Young Hearts run free under steady hand at Raith
Jamie Walker is one of four Hearts loanees who have trodden a path to Stark's Park
RAITH ROVERS continue to play a pivotal role in developing Hearts’ youth academy players. For fine-tuning before first-team promotion, youngsters are dispatched to John McGlynn to learn the cut-throat side of Scottish football. The plan appears to paying dividends.
Jason Holt and Denis Prychynenko, after completing short-term loans at Raith, were unused substitutes for Hearts at Inverness on Saturday as their education programme enters its final stage. Regular involvement with the first-team squad is a pre-requisite to establishing yourself at senior level. Ask Christophe Berra, Eggert Jonsson or Scott Robinson.
Whilst Holt and Prychynenko were in the Highlands, fellow Riccarton academy pupils Jamie Walker and David Smith were in Kirkcaldy playing in Raith’s 2-2 draw with Falkirk. The latter pair have remained with McGlynn to further their development before they return to Hearts.
The Raith connection will continue, at least whilst McGlynn is manager at Stark’s Park. The 50-year-old earned enjoyed ten years in various coaching roles at Tynecastle and consequently finds himself in a privileged position. He is trusted implicitly to enhance the progress of Riccarton’s star pupils, and is in the ideal role to do so in charge of a First Division club.
He believes it won’t be long before Holt and Prychynenko make an impact back at base. The skills and technical ability learned at Hearts are now complemented by an awareness of how to bite and scratch for league points. Raith offer the youngsters a vital insight into the competitive nature of the game, so that they are fully primed when Hearts need them.
“We’re always looking to get players from Hearts,” said McGlynn. “I do have a good relationship with everyone there and the loans are a good vehicle for all three parties. It helps the parent club, the player himself gets something from it, and in turn it helps Raith Rovers.
“No matter how long the players are here for, they are guaranteed to learn and pick things up. It’s hard work to compete at this level and they will have taken that on board. They’re growing up and they’re learning. The four we’ve had, I have to say their attitude is excellent and you can see that they’ve been well coached. They are very technically gifted players and they’ve added a different dimension to our team, but they are picking other things up at Raith Rovers.
“What they are learning is the other side of the game, the dirty side if you like. They have to roll their sleeves up and work extremely hard for the team. They need to keep their shape because that side of the game is very important at this level. The First Division is a very competitive league and a high standard. You only need to look at how often First Division teams put SPL sides out of cup competitions to prove that.”
Prychynenko, a 19-year-old German-born midfielder of Ukrainian descent, spent November and December with Raith before requiring a hernia operation. His recovery in less than a month astounded McGlynn. “He played every game for us until the operation a few days before Christmas. He’s back very quickly and it’s been remarkable for him to recover in that time. We had another player who went for a hernia op a week before Denis, and he’ll probably return to our squad for the first time this weekend.
“Denis is big and strong and he’s powerful in central midfield. It was maybe an eye-opener to him just how competitive the First Division is compared with Under-19 football. It’s great to play with Hearts Under-19s and pass the ball about but the cut-throat First Division is entirely different.
“I think he learned quickly that he had to mix it with opponents and be physically strong. He found that side of it new but he ended up winning headers for us and closing players down a lot. You can see he’s got a good range of passing and he can take a great free-kick, although he didn’t get much chance to show that with us, unfortunately.”
Holt, still only 18, is arguably the brightest prospect to emerge from Riccarton since its inception in 2004. Last season’s SPL Under-19 Player of the Year, he stands out as a technically gifted attacking midfielder with all the attributes to make a team tick.
“Jason is a really gifted player, a naturally skilful player with good pace and great feet. There is no doubt he’s going to have a big future,” continued McGlynn. “I think he needs to play almost in a specialised position off the front to get the best from him. We tried to give him that role. Once we weren’t getting results we changed the system and Jason didn’t quite fit into that. He is small and light and his strengths aren’t battling and scrapping, which we have to do at the lower end of the First Division.
“There is absolutely no doubt about the quality Jason has. When it comes to rolling the sleeves up, what goes against Jason is the physical stuff. That’s not to say he won’t make it because on the ball he is excellent. When all the young Hearts lads were playing in the team, we felt we were maybe too easy to play against and we had to become harder to beat.”
Walker and Smith, both 18, are expected to help fill voids left by impending departures over the next six months as the Tynecastle hierarchy cut costs. For now, they are progressing nicely in Fife.
“David has played wide right and up front for us and he’s shown a great attitude and willingness to work, listen and learn,” explained McGlynn. “Jamie is what we expected. He’s a very skilful player who glides past defenders. He’s got good feet and good pace. He’s a threat every time he gets the ball. There was an initial reaction within our team in November when these boys all arrived within a short space of time. That was great. Then we lost a couple of games and had to change things around. We put David up front and went for a stronger midfield in the games against Partick and Ayr around Christmas time. Since then we’ve brought in Pat Clarke and Damian Casalinuovo to give us other options up front.
“It wasn’t the easiest time for a group of young boys to come in. Our team’s been struggling down the bottom of the league and the weather hasn’t been conducive to good football. But they gave everyone a lift with their quality.”
When the time comes for them to stake a claim in the Hearts first team, rest assured they will be better players for their thorough grounding – both in Edinburgh and Kirkcaldy.
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Comments
There are 9 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
First Green
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 11:21 PMWhy are Hearts youngsters suddenly better than when you were signing Suso,Kingston and all the others that have made such an impact (5th place in league soon)? Yes, they aren`t better but you can`t afford to carry on like before.
Glorious Hearts
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 10:14 PM#7 I think we're all excited at the potential we have waiting in the wings just now, but we'll see these lads soon, they've got years ahead of them. Althoug part of me is dying to see what they can do NOW sergio is playing this correctly IMHO. HEARTS, HEARTS, GLORIOUS HEARTS
Anglo Jambo
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 07:04 PMI hoped Holt would have has a chance from the bench on Saturday. Or Denis P replace Black when he went off.
Uncle Tam
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 05:04 PM#4 & #5 I agree with you both, I will never forget Mickey's penalty at Celtic Park in 1998, I really should have incuded him. It's a good point about the reserve league too, unfortunately football is run on a profit and loss basis now (more loss than profit). One day sanity will be restored and the sport will be run as a sport and maybe then the fans will no longer be taken for granted. They should never have introduced proffessionalism, we've been on the slippery slope ever since (serious point).
Please choose a name
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 01:37 PMRead and weep those whose object in life is to put down Edina's darlings!
Weel Kent Jambo
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 12:54 PMIt's a good arrangement but I'd still prefer the Reserve League was re-instated.
Glorious Hearts
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 12:52 PM#2 and of course, Mickey Cameron!
Uncle Tam
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 12:48 PMHearts and Raith have always had a cross-fertilization of players between them. Back in the 50s we got Johnny Urquart from Stark's Park and he won a cup medal in '56. He then returned to Raith for a number of seasons and eventually won a seat on Kirkcaldy Town Council. Later, we got Willie Polland, who was a stalwart centre-half, before he too went back to his roots. Along with Polland, Raith bunged in a centre forward by name of Willie Wallace, as a make-weight. He won a League Cup medal in 1962-63 (as did Willie Polland) and was capped for Scotland. He moved to Celtic and was a Lisbon Lion, winning a European Cup winners medal against Inter Milan. It's good to see our current crop of young lads helping out our pals across the Firth of Forth and their great manager John McGlynn..
Dragonlord
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 12:39 PMThe future is bright the future is Marroon.
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