A chronic lack of leadership clear to see amid all the red mist at Hearts

Published on Monday 7 December 2009 23:11

WHEN even the person responsible for loosening the players' limbs is getting up-tight enough to be 'red-carded' following a fracas in the tunnel, you know discipline has become an issue.

There has been no better illustration of the lack of leadership at the top at Hearts than this burst of rage from a part-time employee, one responsible for helping the players relax. But the reasonably comic situation where a masseur has managed to get himself sent-off should not deflect from the wider, more significant issue.

The absence of discipline at Hearts is not just threatening to destabilise the club, it already has. The side currently sit forlornly adrift of the top six as they struggle to cope with the kind of heavy burden which, on Sunday, we again saw Hearts impose on themselves.

New Douglas Park is a new low point for a club which, through projects such as the adult literacy programme, have so much to be commended for.

But the battle of Hamilton puts another smear across the name of Hearts, and places another dagger into their hopes of avoiding the indignity of a relegation battle.

And while he is himself operating in obviously difficult circumstances, Csaba Laszlo has to address why his players are so intent on walking along a dangerous line.

These are his players, many of whom were brought to the club by him. His 17 months as manager have been blighted by 17 red cards.

Hearts had a problem before his arrival – the constant coming and going of managers was not a recipe for discipline, hence the three red cards collected at Tannadice in just one game in December 2007 – but he has been unable to resolve it.

Indeed, it has only become more pronounced. Sunday has to be the wake-up call. Just as Arsene Wenger stood accused when his otherwise brilliant side began to fall prey to ill-discipline, Laszlo's role must also be questioned.

That they lost a game they might, at least, have drawn with 11 men was bad enough, but the pair of red cards picked up during the 90 minutes against Hamilton – and three more, including Alan Robson, the club masseur, after the final whistle – will continue to impact on the club in the weeks to come.

Suso Santana and Ian Black are certain to miss this weekend's match against Dundee United, with the former also now absent from the following week's clash with Celtic due to having exceeded the points threshold.

Black, because of misdemeanours in the shirt of Inverness Caledonian Thistle last season, will also miss the next game against Falkirk. Stewart will be excluded for as long as Black if his appeal fails. The skipper stated his hope that this would not be the case yesterday on the club's website.

Stewart is a strong enough individual to be able to laugh at himself as footage of his inadvertent overhead kick went viral yesterday, but he will also accept that he has to look at himself.

Although he protested his innocence yesterday, Stewart is a footballer of above average intelligence and knows there is a price to be paid for not only retaliation, but also being perceived to be someone who might retaliate in explosive situations.

It might not be fair, but is the consequence of other outbursts on other days. Stewart has begun to be known for more than just his strawberry blond hair and sure touch. The club of Dave Mackay and Alex Young are bringing shame upon themselves on an almost weekly basis. Hard men roamed the pitch in their day of course, and Mackay could give as good as he got.

Hearts are now beginning to excel in the sort of low-level crime that is the equivalent of pulling pig-tails.

Lashing-out in tunnels is not the mark of courage. It hints, also, at a chronic absence of leadership running all the way down the spine of Hearts, the consequence of which is now catching up with the club.

Laszlo's side managed to get away with the toll of 11 red cards last season, since they finished in a very acceptable third place. But there was a financial cost at a time when the club could ill-afford it.

The Scottish Football Association fined Hearts the sum of 50,000 and the club were warned about their future conduct. It was the fifth season in a row that the SFA felt it necessary to punish the club. This run will extend to a sixth successive campaign after yet more incidents this season, starting with their first league outing of the season.

Stewart, the skipper, was sent off for two bookable offences against Dundee United. But Sunday was a rather more serious situation, once which merited mention among the first items on the BBC national news later that evening.

That Hearts that lack leadership does not deserve to feature among the headlines, since it is old news.

Their short-comings in the area of discipline date back to when Vladimir Romanov began to tire of his Tynecastle project, leaving a rudderless operation to fend for itself.

A dressing room is not so different to a classroom. Like children, footballers can sense if an authority figure is absent.

It can lead to an outbreak of rebellion that Laszlo has to stamp out, whatever his own issues with the regime at Tynecastle. He is understandably frustrated by the lack of contact with Romanov, and cant resist the temptation to slip in veiled references to the problems associated with working for en elusive owner.

Most recently, during the pre-match briefing for Sunday's game with Hamilton, he delivered a long story about being frustrated in his attempts to sign an Algerian goalkeeper.

The subtext was clear: Answer the phone, Vlad.

The Hearts fans who travelled through to Hamilton, who opted to support the team in a match being shown live on television, deserved more than to see their side's chances implode early in the second half.

They deserve more than to have to cringe when watching national news programmes later that night.