Interview: Jim Jefferies, former Hearts manager, on why he has no bitterness over his dismissal

JIM Jefferies found little cheer in his unexpected dismissal from the Hearts manager’s job just three games into the current season but that didn’t stop him raising a glass to his successor and the squad he left behind as they recorded a convincing victory over Celtic earlier this month.

He will be just as thrilled if they can make it an Old Firm double when they take on Rangers at Tynecastle this afternoon. He was still in charge when they faced Rangers in Glasgow in the season curtain-raiser. An impressive first half could have see them leave Govan with all three points that day but Ally McCoist’s men produced a second 45 minutes that earned them a draw.

It wasn’t deemed good enough by Hearts’ majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov and contributed to Jefferies’ exit. Even by previous standards, it was a shock decision given that the club had finished best of the rest and qualified for European competition under the former club captain.

“I’ve got to watch what I say here as there are still things that are confidential until things are settled. You come into this job knowing how the club operates, and that’s their right to do that. I’m not the first manager to come in here – I’m probably one of the longest serving. You come in knowing that that could happen someday.

“Even though you’re a bit shocked at the time, the more you think of it you’re not really surprised. It could happen to anyone. That’s the way they operate. I knew that before I came in. But you’ve just got to go in there and do the best you can in the time you’ve got. If third in the league is not good enough then the job is getting harder.”

It has already provided a few sticky moments for Jefferies’ replacement, Paulo Sergio. The Portuguese manager suffered a 5-0 humbling from Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League qualifier and lost to Ayr United in a contentious League Cup tie. Form in the SPL had also been up and down but this afternoon Hearts go into the encounter against the defending champions on the back of four wins and four clean sheets from their last four home games, albeit that still leaves them 11 points adrift of the SPL leaders.

“One minute, it looked like Sergio was under pressure, but then they beat Celtic [at Tynecastle] and Dunfermline away and everything is hunky-dory again. That’s how football management is. It will be how they finish at the end of the season that matters. At any club, and for any manager, it’s the targets they’ve got to reach that matter. I read in the papers that the target here now is to win the league, so it’s going to be a tough job.”

Especially as Romanov is intent on shaking up the Old Firm hegemony. While some may approve of his unwillingness to accept the past as the future, the fact is, mixing it with the title challengers come the business end of the season usually requires a degree of parity in investment. But Hearts’ budget remains insignificant compared to that of the Glasgow duo, rendering a sustained and productive chase extremely difficult, even if victories in the head-to-heads with Rangers and Celtic can be achieved.

“There are owners at other clubs who run it differently,” says Jefferies, while acknowledging that it is Romanov’s perogative to run the club any way he sees fit while he is the majority shareholder.

“But this is what they do a lot on the European scene. Managers come in and they don’t get a lot of time. That’s what happened here, so you just get on with it and make the best of what you can do.

“I came in here, and got them in the top six when they looked like they were struggling. The following season, we finished third so I can go out the door knowing I gave it my best shot, with very little transfer money to get us there. I think [Ryan] Stevenson was the only player I signed before last summer. I then brought four boys in, and I think they’re all doing well. I think [Jamie] Hammill and [Danny] Grainger have been outstanding.

“I hope they go on and do well – and good luck to them in trying to win the league. It’s not easy.”

With a contract until 2013, Jefferies had hoped that Hearts could be his final club before retirement but with that posting coming to a premature end, he wants back into management and has been irked by suggestions that the style of play coached by him was limited.

“Yes, it has [annoyed me] a little bit. I don’t think anybody who knows me would say that. I’ve never asked any player to play the long ball. When Kevin Kyle was in the team, 31 points out of 33 was a fantastic achievement. In the last 12 games it was tough getting over the line. But Rangers, Celtic and Dundee United were the only sides that beat us.

“You have to play at a tempo that suits Scottish football. Sometimes when you pass it around too much it looks great and you keep possession but there’s no thrills and spills at the right end of the park and the fans let you know. That’s the culture we’ve got, not just at Hearts but at any club. That’s the way they like to see the game played in this country. Think tanks have been trying to change that for years, but nobody has been able to do it. It’s accepted in a lot of other countries that that’s how you play, but here, nothing beats the thrills and spills. Playing great football is fine, and we’ve always tried to play football. But the bottom line is that this is a results-driven business. What you’ve got to get is a result.”

He watched from a bar in Cyprus as Hearts got a win against Celtic. This afternoon he aims to be at Tynecastle, where he will be hoping for another three points for the club he still loves. It will be enough to put a smile on his face but it’s unlikely to offer Paulo Sergio any greater sense of job security. Not when the demands at the club are now so high.