Jim Jefferies eyes cup double

THE TIMING could hardly have been better for Jim Jefferies; well, not if you believe in positive portents. A man who ensured his place in Hearts' history by delivering a trophy to the rank and file in 1998 is back and just a matter of days before another important cup opportunity.

Yesterday's match at McDiarmid Park was the bedding-in session. The real focus is already on Fir Park and the Co-operative Insurance Cup semi-final against St Mirren on Tuesday. It affords him the chance to get to a final and attempt to become the first Hearts manager since Tommy Walker to guide the club to at least two trophies.

While the lure of Tynecastle was enough to get his juices flowing, the thought of engendering the kind of delight and euphoria that greeted the Scottish Cup win 12 years ago was surely a real clincher in getting the deal wrapped up.

"People deserve credit, players and staff, for getting them to the semi-final but as Hearts people well know, I was in three cup finals before I got a Scottish Cup under our belts," said Jefferies in the wake of his appointment. "I have been in the (League Cup] final with Hearts before and with Kilmarnock so maybe for me it is third time lucky and hopefully that's a good omen and we can get to the final and go on and win it."

The dream has certainly been ignited. Just a couple of hours before he was sacked, Csaba Laszlo met journalists to preview the cup tie and talked of the positive jolt a victory would give the supporters and the squad. He also said he thought it may be enough to keep his boss happy.

"(In the league], I don't know how many years Rangers and Celtic have not given the possibility for the other teams to be champions. But, in the cup, it's a huge possibility for the smaller teams," said Laszlo. "If you leave the club and your name is somewhere that you won something, it's always positive. You can say that you left something behind you and in the life of a manager it's always nice to come back to a club and people remember that he won something."

But by the time Laszlo left that press conference, the die had been cast. He left the meeting with the media and went straight into another with board members. When he emerged 90 minutes later, neither the club nor the cup were his concern any longer. Owner Vladamir Romanov was not going to allow him to seal that place in history. Fans initially reacted angrily when news filtered out of Laszlo's departure. But the fury was quelled the minute Jefferies was announced as his successor. It was a masterful piece of positive public relations from a club who too often have riddled their own feet with bullets.

But welcoming Jefferies back will not suddenly transport the fans back to a halcyon era. Those supporters were subjected to a poor start to the season before the team were galvanised and moved into the top six. But still problems exist. The question is whether Jefferies will have more luck than his predecessors in determining his own path and bringing in the players he needs.

In his previous spell at Tynecastle, Jefferies was an astute operator in the transfer market, spotting talent from the lower leagues and harnessing their potential to perform in key areas of his team. David Weir, Neil McCann and Colin Cameron guided the club to a trophy, linking up with homegrown talent as well as bigger buys.

The constraints are more obvious now, though. Romanov does not have a big budget to blow on players but assurances have been sought. Jefferies has been told changes can be made, behind the scenes and front of stage. He has brought in Billy Brown as his assistant and hopes to add his former skipper, Gary Locke, to the coaching staff.

The transfer window will shut too soon for mass movement but there is still some suggestion that a striker could be signed up just in time. But regardless of the budget restrictions and the perceived bampottery of the owner, Jefferies is far better placed to deal with it all now he is back in his spiritual home. A man who has a propensity for falling out with his chairmen and club owners, having struggled with those relationships at Hearts, Bradford and, most recently, Kilmarnock, the trick will be in dealing with Romanov. Especially if, as the 59-year-old asserts, he would now like to see out his managerial career at the club he supported from the terraces, played for and captained. He says he has mellowed. He is still as passionate and still wants to win but perhaps experience has taught him to be more stoical. No matter that the budget is smaller than the one he enjoyed when he was last Hearts boss, no worries that the owner is seen as egotistical and eccentric, no matter that he has limitations on which players he will be able to work with because everything is relative. It is a bigger budget than he had at Kilmarnock.

Hearts have got his juices flowing. They have also given him another shot at entwining his own footballing history with that of a club he loves.