Hearts players still behind Ian Cathro says Arnaud Djoum

Arnaud Djoum insists Hearts players are all “100 per cent” behind Ian Cathro after another testing afternoon for the young coach against Aberdeen on Sunday.

No one could accuse Cathro of cowardice. The 30-year-old returned to the pitch afterwards, to “front up” as he later described it, following the 2-1 defeat, though few fans remained to greet the players, who wanted to applaud supporters after the club’s last home game in what has become a trying season.

But Cathro was met by jeers as he attempted to reassure those supporters still in the ground that things will get better. He was also met by a sharp reaction during the game when he replaced clearly unhappy skipper Don Cowie
with striker Bjorn Johnsen.

But Djoum, pictured, has underlined the players are all still supportive of the head coach. The Cameroon international is confident some coaching time during the summer with Cathro, who replaced Robbie Neilson in mid-season, will be hugely beneficial.

Cathro was flung straight into a high-pressure situation and will no doubt relish working with his players while away from the weekly spotlight of competitive matches.

“We are 100 per cent behind the head coach,” said Djoum. “We have shown a few times that we can play really nice football, create chances and stuff like that. Sometimes you have good moments, sometimes you have bad moments – and in the bad times you have to stick together.

“The coach has a good idea of the way he wants to play and, in time, things will be better.

“We need a good pre-season, with a lot of time to train, play and work on the small details,” the midfielder added.

The fans had dearly wished for a victory with which to bid farewell to the 103-year-old Tynecastle main stand, which is now days away from being demolished.

Few were still there when the players came back out to take a bow. But Djoum stressed that no matter the circumstances, they wanted to pay homage to the supporters, who, he added, had every right to jeer.

“It was important to come back out to say thank you to the supporters, who are always there in the good moments and bad moments,” he said. “Even on Sunday, after a bad result, some fans stayed behind and we need to show respect to them.

“Even if they boo, that is normal, so we still wanted to say thank you to those supporters for everything they have 
given us.

“The expectation is always to win games,” he added. “Hearts is one of the four biggest clubs in Scotland. We have shown at times that we can create chances and win games but we must do that more often.”