John McGlynn determined to make most of Hearts chance

JOHN MCGLYNN might not have been alert to the significance of the day, but yesterday was the first anniversary of Paulo Sergio’s unveiling as Hearts manager.

Remarkably, Jim Jefferies had already become the season’s first managerial casualty after only two league games.

Something McGlynn cannot have failed to notice is that the grass does not tend to grow long under the feet of managers at Tynecastle. Perhaps this is why he promised yesterday, on the eve of the new season, to give his all in a job he feels privileged to have secured. It is also why he won’t be harassing owner Vladimir Romanov about the extra striker he would prefer to have in order to take the pressure off John Sutton, his sole 
experienced forward. Asked whether he is expecting a good luck call from Romanov, 
McGlynn replied: “Possibly”. He quickly added he was just “focusing on what happens on the training ground” which fits with the job description outlined to him earlier this summer.

“I’m very happy with the squad we’ve got, but it would be nice to get a striker in,” he said. “However, I came here to work with young players and if it means bringing more of them into it, that’s nothing new for me and I’m prepared to do that.”

McGlynn does not feel overwhelmed by the thought of leading Hearts into a campaign which includes European participation. Rightly, he believes he has earned his stripes with Raith Rovers. “Five and a half years is long enough to be fair,” he replied, when asked yesterday whether he is surprised to be back in the main seat at Tynecastle after leaving his coaching position at the club to head for Kirkcaldy at the end of 2006.

“At times you wondered if it would ever happen,” he continued. “I’ve been linked with other jobs and that might have taken me off-course. Perhaps it was meant to be that I would not get these other jobs and this job would finally crop up for me. I know I’m getting one chance at this and I’m going to try and make the most of it. If I fail, it will not be for lack of 
effort, time, commitment and professionalism from my point of view. I know that’s what it will take to be successful.”

Inevitably, McGlynn was asked what constitutes success for Hearts this season, given Rangers’ removal from the equation. He does not necessarily agree that Celtic winning the league is a foregone conclusion. “It is up to the other 11 teams in the league to make it as difficult as possible and have the attitude that every week it is 11 v 11,” he said. “Maybe Celtic will go into games thinking, ‘Well it doesn’t really matter because we are going to win this league and everyone is telling us that we are going to win this league’. That’s the type of thing hopefully Hearts can cash in on.”

McGlynn stressed the importance of getting off to a good start, citing Hearts’ run of eight consecutive league wins at the beginning of the 2005-06 season. He was a member of George Burley’s backroom staff at the time and knows the value of keeping things upbeat from the first game, with the McGlynn era kicking off against St Johnstone at Tynecastle tomorrow.

“Getting off to a flyer does help because that season we 
finished second in the league and split the Old Firm, and won the Scottish Cup,” he said. “It is definitely important to get out of the blocks quickly.”