Gary Mackay: Club is lacking ex Factor at its football Academy

PEOPLE go on about not being able to win things with kids and, with that in mind, and considering the number of youngsters Hearts had on the pitch against Aberdeen, it's imperative we make sure the balance at the club is right between youth and experience.

You want your youngsters to have long-standing professional careers, you don't want them just to play five minutes and then never be heard of again.

That's where I feel we need somebody who is a qualified link man between first-team level and the under-19s, someone who has good, solid experience. And the name I'd like to put forward for such a role is Sandy Clark.

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We don't have any ex-Hearts involvement at all on the footballing side and that's something I feel needs to change.

I'm not saying it's the be-all and end-all, but if you look at Arsenal, Pat Rice is on the bench, at Liverpool, Sammy Lee's there, Mike Phelan's at Manchester United, Peter Grant's at Celtic, and Ally McCoist is at Rangers.

These people are there firstly because they're very good at what they do but also because they have a good knowledge of their clubs having played for them at some point in their career.

I know for sure, there's no-one better at the continued development of youngsters after under-19 and before first-team level than Sandy Clark. I'm not suggesting that anyone at Hearts isn't doing their job properly or that anyone should be replaced, but I think somebody like Sandy would make a massive difference.

He knows what Hearts are about and he has an excellent track record. He brought through two internationalists in Paul Ritchie and Allan Johnston and he also nurtured the likes of Allan McManus, who is now the Morton co-manager, Grant Murray, who is still playing at Raith Rovers, Gary Locke, who captained Hearts, Roddy McKenzie, Myles Hogarth, David Murie and Kevin Thomas to name but a few when he was at Hearts.

I have a good knowledge of boys' club football and I know Sandy was also the first coach that Danny Wilson, the Rangers defender, had when he was at Murieston United under-11s. Seven of the team he had there, including the Jacobs triplets at Livingston, have gone on to make it in the game, which I don't think is any coincidence.

I think Sandy would enhance the Hearts Academy and would take players to another level when they come out of the under-19s.

You can only go on people's track record and someone of Sandy's experience and quality would undoubtedly be of huge benefit to Hearts.

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Looking back on the weekend's trip to Aberdeen, it was a disappointing result but I'm not too perturbed by it considering the team we had out. We had about five players on the pitch with only a handful of games between them so I don't think you can be too critical.

A lot of the young guys who have stepped in have acquitted themselves well in recent matches, but if you look at the guys who were missing, you could almost have picked another full team. Thomson, Goncalves, McGowan, Wallace, Kingston, Palazuelos, Elliot and Driver were all unavailable, while Balogh, Nade and Obua were on the bench. By contrast, although Aberdeen had a few youngsters themselves, they had far more established players on the pitch than we did.

To be honest, I didn't think there was that much between the teams in the first half. The first goal was always going to be of huge importance considering how tight the game was and, when they scored, that was the crucial turning point. That gave them a bit impetus for the first time in the match.

I think the influential players on both sides nullified each other but it was the peripheral players who shone through, particularly for Aberdeen. I thought Peter Pawlett and Fraser Fyvie were particularly influential for them.

But the big difference was in attack. No disrespect to Scott Robinson and Gordon Smith, who have showed terrific desire since they broke into the team, but I think pretty much any manager in the SPL outwith the Old Firm would be thrilled to have Lee Miller and Darren Mackie leading their attack. They offer a big threat and when Aberdeen got the first goal it was always going to be an uphill struggle for Hearts.

Yes, it's disappointing to go out of the Scottish Cup but I don't think we should get too negative. We were knocked out by Falkirk last season but it didn't affect us too much in the league as we kicked on and finished third.

From the start of December to now, we've been in good form, so the important thing now is try and get two victories over St Mirren, in the league and the League Cup, in the next few weeks to help keep the season moving forward.

In recent weeks, it's been shown that, if we get a few key men back, the quality is there, so it's crucial that we now show a desire to bounce back from the Scottish Cup exit and get back on track.

Seems Cup has lost its magic

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I WAS flicking through the matchday programme on Saturday and noticed that the last time Aberdeen hosted Hearts in the Scottish Cup was back in 1990 and there were 22,500 people in attendance.

I know the economy's in a bad state and the weather's not good just now, but it's sad to think that the crowd on Saturday was just over a third of what was there 20 years previously. That's no reflection on the Hearts supporters, however, who travelled north in terrific numbers and got right behind the team as usual.