Gary Mackay: Togetherness essential for future health of Hearts

ON the back of a fine run of league results, Hearts can now be considered genuine contenders for a place in Europe. Having been mentioned as possible relegation candidates not so long ago, we now seem to be embedded in the top six and real credit must go to Csaba Laszlo for that.

There's been lots of speculation about the transfer activity, or lack of it, but, with results having picked up lately, we now have an opportunity to try to stabilise everything and put a solid structure in place to allow us to move forward as a club.

There's no doubt that under the Romanov regime there's been a lot of ups and downs, but the Hearts supporters are all just looking for our club to have some long-term direction and stability. I had a friend who was taking his six-year-old twins to their first game on Saturday and you've got to think about what they are going to make of it and what their club is going to be like in the future.

On the back of the way the manager has lifted the team since the Hamilton game, you've got to say that there is the potential for something good to happen at Hearts, but that is reliant on having a good solid structure in place in the background.

As I've said before, that requires the manager and the owner, and the manager and the sporting director to have a good working relationship. It's all very well winning five games in a row or whatever, but long term it doesn't really count for much if things are not geared towards a prosperous future for the football club.

All I want is what's best for Heart of Midlothian and, for me, the only way forward is for any conflicts to be put aside and everyone to start pulling in the same direction. If the manager is able to sort out any differences he may have with the owner, then I think he has earned the right to continue his good work and be at the centre of the structure for moving forward.

He's had a bit criticism lately, and maybe our football isn't the best to watch but, over the course of his year and a half in charge, the manager has done exceptionally well results-wise. In particular, the way he has galvanised the side since the game at Hamilton has been really impressive. The owner now needs to take a look at the job the manager has done and put his faith in him. That will involve the two of them getting together and speaking rationally about things. They need to address the transfer policy and try to come to some sort of middle ground about trying to take Hearts forward.

I was listening to Niall Quinn on the radio and he was saying how Sunderland are always thinking ahead, and that is the key to a successful club. It needs to be about the long term, not the short term, and I believe if the whole thing is run in the proper way, we can go on to be a successful club again.

Looking back on Saturday's win over St Mirren, there were loads of positives to take from the game. Jason Thomson and Ruben Palazuelos came in and did very well in the full-back positions. Ruben did exceptionally well at left-back, a position he's not really played many times. The two young boys, Scott Robinson and David Templeton, also made really big contributions – it was definitely the best performances those two have produced so far. All credit to them, they showed they can play in the Premier League. One or two people have been a bit upset by my perceived criticisms of the Hearts youth development, but I must stress that all I want is the betterment of the club and our young players.

As I touched on last week, I want them to come through and go on to enjoy long-term careers at a decent level rather than just come into the side for a few games and then disappear. We've seen guys like Neil Janczyk and Graham Weir and one or two others who maybe haven't achieved their full potential at Hearts in the past. We want to ingrain in our young players a mentality that will allow them to enjoy maybe six or seven years in the first team and then possibly move on to even bigger things in the future. For that to happen, we need stability throughout the club.

Stewart proving a dead cert

MICHAEL STEWART is fast turning into a money-making machine for punters with his regular supply of first goals this season, but unfortunately I was left kicking myself on Saturday as several of my mates cashed in while I missed the boat. Michael took his penalty with aplomb and that cheered a lot of people who have been following him lately with first-scorer bets.

I know a lot of people who had him at 11/1 to score first and someone even sent me a text saying he was available at 14/1 if I wanted a slice of the action. Unfortunately, in my wisdom, I decided not to take him up on his offer and the rest, as they say, is history. The victory was well appreciated but the fact I didn't have a few quid on Michael was a disappointment. As long as he keeps on scoring, though, I'll be a happy man.