Hearts boss Jim Jefferies begins his building for the future as Europe fades out of view

JIM Jefferies had warned that the optimism engendered by Hearts' win in the Edinburgh derby on Saturday would be short-lived, and so it transpired. Despite that 2-1 win, the coach said the odds were still stacked against his team qualifying for the Europa League, and the wisdom of those odds was proven correct on Wednesday night when Hearts could only draw with Dundee United.

Officially the fight is not yet lost, but Jefferies is experienced enough to refrain from indulging in daydreams about catching up Hibs by three points and 11 goals in just a single afternoon. Sunday's home game against Celtic will therefore, in effect, be the first pre-season outing for the 2010-11 campaign. It will, of course, be treated as a competitive fixture, but Jefferies will use it "to try out one or two things", which should mean giving a run out to a couple of young fringe players.

Yet, although the manager has only been back at Tynecastle for a little over three months, he probably knows all he needs to know about his current squad without the need for further experiment. It took him no time at all to conclude that morale in the camp was appallingly low, and not much longer to divide those who were desperate for it to improve from those who were part of the problem.

In that regard, Jefferies and his long-time No2 Billy Brown have enjoyed the invaluable assistance of dressing-room lieutenant Gary Locke. A former Hearts captain and current first-team coach, Locke has an admirably militant devotion to bringing success back to Tynecastle. Most, perhaps all, of those who have not learned to share his commitment are likely to leave over the summer.

As ever, the most important task of the close season will be the recruitment of two or three players to strengthen the squad. Results over the past three months have shown that Jefferies' predecessor Csaba Laszlo underestimated the potential of some of his team, and it has been notable that some of Hearts' best performances have come about in the absence of Michael Stewart and Jose Goncalves, two of the most able individuals on the playing staff. But although the spirit shown in the last two Edinburgh derbies has proven that the team can be greater than the sum of its parts, it is still painfully short of quality and experience in some areas.

The upside for Jefferies is that he has a nucleus of players who are genuine leadership material, notably Lee Wallace and Eggert Jonsson. If he can hang on to one of those two for next season, and if winger Andrew Driver also stays at Tynecastle and gets back to full fitness, the manager will have a solid foundation on which to graft new signings.

Jefferies' recruitment from Ayr of midfielder Ryan Stevenson has shown he has not lost his eye for a bargain, and given the transfer funds available to him he will have to use that attribute again over the summer in the case of most new signings. The construction of a consistently improved team might take longer that way than if Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov conjured up a fighting fund running into the millions, but it can be done.