Ousted Laszlo has not lost love for Hearts

Still living in Edinburgh and with no plans to relocate his family from a city he now considers home, the eccentric Hungarian looks back on his 19-month reign with a mixture of regret, frustration and endless satisfaction. Yet, with the dust now having settled on his departure from Gorgie, he is adamant there is no bitterness.

"The last few months have been difficult," he says. "It was very hard not to think about Hearts after I left. I love Hearts – I think I had a good relationship with most fans and people at the club. People said to me 'ah, you will want the team to lose now', but I am not like that. Believe me, I am so happy to see the team come to the top six. I love to see my old players improve. This fantastic club gave me the chance to show my talent as a manager and make my name in the UK. I appreciate that so much."

Worshipped by most as he galvanised a previously ailing side to third place last season and then spoke of challenging the Old Firm, Laszlo soon began to polarise opinion as his second season, for a variety of reasons, got off to a wretched start. With the likes of Christos Karipidis, Bruno Aguiar and Robbie Neilson having headed for pastures new in the summer and talisman Andrew Driver sidelined by injury, Laszlo, with a squad significantly diminished in quality – particularly in the attacking third – started to let his frustrations get the better of him.

The feelgood factor of the previous season evaporated and results deteriorated. Laszlo's pragmatic approach was no longer bearing fruit as there was no Aguiar or Driver to provide a supply of goals, while summer arrival Suso Santana, arguably the only available attacking player with any spark, was taking time to settle in. A large section of supporters became scunnered with his tactics and negative demeanour, while others sympathised with his plight in his wearying struggle with Vladimir Romanov.

Meanwhile at Riccarton, morale was dipping. Laszlo had a close relationship with senior players like Michael Stewart, Jose Goncalves and Ismael Bouzid, but some of the younger players found it hard to deal with his harsh criticisms on the training field and in the dressing-room.

While a parting of ways seemed inevitable, the timing was ironic given that his dismissal came just two days after his side's first defeat in eight games, a run which had hoisted them from the realms of a relegation battle right back into the mix for a European place.

Despite the fact onlookers could see it coming for a while, the news delivered from club director Sergejus Fedetovas that he would no longer be Hearts manger hit the Hungarian like a sledgehammer. Jefferies was instantly installed as his replacement in a move almost unanimously acclaimed by Hearts fans who had been pining for the return of a traditional British-style manager.

In the short run, Laszlo would probably have got Hearts into the top six this season, an accomplishment they completed at the weekend, but in the long run, it seemed there was little chance of him embracing Romanov's vision to build a side made up predominantly of young players.

However, while Hearts appear to have more long-term purpose with Jefferies now working in harmony with Romanov, the job Laszlo did, in what is apparently a "results-driven business", shouldn't be dismissed.

"In my first season we finished third and I was manager of the year, and in the second season, even though I had lost four of my best players from the first season, we were fifth and in a cup semi-final and had just gone seven games without losing," he stated with pride. "I just wish I was allowed to finish my second season. I was surprised about the decision from Romanov to sack me without any signal. Three weeks before that I had a very good meeting with him and results had been good apart from the Aberdeen game (Hearts lost 3-0 two days before he was ousted]. I accept that most teams change the manager if the team is in a bad position, but in my case it was very hard to accept."

With his preference for experience over potential, Laszlo will never win any awards for nurturing youngsters, however it was hard not to feel an element of sympathy in January when a mounting injury list and a lack of attacking options forced him into sending out a team top-heavy with unproven kids for a Scottish Cup tie at Aberdeen.

"I was told I had all these young players I could use but you cannot fill your team with youngsters or it will not work," he said. "People kept talking about Motherwell doing well with lots of youngsters, but then a few months later their manager got sacked for losing too many games. Then Craig Brown, who is a very experienced manager, came in and started getting good results but he does not play many young players. He knows that he needs results to keep the team moving forward.

"At Hearts, we brought Craig Thomson, Scott Robinson and Gordon Smith into the first team, they are the players who have the potential to have big careers. A club should be happy if it brings two or three youngsters into the first team each year. When I realised we could not bring in new strikers, I wanted to build Robinson and Smith into the team. They scored goals against Rangers and Hibs and I was looking forward to developing them."

Laszlo is all too aware that he was perceived by many as a negative manager. There's more than one way to skin a cat, as the saying goes. However, given that Hearts' most highly-regarded managers of the past 20 years, Jefferies and George Burley, were famed for their swashbuckling attacking football, there wasn't much chance the Gorgie natives would put up with Laszlo's disciplined but turgid style if it wasn't producing the type of results which would see them challenge among the top three.

"A lot of fans complained that my team won too many games only 1-0 and didn't play lovely football, but if Tony Mowbray, who I think is a very good manager, had won every game 1-0 he would still be the Celtic manager today," he points out. "For me the result is the most important and helps with team improvement."

As we touch on Celtic, that brings us to one of Laszlo's main bugbears as he reflects on his Tynecastle tenure – the fact he was unable to wage war on the Old Firm. When his side were flying high at this time last year, Laszlo spoke of his belief that Rangers and Celtic would be there for the taking next time round if Romanov allowed him to add a few quality recruits in the summer. The likes of Lee Miller, Kevin Kyle and Anthony Stokes were among names he put forward.

Instead, with Romanov – understandably, given the club's debt – looking to tighten the purse strings, the only attacker he got was David Witteveen. Given that Laszlo won three and drew five of his 13 games against the Old Firm, it's fair to say the former Uganda manager knew a fair bit about how to make life difficult for the Glasgow pair, and this is perhaps why he felt so wronged at not being given the chance to usurp them over the course of a season. "Not long after I arrived at Hearts I suggested that I felt it was possible to challenge Rangers and Celtic's dominance of the Scottish league and a lot of people smiled and thought I was crazy," he recalls. "But even now you can see that the two of them are struggling. Rangers have a lot of debt and will probably lose players. Celtic also have their own problems. It was definitely possible for a club to challenge them if they really wanted to. If we had brought in the players I wished for we would have been capable of challenging Celtic and Rangers.

"After I realised we couldn't challenge the Old Firm, my target for the season was to reach a cup final and get into the best six and maybe challenge for a Europa League place. At the start of the season we had some unlucky games, and we also had some bad games. It was a turbulent start. But we were very much on target when I was sacked." Despite his disappointment at the way things ended, Laszlo will always take pride from the number of players who flourished under his stewardship. The likes of Driver, Aguiar, Karipidis, Michael Stewart, Lee Wallace, Marius Zaliukas, Christophe Berra and, latterly, Goncalves and Eggert Jonsson all produced arguably the best form of their respective careers under Laszlo, while Neilson couldn't speak highly enough of his former manager during a recent chat in Leicester. Some of those named are now thriving elsewhere, while Suso and David Obua, two of Laszlo's signings who failed to shine initially, are now starting to fulfil their promise under Jefferies.

"Karipidis and Aguiar are top of the Cypriot League and Robbie is doing well at Leicester. My biggest wish was to keep those three," he continued. "Christophe Berra is also doing well at Wolves, so I am happy that these players are all enjoying nice careers. Lee Wallace and Eggert Jonsson are also young players who progressed to their national teams when I was there.

"I always knew Obua had the quality to play in Scotland. He took time to settle but then he had a very good end to last season and then lost a bit of form this season. Suso Santana is also a very good player who can score goals. I brought him to Hearts because he is still young and can enjoy a good career."

Having spent more time with his loved ones in recent months, Laszlo, the self-proclaimed workaholic that he is, is now champing at the bit to get back out on the training field.

"The first few weeks (after his sacking] were okay, but as a man who likes to work every hour of every day it has been very difficult recently," he said. "I hope for the next season I have a new team and can be back in the football scene. I have had two meetings in different countries regarding my future so hopefully something good will happen from those. I've used the time to visit my parents and spend some more time with my children. We decided definitely to stay in Edinburgh and even if I get a new team in Spain or Germany, we will still stay here because this is a town that has impressed me so much. I love the lifestyle and the people – everybody just talks football."

He may not have been everyone's cup of tea and perhaps, in hindsight, he wasn't suited to the way of thinking at Tynecastle, but, if nothing else, results alone ensure Laszlo can hold his head high as he awaits with anticipation his next opportunity to return those famous brown shoes to the technical area.