Ex-Hearts star Gary still in awe of 'the Gaffer'

SOME day in the future, when Jim Jefferies is retired from football and reminiscing over his glowing career, a particular nod of appreciation will be aimed in the direction of Hearts' Scottish Cup-winning side of 1998. That group, after all, provided the Hearts manager with what will surely end up as his defining moment in the game.

By the same token, however, almost every one of those players owes Jefferies endless gratitude for what he did for them. They're rightly revered by Hearts fans for ending their 36-year trophy famine. But, of the starting XI that faced Rangers in the final twelve years ago, it must be remembered that imports such as Stefano Salvatori, Gilles Rousset, Stephane Adam and Thomas Flogel were only at Hearts because they hadn't exactly set the heather alight in their respective homelands.

Colin Cameron, David Weir and Neil McCann were merely rough diamonds when they were brought from Raith Rovers, Falkirk and Dundee respectively. And Paul Ritchie and Gary Naysmith, below, had never sampled a minute's first-team football before Jefferies plucked them from Hearts' youth ranks.

Perhaps only Dave McPherson and Steve Fulton could have claimed to have done anything significant with their careers before Jefferies got his hands on them. Even then, they undoubtedly benefited from some Jefferies-induced rejuvenation in the twilight years of their careers.

In essence, he basically mixed a batch of hungry young Scots with some journeyman foreigners and a couple of older heads and produced a team of legends. If he is to achieve something similar this time round, Jefferies will require his current crop, particularly the young players, to embrace his philosophy as well as the class of '98 did. Arguably the one that prospered most significantly of that bunch was Naysmith and, for any of the teenagers on the fringes of the current Hearts side who might be too young to remember the impact JJ had in his first spell in charge of the club, the left-back is probably the best man to look towards for inspiration.

Having been given a debut by Jefferies at 17, the Loanhead teenager found himself a Scottish Cup winner at 19. As a result of his solid grounding under Jefferies and Billy Brown, he was able to go on and enjoy a seven-year career with Everton in the English Premier League, while establishing himself as Scotland's first-choice left-back throughout the bulk of the last decade.

Now 31 and battling back from his latest long-term injury lay-off down at Sheffield United, the remarkable impact Jefferies had on Naysmith's career is evidenced in part by the fact that, despite not having worked with him for almost a decade, he still refers to his first proper manager as "The Gaffer".

"It was great coming through as a young player under the gaffer and Billy," he recalls. "It was fantastic for me as a full-back because they just gave me free reign. They just wanted me to attack, they never wanted me to go backwards with the ball. That's what you want to hear as a youngster who enjoyed attacking.

"The gaffer looked after me – he gave me four or five contracts within about two or three years. It was a case of, if I did well, he would reward me and I'm sure that's how he'll try and do things with the youngsters at the club just now." That last point is pertinent given that Hearts have been guilty in recent years of recklessly dishing out lucrative contracts to youngsters who arguably hadn't done enough to earn them. The same could be said of a plethora of higher-paid senior players over the past few years who have been accused of not giving enough for the cause.

Naysmith, however, is adamant that Jefferies is the perfect man to galvanise the club and ensure that the days of players using Riccarton as a holiday camp are consigned to the past. Work for Jim Jefferies and he'll find a way of making things work for you, seems to be the mantra.

"He's exactly what Hearts need at this time," says Naysmith. "He's got the club at heart and it's important that he gets the feeling he's got for the club across to the players. He won't be able to perform miracles overnight

but once he gets his own players in and stamps his mark on the team, I'm sure he'll go back to the 4-3-3 formation he favoured when he was there the first time.

"Hearts maybe don't have so much money to spend on players at the moment, so they've got the best man in the business to bring the youngsters through. He's also good at going to the lesser clubs or into the lower leagues and then moulding together a team and I'm sure that's what he'll try and do this time round. He knows the type of players that can put a smile on fans' faces.

"As long as you give 100 per cent, then Billy and the gaffer will be happy. That's the minimum you should be giving as a footballer anyway, but if anybody isn't prepared to work hard and chase lost causes I don't think they'll be at Hearts very long. They demand that their teams are hard to beat and, even though they encourage you to attack, they make sure you do all the horrible stuff first.

"We had great players at Hearts like Steve Fulton, but Fulters did all the hard work as well, he chased back and won his tackles. It might be too much to expect of him to get the same level of success he enjoyed the first time round but, if he gets anywhere close to that, all the Hearts fans will be happy. "

Naysmith left Hearts for Everton in October 2000, just a month before Jefferies also headed south to take charge of Bradford City. Since then, he has kept in touch with Jefferies by virtue of a few chance encounters while holidaying in the Algarve.

"I normally go to Portugal in the summer and I've bumped into him three or four times out there," he continues. "We both enjoy it out in the Algarve, usually he's heading for the golf course. We always speak and have a beer together. It's always good to catch up with him and hear what he's got to say."

It seems safe to assume that the Scottish Cup triumph will be somewhere on the agenda during such chats. Incredibly for Naysmith, he has never got close to adding to his solitary winners' medal.

"At the time I enjoyed the day and I tried to take it all in, but because it was my first full season in the side I thought I would go on to play in cup finals all the time," he admits. "It isn't until you get to my age now, that you look back and think, 'wow, I've never been close to a cup final since '98'. To be part of the team that won it for the first time in 42 years was particularly special and something I'll never forget.

"Signing for Everton at such a young age, making my debut for Scotland and then every time I played for my country meant a lot to me, but winning the Scottish Cup with Hearts will always be one of the high points. Unfortunately for every high there's usually a low, and my low has been my injury problems. But if someone had said to me when I started out that I'd win the Scottish Cup with Hearts but I've got to suffer a few injuries, I'd have taken that." Naysmith is closing in on a return to action following almost a year out with knee problems. Out of contract at Sheffield United in the summer and stuck on the sidelines while new Scotland manager Craig Levein drafts a couple of younger left-backs into his first squad, the former Jambo is facing an uncertain time of it.

"I'm still a few weeks from getting back," he says. "My aim is to get back fit and play a few games before the end of the season because I'm out of contract in the summer and I don't know what the future holds.

"It's important that I get back and show United , as well as other clubs that might be interested, that I've recovered. One of my big aims is to get to 50 caps for Scotland. I'm on 46 and I'm desperate to get into the Hall of Fame."