Ex-Hearts boss Laszlo looks for a way back in to SPL

Ask Csaba Laszlo. The former Hearts manager is seeking work this summer and believes there is no better place to earn a living than the SPL. He would even consider the First Division if an opportunity arose at the right club.

Laszlo parted company with Charleroi in March after a turbulent six months in the Belgian province of Hainaut. Now, with his family still living and schooling in Edinburgh, he is keen to resume work in Scotland to be closer to them. Perhaps surprisingly, he would not necessarily hold out for a job at an elite level.

The Hungarian's name remains prominent in this country after he guided Hearts to third place in the SPL during his 18-month tenure at Tynecastle and was named Manager of the Year. He has spent the last few weeks sorting out personal business, including a trip to Budapest where work is being done on his home. It was from there that he spoke to the Evening News with his usual candour about the prospect of working again in Scotland.

Having previously declared an interest in managing Hibs, as well as applying for Kilmarnock's vacancy following Mixu Paatelainen's departure, Laszlo's appetite for Scottish football shows no sign of diminishing.

"The family is the biggest reason. The second reason is I know the Scottish league," he explained. "I had two good years there so to come back is a good choice. I hope something will happen soon. Maybe not yet, but it is my intention to come back."

England would also appeal to Laszlo, who feels able to balance family time with work commitments not too far away. Obtaining a managerial role south of the border is easier said than done, however, as most clubs tend to favour native coaches. He would consider any prospective options that become available in the SPL. Even the First Division is not out of bounds.

"It depends on the club and what their intentions are," he continued. "I don't think it's a bad choice to go to a club where there is a wish to move forward. Why not?

"Money is not always important. For me it is important to have people around you who want to achieve something.

"Some journalists called me after John Hughes left Hibs asking if I would be interested in the job. I said yes because Hibs is a very big club. As for a former Hearts manager being the Hibs manager, I think in football you don't have borders. You must take the possibility like a professional if you feel the club wants to achieve something. I don't make a big difference between clubs. It's the people in the clubs that make a difference. I have respect for the Hearts supporters and the Hibs supporters.

"I can work in the First Division if a club gives me the feeling that the most important thing is success. Even if you are first, I like to win more and to keep that position. All these things are in my blood.

"Scottish football is always very close to me, I feel at home there. I moved so often around the world but Scotland is like home, especially Edinburgh. The respect from all football supporters was very high for me personally. It is indifferent whether it is fans from Rangers, Celtic, Hibs, Aberdeen. All these people know I am very passionate and they saw what we achieved with Hearts.

"I found a lot of friends in Scotland because I think my mentality is very close to the Scottish mentality. Even my children want to stay in Edinburgh to go to university after school."

In his own typically detailed fashion, Laszlo already has an assistant in mind. Again, it is a familiar face. "Werner Burger, I think we worked very well together. Werner is a very loyal guy and a good second coach. In the future I want to work with him and with Tom Ritchie (former Hearts fitness coach) again. I took Tom Ritchie to Belgium and I trust these people. Werner learned a lot from Scottish football and I think he would like to go back."

Laszlo's hankering after more familiar surroundings follows a spell on the other side of the English channel which proved enlightening in more ways than one. "This was a different situation for me, taking a team fighting relegation," he recalled of his Charleroi adventure. "The football culture is completely different in Belgium. You have this big political problem between the Flemish (Dutch speakers) and the Walloons (French speakers). It was a nice experience to learn the other side of football.

"French-speaking people have a different mentality, they don't like to speak foreign languages and this made my life a little difficult.

"Charleroi have an owner (the Iranian entrepreneur Abbas Bayat) who tried everything to make my life easier. Even today I have a good relationship with him. I told him I only wanted to stay there for six months and I think this was a problem. Normally I don't like to sign for six months. You must sign for a minimum one and a half years to have a structure.

"The president asked me if I wanted to renew my contract at the end of the season and I said 'no'. That's why I left before the end of the season. When I left we had two games to go and if we won both games the club would have avoided the relegation play-offs. The owner decided to bring in a new manager but this was a bad decision from his side because Charleroi lost both games and went into the relegation play-offs. They lost the play-off matches and went down. I still speak to him and he admitted he made a mistake, he was too confident.

"After I told him I didn't want to renew my contract, he brought in my second coach for one game. Then he brought in another coach for the next game, after that another coach. He had three different coaches over seven games."

Chaos was not only evident in the technical area, as Laszlo discovered. "Some supporters came to the training ground to tell the players they wanted more fighting spirit and that the players must do more for the club. The supporters had the feeling too many foreign players had come to the club in the last two years and did not understand the Charleroi spirit.

"Many fans were sometimes angry, not just at Charleroi. We beat Germinal Beerschot 2-0 at home in the league and when the Beerschot players returned to their own stadium after the game their cars were damaged. They said to me that this is sometimes normal. Anderlecht had a bad run last season and twice had to stop training sessions because supporters were there being aggressive with the players and the trainer.

"At Charleroi something happened that I never saw in my life before. During the second half of a match, they were not happy with the performance so they started throwing tennis balls at the players. There were hundreds of tennis balls on the field."

To his credit, Laszlo always tries to see a positive. "All these things give you experience for your career," he said. All the same, a touch of normality would be welcome. Perhaps Scotland does have its advantages after all.