Top-three finish would be Laszlo's best result

CSABA LASZLO has had to come to terms with several things during his time as Hearts manager but few still eat away at him the way the limitations placed on teams who don't comprise the Old Firm do.

"I know I can't be first, but in my head I still want to be first, I want to win something," he says. Given the financial disparity, though, while aiming high will always be the quest for the ambitious, the best the teams outwith the two big Glasgow sides usually manage is third. The thing that grates with Laszlo at the moment is the realisation that even that may be beyond his charges this term, given their poor opening to the campaign.

Others have been given a head start as Hearts struggled to find goals, discipline and any kind of consistency in performance throughout the early stages of the season. At that time there were doubts about the manager's ability to escape being sacked as he let his frustrations show and the fans voiced their displeasure at the fare on display. "Managers, 80 per cent of the time, say they believe in themselves and believe in their team but that isn't always true," he admits. "We are all humans, even me, and at that time I was thinking a lot about this at home and getting up in the night."

But the midnight musings are done. The turn of the year has been a decent period for the Gorgie club with a run of games unbeaten in the league and, midway through the season, the Hearts manager is unwilling to concede defeat in his desire to finish even higher up the league table.

"I look to bring this team to the best six at end of season and if we can come to the second or third then that would be a bonus but it is also a target. If this season we reach third place, for me personally it would be the best result ever in my managerial career when you see where we have come from. My target is to come to the top six and some people have even said to me that if I go with this team into the best six, if I can do that, then I am the best. But it is up to the team, I am just a part of it."

Another key part, he says, is his captain, Michael Stewart. Looking back on the first half of the season he says he could write a book about the dealings between himself, his players and Stewart.

"It would be a fantastic story. One of the best ever. Everything has come together and for that you need someone who can talk to two or three or seven different parties and tell them to accept some things, don't accept, to play together..."

"I think Michael has proved himself," says Hearts right-back Jason Thompson. "He was made captain at the start of the season and there were a few eyebrows raised and people wondered if he had the temperament, but he is our top goalscorer and in the last few games he has been the top man.

"Michael has always taken responsibility. I was here for his first stint at the club and he's never really changed since then. He will come and have a word if you are doing something wrong or if he thinks you could be doing something better. He does speak to the boys and he will shout at you as well if he thinks you need to do better (too]. He is a passionate guy and he can let it get to his head sometimes, but he knows when he has gone too far and knows what to say."

Laszlo adds: "The biggest problem for everybody was not what was happening inside because I can control this. I can control my players, I can control Mike Stewart, but I can't control the media and I can't control the fans and that is a huge number of people to try to get them to understand."

But he says a corner has been turned and he didn't need a psychologist to help, he just needed positivity, a bit of confidence and his players to realise that they had a scrap on their hands.

"Who would have thought when we were down the other end of the league that we could be up pushing for third or fourth place?" says Thompson. "A couple of months ago we were down in second-bottom place and we had to fight hard to get out of there but we have got the results now and keep it going. The players always knew we could get back up but first we had to realise we were in a relegation fight so we could get out of there and we have all worked hard and that's what we need to keep doing."

Laszlo continues: "With a little bit more confidence and experience then we could have won more points and made a better start but most important now is a good finish. So far, even with all the problems we have had, I think we are more stabilised in defence and in the front, with some youngsters, we have shown improvement and have scored goals and posed some danger to the opponents. In the last six or seven games we have managed some good results. Realistically, even the best six would be good if we can get stabilisation for next season. At the moment these young guys are not so good that they can win every game 1-0 but you have to have the feeling that you are so good you can win every game 1-0."