An Audience with Ogilvie and Rix

On hearing that the Federation of Hearts Supporters Clubs had arranged a Question and Answer session with Graham Rix and Campbell Ogilvie, naturally I was interested in attending and hearing what the new Coach and Operations Director had in mind for the future of the Club. However, it also set alarm bells ringing – when similar events had been arranged with Messrs Burley, Anderton and Foulkes, in the Autumn, they were cancelled due to their sudden departure from Tynecastle. Was this a portent of things to come? And, more importantly, would it be finished before the chippy closed?

However, not to be deterred, a select band of the great and the good from Rainbow Hearts S.C. – oh, and me – went along to the Gorgie Suite to see how the evening would pan out. I must say that the R.H.S.C. members who did attend behaved themselves impeccably and, even with the bar open, were able to remain sober throughout the evening.

Dapperly dressed, both Ogilvie and Rix were happy to answer all questions and gave what proved to be very honest answers. If anything, as this was the first time coming face to face with a large group of fans, Graham Rix did look a touch apprehensive on entering the room and probably did not know what sort of reaction to expect. However, as the night progressed he did appear to relax a bit, though, as he alluded to in some of his answers, was a little tired by the end of proceedings. Rather than have them give a small speech to the assembled Supporters, it was decided that we would just go straight into the Q & A Session.

Several topics were covered in great detail by both Rix and Ogilvie; one of which, causing particular concern, was the role of a Director of Football at the Club When asked if there were any further developments regarding the appointment of a Director of Football, Campbell Ogilvie stated that it looked as though there was not going to be an appointment made in the near future.

“At the moment, no, there has been no further movement on that, despite what some Press reports may have suggested,” Ogilvie confirmed. “It is important that the Club appoints the right person for this position as opposed to simply rushing into it, but we have to be patient for the moment”.

When asked if he should be concentrating on coaching duties, Rix confirmed that he had to combine the vacant Director of Football’s duties with his own.

“I’m possibly trying to do things that I usually wouldn’t have to, but I’m still doing the job to the best of my ability,” Rix said. “My phone rings first thing in the morning – about 7 o’clock – with agents calling me to discuss players and it doesn’t stop until about 11 at night. To be honest, I’ll be glad when this transfer window closes. I do want to concentrate on training the players, that’s where my strengths lie. I really do think we need a Director of Football at the Club, but, as was said earlier, it has to be the right guy. With recent events down south, with Sven and Mike Newell’s comments about transfers, the guy we bring in has to be honest, he has to be good at the job, he has to have good contacts in the game, and he must be passionate about working at this Club. It’s difficult to find such a candidate at the moment. My priority is always to the players and the coaches. If I’m honest, I’m tired, no doubt about it, but I still go into work everyday with a smile on my face and with an enthusiastic attitude because I believe that’s what the players need to see”.

Someone asked Rix if he had been under the assumption that a Director of Football was set to be appointed, Rix argued that, “I want the whole Club to be successful, not just the 1 st team. We need to identify the Director of Football who will be employed to bring players in who will help make the Club successful. At the moment, myself, John Murray, and John McGlynn are trying to identify players. Now that’s not ideal, I want to be concentrating on the coaching, but it’s a job that must be done and just means very long days.”

When asked if he had made this situation aware to the Romanovs, Rix added that, “the priority now is to get players in. I’ll ask you a question now, what were your expectations for this Season before a ball was even kicked? Top-6? Europe? Top-2, or greater? We are in a good situation; yes, it’s been difficult recently, but we can still maintain our good start to the Season. We’ve 2 very tough games coming up, I won’t deny that, but if we can win them, then we’ll be well ahead of Hibs in the league and will have advanced further in the Cup. I don’t think we should be too pessimistic about our situation”.

One of the more immediate issues concerning those present was the apparent problems facing the Club with regards strikers; one fan even asked the Coach what were the chances of having a striker fit or signed before Saturday. In response to that particular question, Rix said that, “In respect of the injuries affecting the centre-forwards at the Club, Roman Bednar is out for 4-5 weeks, Edgaras Jankauskas is back in training but won’t be back for Saturday, Michal Pospisil took a knock on Saturday, and I’ve wrapped Callum Elliott up in cotton-wool!It is difficult to bring people in. I’ll be on the phone with an agent, discussing a player, and I’ll get told that he’ll discuss the situation once he sees a deal on the table and then he’ll see if he’s interested in coming to the Club. Now, there are a number of criteria I use when assessing players I want at this Club; Number 1 – they have to want to play for the Club; Number 2 – they have to be a good player; And only if they meet these criteria will we discuss the financial aspects. I will not bring a player in who is only interested in getting a ‘big whack’.Regarding strikers, I’m currently looking at a player who’s hungry, young, ambitious and an International….. So that rules Alan Shearer out! We are trying to bring players in, but they have to fulfil our criteria”.

Another supporter also wondered what the situation was regarding the long-term picture for strikers in the team.

“At the moment we have Jankauskas, Pospisil, Bednar and Elliott. Callum Elliott has done fantastically well for us and is testimony to the good job the coaches and youth system are doing at the Club. He’s run his heart out for us, but the lad needs a rest, he really does.” Rix adding that, “we need 2 more strikers; now, whether they can come in during this transfer window, or in the Summer, I’m not sure, but we are working on the striking situation, yes”.

Given that we are currently approaching the end of the January transfer window, there was obviously a great deal of concern about the possibility of players being brought in to bolster the side. Rix tried to waylay any concerns, confirming that the Club were still looking for players.

“We are trying hard to bring players in,” Rix said. “We identify the players and ask Mr. Romanov to try to get them, but people take liberties with the Club and the Romanovs. Myself, John Murray, and John McGlynn look for players that could benefit the Club, but we don’t want to have to pay over the odds, or for people to take advantage of us; we don’t want players to simply use us to get better deals from other Clubs”.

There was also the worry that, for all the promises of serious money being available to spend on transfers, and Press Reports suggesting big signings, for the club to go from signing a player for £800k to signing one for £20k hardly whetted the appetite for challenging the Old Firm.

“I can appreciate that point of view,” conceded Rix. “Regarding transfers, I can’t really say too much about moves we’ve made – if I was to say something and it didn’t come off, then you’d be left disappointed, that’s why we haven’t said much – but we are trying really hard to work the Beslija deal out. I don’t want to tempt fate, but can assure you that we are trying really hard on things”.

“In financial terms, we may not have signed the ‘highest’, the most expensive players, but the Club is showing ambition,” Campbell Ogilvie added, encouraging the supporters to be patient. “Don’t make a judgement until the transfer window closes. Most transfer deals aren’t completed until late on in the window, not on the 3 rd or 4 th of January. You also tend to find that there’s a lot of brinkmanship and work behind the scenes involved during these windows. Everyone would like to see deals tied up sooner rather than later. We have seen serious offers put in – some have fallen by the wayside, but others are still on the table”.

On the proposed transfer of Mirsad Beslija from RC Genk to Tynecastle, Rix did not want to tempt fate, merely adding, “That deal [Beslija] is not dead, but all I’ll say is that we are trying really, really hard to get him into the Club”.

However, while we could add to the squad during the transfer window, there was also the danger we might lose some players too. “No, I don’t think we’ll lose anyone and I don’t want anyone to go,” Rix stated flatly. “Certainly, if you mean Rudi then, no, obviously I don’t want to lose him. We want to keep Rudi, we want him to sign the deal, but it’s up to him – if he doesn’t want to sign for the Club, then what’s the point? We have talented players in the team, but we have to also protect the Club’s interests. Having spoken to all the players, they all want to stay and be part of something here”.

Since taking over the position of Head Coach, Graham Rix has experienced some mixed results on the pitch, the latest coming with the 1-nil defeat at Rugby Park the previous Saturday. Some fans were concerned at this hiccup in form, and asked Rix if we’d struggle to hold onto at least 2 nd place in the SPL.

“I accept that there are difficulties whenever new coaching staff comes into a Club, but I can assure you that, as with the rest of the staff here, I’m working my butt off. We’ve certainly missed big players – on Saturday, we were without Pressley, Bednar, Edgaras, and Rudi, all important players for us. The fact that Callum Elliott’s come through has helped, but the lad needs a rest. The team has dipped physically and, in recent games, we’ve only shown our verve and pace in patches, but it was always going to be difficult to maintain such high standards without having a little dip,” argued Rix. “The expectancy in the team has grown too. We’ll all be very disappointed if we don’t secure a top-2 finish, but it’s a tricky balancing act to come in and maintain things. We all saw how good we can be in the second-half against Dunfermline, we were fantastic against Falkirk, and for that first hour against Celtic – in the end we paid the price for giving away 2 late silly goals. We were fantastic against Dunfermline, and we did nothing different in our preparations for Kilmarnock – the same lead-up, the same high-tempo training – but, for some reason, it just didn’t happen. Now, we have missed some big players, but that’s no excuse. It’s something I’m not happy with and nor are the players”.

Another concern amongst the support has been the fluctuating fitness levels shown by the team; as one fan opined, the team are either at 100%, or they’re dying away badly. Rix was asked if there was a problem with the fitness regime at the Club, and he alluded to the situation he had inherited.

“I’m not one to go around criticising previous staff who have worked at the Club, but a lot of players missed a full pre-season, they arrived so late in the Summer,” explained Rix. “It’s like a car, if you hammer it around and don’t refuel it it’ll run out of steam – players are like that. You can’t have a pre-season and then no fitness work for the next 6 months. I saw it as soon as I arrived and it’s something I’ve been working on, trying to improve the teams’ fitness levels. A pre-season consists of about 5 ½ -6 weeks of really hard work, but you have to keep topping that up and I don’t think that was done”.

With regards to players still at the Club, one supporter asked what many of us have been wondering, just why had Ibrahim Tall not featured for the first team – was this a problem of attitude, injuries, or something else? “You’re not his agent are you?” Rix joked. “It’s to do with all 3 really. In training, the players have to show me that if they want to be in the team on a Saturday, they have to want to bust a gut to be in that team. Ibi is a smashing lad, but he just hasn’t shown me that yet”.

On the long-term future of the Club, Rix was asked what he thought of the quality of the youth players already at Hearts. Rix sounded positive.

“We’ve a decent youth squad,” he said, “those of you who were here to see them pummel Hibs will have seen that there are a number of good players and how good a job Stevie Frail is doing with them.” At that point, Rix made a classic faux-pas. “The coaches’ job is to make Hibs an attractive…. Oh, what a cock-up! My apologies for blaspheming, everyone!”

We’ll let you off, Graham. This time.

“Our job is to make the youth set-up at Hearts an attractive prospect for the best young players in Scotland and so it’s something we’ve spoken about with the Club. It’s important that we need to give Stevie Frail and the other coaches better raw materials to work with”.

On the specific case of young Galbraith, who had been linked with Manchester United in recent weeks, Rix added that, “We want him [Galbraith] to stay, but I can’t really go into detail – that’s really John Murray’s department. However, you have to ask yourselves, if he doesn’t want to play at Hearts do you really want him to stay? The Press hammer me with questions about this player and that, and I don’t really want to discuss any targets we might have been because if things don’t happen as we might like and so everyone’s left disappointed; I have to keep fobbing them off. If 2 or 3 players do come in then we have a chance of catching Celtic. If Bednar and Jankauskas return to fitness then they’ll boost our chances too because, too be fair, they’ve barely been able to kick a ball all season for us”.

Campbell Ogilvie confirmed that investment in the youth team was a necessity facing Hearts: “New Uefa regulations are due to come into effect which will promote homegrown talent, enforcing Clubs to have at least 8 homegrown players in their 1 st team squad. We can’t lose sight that the Club will be required, in a couple of years, to have 8 players coming through our youth system and into the 1 st team”.

Then an issue was raised that has been a major bugbear for all supporters. Since the case when Craig Levein refused to pay an SFA fine, there has been the perception that the club has been at war with the SFA, with the feeling that we often get a raw deal from Referees during matches – the performance of Mr. Conroy at Kilmarnock merely perpetuating this sense of frustration.

“Ha! Good question,” chuckled Rix, and he diplomatically let Campbell Ogilvie respond to this issue.

“I can appreciate and understand the views of the supporters, but, unfortunately, there’s not a lot we can do regarding Referee’s decisions. Taking the Celtic game as an example, I can understand fans’ frustration over decisions made during the game, but what we can do about them is another matter. We won the Fyssas case because the player didn’t do anything wrong. Games have become faster, more competitive, and so onfield tensions have increased. Teams who are more often involved in matches broadcast live on TV fall foul more than others because of the highlighting of incidents, and sometimes this doesn’t create a level playing field. For example, Paul Hartley is up in front of the Disciplinary Committee, but there were at least 4 or 5 incidents during the game that weren’t picked up or highlighted on TV that couldhave resulted in disciplinary action too. When I was employed at Rangers, I was in front of the Committee more than any other Club representative. I don’t want the situation when 6 players are hauled up after every game, but I don’t think Clubs should be penalised everytime an incident is highlighted on the TV. I personally don’t agree with the view that there is a vendetta going on, but it is important that the Club has representation with the SFA to smooth things over. We should be prepared to argue our case but shouldn’t fall out with the Governing Bodies, and need to keep the bigger picture in mind.

“As demonstrated in the Lennon and Mikoliunas situations, sometimes there are inconsistencies and I certainly think there should be more consistency when video evidence is used in Committee. The Club replied to the SFA on the Hartley issue, but I’m sure if they looked at the video of the whole game then several more players would have been pulled up too,

“There is no way of getting league matches replayed and it wouldn’t be practical for Leagues to replay every game that had some controversy in it. I do think, though, that Mr. Romanov’s comments were taken the wrong way. They only appeared in one newspaper, who appear to have picked up on a single sentence. Also, Mr. Romanov doesn’t speak English, while the Club also did not appeal for a replay. I should also say that David Taylor was also misrepresented during this and he has never set out to act against the Club or its owner; in fact, David Taylor said that Vladimir Romanov’s involvement with Hearts is good for the Scottish game, but that was never reported fully. The Governing Body has to be in control of the game, but, technically, they don’t have control over Mr. Romanov as he is the Club’s leading shareholder and not a club Director. I genuinely don’t believe in a witchhunt against Hearts, but can’t argue against Supporters’ appeal for more consistency on the field and in Disciplinary Committees”.

On the matter of on-field decisions, Rix added that, “Referees do have tough jobs, I think we’d all accept that, but if the Refs are tuned-in and are consistent, week-in, week-out, then that’s all we can ask for. When I was sat watching the Clyde-Celtic game and Du Wei fouled the Clyde lad on the penalty spot and he didn’t even get a yellow card, then I was less than happy I can tell you”.

Following on from the matter of refereeing decisions, there was a concern that the team had been tagged as a ‘physical side’; Rix was asked if there was any truth in this. “I’d say we compete,” Rix said. “We’re strong; we’ve some big, physically big, players; but then look at the likes of Elliott or Mikoliunas. We’re a determined side and when we get going we can take some stopping, but would I describe us as a particularly physical team? No”.

If that was the case, then some fans argued that Rix should stress that to the Press – one even adding that the only 2 players in the side who could look after themselves were Andy Webster and Robbie Nielson, the rest were softies. “Well, I’ll be sure to tell them that,” laughed Rix. “I’ll give you some advice, do what I do and just don’t read the newspapers – unless you’ve got some chips in them!”

Clearly fans were delighted when the Club stated that they intended to stay in Gorgie, at Tynecastle, but things had gone a little quiet on the stadium front. Campbell Ogilvie was asked what the latest plans were for the redevelopment of the stadium.

“There have been meetings with Architects regarding the redevelopment of the Stadium. The plan is to modernise the ageing main stand and replace it with a new facility that would increase the stadium’s capacity to 25,000,” Ogilvie confirmed. “There are other meetings ongoing, as we must decide on which final plans to pursue and then secure necessary planning consent. However, during the refurbishment of the ground we have to make plans for the short-term future of the Club – do we stay here during that process or do we move temporarily elsewhere? Obviously if we move temporarily, other factors come into play, but our aim is still for the Club to remain at Tynecastle”.

With the long-term plans for the stadium in place, Graham Rix was asked what his long-term plans were for the Club.

“I’m thinking that I’m going to be here for the next 3-4 years, that’s the way I’m approaching things,” declared Rix. “We’re on the verge of re-signing Robbie Neilson – he’s a Hearts guy so I can’t see any problems there – and we’re in discussions with Craig Gordon and Andy Webster about extending their stay here too. We’re looking to sign players on 2-3 year deals, to build a team long-term, that’s the way I’m looking at the job.”

And the 6-month deal?

“I think the 6-month deal is to give everyone a chance to see how it works out – after 6 months the Romanovs might not like me, you never know,” explained Rix. “Yes, it is initially only a 6-month deal, but the option is there for a further 2 years. Lose the next 2 games and I may be gone in 2 weeks. In this day and age, what do contracts mean in the game – look what’s unfortunately happened to Craig Levein tonight”.

But was he happy with the progress the Club had made this Season?

“I’m happy with the work I’ve done, but then I want to win every game we’re involved in so I’m not entirely happy with the results. The players like what we’redoing in training and how we’re moving forward, and I’m happy with the effort put in so far”.

While Rix had outlined his position, as Campbell Ogilvie has only been an employee of the Club for the last couple of months, people were obviously interested to hear what precisely his role was going to be at Hearts. After being congratulated on his “promotion” to a position at Tynecastle, Mr. Ogilvie confirmed that he was not a Chief Executive as some had assumed.

“Well, Stuart Fraser is the Company Secretary; my official job title is Operations Director,” Ogilvie said. “My principal role is as a football administrator and legislator, I’m not a Chief Executive in the business or marketing sense. As the Romanovs are not here on a day-to-day basis a management team is in place to maintain the daily running of the Club. We have very competent commercial and marketing people at the Club, so I run the management team and ensure that the Club’s administrative and legislative matters are managed competently. I meet regularly with my colleagues on the team, and then report to Roman Romanov on a regular basis or as when required. I’m not a financial expert – Stuart Fraser is a very competent financial director. With regards the stadium, the Romanovs have their own man…… No, it is not Chris Robinson. His name is Pedro Lopez and he is acting on behalf of the Romanovs in the Stadium discussions”.

The last question was thrown Graham Rix’s way, and he was asked about rumours circulating that the Dressing Room were not 100% fully behind him as head coach. Unsurprisingly, Rix denied any behind-the-scene problems.

“Who told you that?” Rix asked.

“Well, you’re wrong. As far as I’m concerned the players are 100% behind me in this; day-in, day-out their attitude has been spot-on with me, honestly. I treat them all with respect and they do likewise withme. I may have failings in my character, but doing my job well and getting on with the players at this football club isn’t one of them”.

And on that defiant note, the evening was brought to a close. While Ogilvie breezed through the evening, Rix looked far more at ease than he had at the start of proceedings. Overall, I think he handled himself well, and seemed to have answered all questions – even the awkward ones - as honestly as he could; certainly, Rix comes across as someone who is genuinely trying to do as good a job as he can for the Club. Whatever reservations some may have about Rix, here’s hoping that he does prove a success at Hearts and that we are all able to reap the rewards.

Oh, and the chippy stayed open too.

Result!

J.D.

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