if he thinks were not that far behind.

 

I'm quite sure he sees plenty of the games Jezza. Just because he's not there doesn't mean he won't be watching.

Nonetheless it would be good if he did pitch up with a little more regularity I suppose.

 

Vlad's been playing the press like a fiddle over the last few days, he knew exactly what he was doing when he said this.

I certainly don't have a problem with that sort of ambition though.

[PauloSergioBentoBrito]

Its ambition, vlads putting it out there! He said this sort of thing in 06 and we pumped hibs 3 times, finished second and won the big cup. Stop being a bunch of boring old farts

 

H...E....A...

[Fraggle]

Whats wrong with that,did we expect Vlad to tell the players he wants them to finish best of the rest?? Just because as fans we have accepted that splitting the old firm is the best we can managed,clearly Uncle Vlad reckons we arent that far behind the uglies and last season we got very close but blew it due to injuries and a few poor results.

 

Who knows what we can achieve but the old firm are as poor as they have been in years.

 

Agreed with the bit about nothing wrong in aiming high, but it's a better calibre of player at a greater cost we need, not a new manager/coach every 18 months. This does not fit with the supposed financial plans that were emphasised during the relocation of staduim chat. I would also add that we were nowhere near to being close to the "Old Firm", we managed to get within a few points of them for a very short period of time, but unfortuantely the league is over many games and not just the 3 or 4 we happened to be within single figures of them at the 1/2 way point.

 

It is good that Vlad is telling the players this and that his ultimate aim is to win the SPL, tha chances of that happening with what we have are a totally different matter altogether. But it does also give Vlad a ready made excuse to replace managers when he feels like it, and it can also be used for a great deal of other taboo issues like moving from Tynie.

[johnjl]

Well Zal maybe if you never cost us a goal a game,we'd do much better

 

always wondered - in a game that hearts don`t concede does zal save it up and deliberately cost us two goals in the next game, then three etc etc,

 

OR

 

are you just talking nonsense.

[JamboFever]

Its ambition, vlads putting it out there! He said this sort of thing in 06 and we pumped hibs 3 times, finished second and won the big cup. Stop being a bunch of boring old farts

 

H...E....A...

 

Paulo, your grasp of colloquial Scots is coming on a treat, particularly the entirely apt use of the verb 'to pump' in relation to our smelly neighbours..... Well played, Sir!

 

And on the subject matter of your post, simply:

 

This.

[Diego10]

Its ambition, vlads putting it out there! He said this sort of thing in 06 and we pumped hibs 3 times, finished second and won the big cup. Stop being a bunch of boring old farts

 

H...E....A...

Actions to support his ambition is all I ask. If he wants to win the league, assemble a coaching team and squad of players capable of it and let them get on with it. and if they win 8 games in a row to start off, don't sack them.

[Gigolo-Aunt]

Sounds to me that Mr Romanov cannot get his head around how our form went from one extreme to another so quickly.

[We_are_the_Hearts]

I've always said we should be aimig to win the title. This 3rd talk is bollocks. If our players believed they could win the title and busted a gut for it they would win a lot more points than they will with this inferiority complex of being 3rd pish.

[Francis Albert]

I don't know what jj said to the players but i do know t.hat when he started talking about consolidating 3rd when we were 18 points ahead of 4th predictably we hardly won again.

[topcat]

This is a key point. I expect us to try and win every game, and your ambition should always be to win every competition you enter.

 

But we simply don't invest enough (either incash or patience) to expect any better than what JJ delivered.

 

Given that 3rd is about the minumum acceptable finish and the best realistic expectation we're surely entitled to differentiate between good and bad third place finishes.

 

If we're going to say that it's unreasonable to expect Hearts to compete with teams that spend 4 times as much on wages then it's similarly unreasonable to expect Dundee United to be able to run us so close on about a third of the wage bill. With significantly bigger attendances and outside financial backing we arguably should have expected to have clear blue water between us and the chasing pack.

 

Of course it's not quite the same thing.

 

There are a host of medium sized clubs who are smaller than Hearts and in any given season the chances are that one of them will be having a cracking year and will overperform. the Aberdeen side that took 3rd in 2007 had the highest SPL points total ever for a club outside of the biggest three. We may have stumbled over the line last season just ahead of the less well resourced Arabs but we were so far in front of the Hibs and Aberdeen as to be out of sight.

 

That said if Hearts had pushed their limitations as hard as Dundee United then United would have been nowhere near.

 

The debate about his departure has had a polarising effect on peoples appraisals of last season. People of even a mild hat kicking persuasion have assessed last season as clearly being a Success making Jefferies departure an injustice. Their supposedly ovine opponents have tended to portray it as a failure. As one side of the argument has been overstated the other side has been exagerated in return and pretty soon people are arguing about whether 2010-11 was glorious or tragic

 

In truth it's probably fairer to say that overall Hearts neither significantly overperformed, nor massively underperformed over Jefferies second tenure (although they clearly did both at different periods during it).

 

I'd rated Last Season as a "C" pass but no more. Vlad seems to have seen it as a "D"

[berrasbraw]

always wondered - in a game that hearts don`t concede does zal save it up and deliberately cost us two goals in the next game, then three etc etc,

 

OR

 

are you just talking nonsense.

Did he not cost us that goal on Sunday?.

[Marvin]

I want the title but realisticly cant see it happening. If the old squirm have any injury issues they just go and buy another player. Where as without Kyle our goals have dried up and we are only scoring from midfield.

 

Vlad if you want the title buy us a decent and proven goal scorer. A solid Centre Back. And another mid -fielder and then we are a step closer a step closer.

 

Our problem is unlike the old squirm we dont have depth of squad.

 

 

[Diego10]

Given that 3rd is about the minumum acceptable finish and the best realistic expectation we're surely entitled to differentiate between good and bad third place finishes.

 

If we're going to say that it's unreasonable to expect Hearts to compete with teams that spend 4 times as much on wages then it's similarly unreasonable to expect Dundee United to be able to run us so close on about a third of the wage bill. With significantly bigger attendances and outside financial backing we arguably should have expected to have clear blue water between us and the chasing pack.

 

Of course it's not quite the same thing.

 

There are a host of medium sized clubs who are smaller than Hearts and in any given season the chances are that one of them will be having a cracking year and will overperform. the Aberdeen side that took 3rd in 2007 had the highest SPL points total ever for a club outside of the biggest three. We may have stumbled over the line last season just ahead of the less well resourced Arabs but we were so far in front of the Hibs and Aberdeen as to be out of sight.

 

That said if Hearts had pushed their limitations as hard as Dundee United then United would have been nowhere near.

 

The debate about his departure has had a polarising effect on peoples appraisals of last season. People of even a mild hat kicking persuasion have assessed last season as clearly being a Success making Jefferies departure an injustice. Their supposedly ovine opponents have tended to portray it as a failure. As one side of the argument has been overstated the other side has been exagerated in return and pretty soon people are arguing about whether 2010-11 was glorious or tragic

 

In truth it's probably fairer to say that overall Hearts neither significantly overperformed, nor massively underperformed over Jefferies second tenure (although they clearly did both at different periods during it).

 

I'd rated Last Season as a "C" pass but no more. Vlad seems to have seen it as a "D"

all reasonable points. My main disagreement would be the discrepancy in budget is exponentially bigger between the OF and us compared to us and Hibs/United/Aberdeen etc. Hibs budget is just over half ours, but in real terms onlt ?4m less, which is what, maybe 5 or 6 good players. so they could conceivably have as good a first team as us with less cover, or a squad of broad comparison size wise with a worse first 11. but our budgte of a third of Celtic is ?20m or more less than theirs. that buys a depth in quality we can't get near. Ditto Rangers.

 

The United squad last year was assembled over a number of seasons and allowed to develop by their owner. that kind of conyinuity is, imo important to a football club. look how poorly Hibs have performed with their revolving door managerial policy.

 

I don't think the final league placing or points total was anything exceptional. The reason I think he did a very good job was the transformation from the previous year's performance, which was god awful. the improvement in quality of the squad, the team spirit and the overall better performances were clear , so I thought the sacking was harsh and that he should have been judged on whether he continued to improve us this season. I think he would have, but we'll never know now.

 

I'd say last season was a B-. B for the league, dragged down by the cups.

[The Mighty Thor]

We've been here before. More than once. It tends to follow a bit of a pattern which i've set out below;

 

Vlad sacks current manager.

Vlad makes statement including monkeys/mafia

Vlad installs new manager

Vlad makes statement that we will win title/cup/champions league

Vlad then interferes in team selection

Vlad invites new manager to Kaunas for beetroot soup

Squad fails to win title/cup/champions league

Vlad blames monkeys/mafia

Vlad sacks current manager

[jambo_boy]

We've been here before. More than once. It tends to follow a bit of a pattern which i've set out below;

 

Vlad sacks current manager.

Vlad makes statement including monkeys/mafia

Vlad installs new manager

Vladsheep cream their pants

Vlad makes statement that we will win title/cup/champions league

Vlad then interferes in team selection

Vlad invites new manager to Kaunas for beetroot soup

Squad fails to win title/cup/champions league

Vlad blames monkeys/mafia

Vlad sacks current manager

Vladsheep cream their pants

I added a couple of bits

[Boab Mugabe]

If people are happy to support a team that is in servitude of Jedward and not even consider challenging for the title good for them. I however can't stand that we're mentally beaten each time the season starts against them. I find it sad so many of us are content to be third in a two horse race.

 

It will be a huge ask, but I would much rather we had a go and failed than resign ourselves to never challenging.

 

Those two are feck all to be intimidated by.

[Jam Tarts 1874]

Given that 3rd is about the minumum acceptable finish and the best realistic expectation we're surely entitled to differentiate between good and bad third place finishes.

 

If we're going to say that it's unreasonable to expect Hearts to compete with teams that spend 4 times as much on wages then it's similarly unreasonable to expect Dundee United to be able to run us so close on about a third of the wage bill. With significantly bigger attendances and outside financial backing we arguably should have expected to have clear blue water between us and the chasing pack.

 

Of course it's not quite the same thing.

 

There are a host of medium sized clubs who are smaller than Hearts and in any given season the chances are that one of them will be having a cracking year and will overperform. the Aberdeen side that took 3rd in 2007 had the highest SPL points total ever for a club outside of the biggest three. We may have stumbled over the line last season just ahead of the less well resourced Arabs but we were so far in front of the Hibs and Aberdeen as to be out of sight.

 

That said if Hearts had pushed their limitations as hard as Dundee United then United would have been nowhere near.

 

The debate about his departure has had a polarising effect on peoples appraisals of last season. People of even a mild hat kicking persuasion have assessed last season as clearly being a Success making Jefferies departure an injustice. Their supposedly ovine opponents have tended to portray it as a failure. As one side of the argument has been overstated the other side has been exagerated in return and pretty soon people are arguing about whether 2010-11 was glorious or tragic

 

In truth it's probably fairer to say that overall Hearts neither significantly overperformed, nor massively underperformed over Jefferies second tenure (although they clearly did both at different periods during it).

 

I'd rated Last Season as a "C" pass but no more. Vlad seems to have seen it as a "D"

 

I think the key thing as far as Romanov was concerned is that he couldn't fail to have noticed that Jefferies seemed very quick to give up the ghost once the good run came to an end. Personally I am sure that Jefferies apparent lack of ambition must have had some affect on the players.

[jambonian]

If people are happy to support a team that is in servitude of Jedward and not even consider challenging for the title good for them. I however can't stand that we're mentally beaten each time the season starts against them. I find it sad so many of us are content to be third in a two horse race.

 

It will be a huge ask, but I would much rather we had a go and failed than resign ourselves to never challenging.

 

Those two are feck all to be intimidated by.

It's not the fans you have to say that to, it's the players when they get on the pitch! We'd all rather be winning the League naturally but it can't happen unless Vlad spends big. The current squad will do well to finish 3rd again unless Vlad gives the new bloke some decent cash. Both Celtic and Rangers are pretty rank, Rangers especially but they always get the big decisions against all the other teams so pick up full points more often than not. Even if we were to challenge, the SFA would not allow it to happen, warn referees to up their bookings etc.. as they have over the last 5 years or so, why else do we get fined every season when our disciplinary record isn't any worse than the rest? Hearts are the team that come closest to challenging their beloved twosome. They sell Scottish Football using these two biggoted institutions and for someone else to take a title from them is unforgivable.

[Mac_fae_Gillie]

Hell i want the title too.

BELIEVE!

[johnjl]

Did he not cost us that goal on Sunday?.

 

oh sorry. did you think sunday was the only game of the season?

 

zal doesn't cost us a goal a game and hearts fans insisting he does should maybe stop talking shit. i don`t get how exagerating how bad a player is is helpful in any way.

[Everybody loves Baz]

Actions to support his ambition is all I ask. If he wants to win the league, assemble a coaching team and squad of players capable of it and let them get on with it. and if they win 8 games in a row to start off, don't sack them.

 

 

Get a grip FFS this was 6 years ago !!!!!

[Gdog]

Regardless of reality, it's great he has ambition. At least shoot for the stars, you may never get there, but surely better than just accepting mediocrity.

 

It will require some transfer funds, as we need 3-4 additional quality players. At present, giving the right direction, coaching we have a very decent squad. Just need a wee bit of luck with injuries e.g. Driver, Kyle will help also.

 

Well done Vlad, nothing wrong with that!

[robbodog]

I'm loving his ambition, but like others have said, winning the league would require substantial investment. I think its a pity that in tonights Euro tie we don't even have enough supporters willing to put there hands in their pockets to support the team. I think as much as Vlad has a lot of work to do in order to achieve success, we as supporters need to do our bit.

[Diego10]

Get a grip FFS this was 6 years ago !!!!!

and it remains a monumentally stupid decision on the one occasion when his stated ambition of winning the league looked plausible.

 

I'm well over Burley's departure, just saying if you want to win the league you need to actually do things that will help that.

[Jambomo]

Vlad is talking pish as usual. I wonder if he even means it or if it's just something he say's after sacking yet another manager as it's what he knows we want to hear and we'll all get back onside with him.

 

Ambition is fine when it's reasonable but can be quite destructive when what your over-ambitious and what you want is not realistic. I am not saying we can never challenge the OF but it's a process, we need a few seasons of regularly getting third, finishing closer on points, building a stable and evolved team.

 

Last season was successful in that we started building the base of the team and finished third, this year should have been about building on that and getting closer to the OF. How would you feel if your boss said you needed to learn to drive or whatever and basically said not to bother with lessons, just take your test next week. Would you pass? - no way but with preparation and time of course you would.

 

Yes we had a bad run but they happen in every team, if you sacked every manager that had a poor run of a season we'd be changing them every year. Oh hang on........

[The Mighty Thor]

Get a grip FFS this was 6 years ago !!!!!

 

It's a relevant point Baz.

 

How long do you reckon it will be before the new manager gets the phone call/fax telling him that player X will not be playing that week?

 

It's clear Romanov likes to be involved and will be involved, whether or not it's ultimately beneficial to the team and their results. It's been the only constant in the last 6 years.

[topcat]

all reasonable points. My main disagreement would be the discrepancy in budget is exponentially bigger between the OF and us compared to us and Hibs/United/Aberdeen etc. Hibs budget is just over half ours, but in real terms onlt ?4m less, which is what, maybe 5 or 6 good players. so they could conceivably have as good a first team as us with less cover, or a squad of broad comparison size wise with a worse first 11. but our budgte of a third of Celtic is ?20m or more less than theirs. that buys a depth in quality we can't get near. Ditto Rangers.

 

The United squad last year was assembled over a number of seasons and allowed to develop by their owner. that kind of conyinuity is, imo important to a football club. look how poorly Hibs have performed with their revolving door managerial policy.

 

I don't think the final league placing or points total was anything exceptional. The reason I think he did a very good job was the transformation from the previous year's performance, which was god awful. the improvement in quality of the squad, the team spirit and the overall better performances were clear , so I thought the sacking was harsh and that he should have been judged on whether he continued to improve us this season. I think he would have, but we'll never know now.

 

I'd say last season was a B-. B for the league, dragged down by the cups.

 

 

Well at least we're not arguing between an A and an F

 

I said C because 4th place and no cup runs would have been a failure and we only finished 1 win clear of that so a bare pass seemed appropriate

 

If you're calling that a B- then I'm drawn to wonder what would be a C-, limping in ahead of Kilmarnock?

 

The best figures I could get suggested a threefold advantage between Hearts and Dundee United while there's a fourfold advantage between Celtic and Hearts. You're misusing the term exponential ly but I'd contend that these gaps are comparable

 

Ultimately the question of whether we would have improved this season under Jefferies' continuing stewardship is moot. I think we probably would have improved a bit but not spectacularly the real question is whether this radical departure from the comfortable and known will produce the results we'd like.

 

I'm quite excited by the leap into the unknown we've taken attempting to apply portugese principles in the SPL could be a disaster or it could be a major triumph. Strap in people the roller coaster is setting off again

[Diego10]

Well at least we're not arguing between an A and an F

 

I said C because 4th place and no cup runs would have been a failure and we only finished 1 win clear of that so a bare pass seemed appropriate

 

If you're calling that a B- then I'm drawn to wonder what would be a C-, limping in ahead of Kilmarnock?

 

The best figures I could get suggested a threefold advantage between Hearts and Dundee United while there's a fourfold advantage between Celtic and Hearts. You're misusing the term exponential ly but I'd contend that these gaps are comparable

 

Ultimately the question of whether we would have improved this season under Jefferies' continuing stewardship is moot. I think we probably would have improved a bit but not spectacularly the real question is whether this radical departure from the comfortable and known will produce the results we'd like.

 

I'm quite excited by the leap into the unknown we've taken attempting to apply portugese principles in the SPL could be a disaster or it could be a major triumph. Strap in people the roller coaster is setting off again

see, in normal circumstances i'd say 4th was a relative failure. But we improved by 3 places, 15 or so points and immeasurably as as unit.

 

I'm no a mathematician, so you are probably right in that I'm misusing the term exponentially, but I'm pretty sure you understood my point. The percentage advantage is less important in financial terms than the real terms difference. Celtic can afford a far higher class of player relative to us than we can to Dundee Utd.

 

I agree on the rest.

[alanbauld]

If we could just hold on to our best players that come through the ranks then we would not be far off top spot. No real need to splash the cash on other players when some of the best in Scotland are home grown. Maybe just a few key positions need to be bought.