Re: Are Hearts The Next Club To Go To The Wall? / out of adm
GOOD ARTICLE FROM THE SCOTTISH DAILY RECORD
ULTIMATELY it has decided nothing. Yet, undeniably, it revealed an awful lot.
The bare facts of Hearts’ victory over Rangers means the difference between the teams in the Championship table is now nine points.
It’s November and the outcome of the contest has not pinpointed the destination of the Championship trophy.
But what it did perhaps do was crystallise fundamental differences between the teams and the clubs right now.
Hearts are unified. From board room to management, to fans backing their team and boss, the players are performing to their optimum with stability in the background.
A far cry from Ibrox, with boardroom battling, fans split over the abilities of boss Ally McCoist and a squad letting themselves down amid a backdrop of a club in chaos.
Share certificates dropped through the letterboxes of Hearts fans on the morning of the game symbolising how they stood behind Ann Budge’s saving of the club.
Rangers fans have been having boycotts and don’t know who to trust in their board room.
On the pitch Hearts are confident, cohesive and happy. Neilson has them training three times
a day. He even had them in at Riccarton yesterday morning for a session, striving for perfection and not one of the group is complaining about the additional workload and they are playing as a unit with a plan.
McCoist talked of the ordered off Stevie Smith letting his team-mates down in an unusual variation from publicly backing of your own.
Earlier, Kenny Miller appeared to shake his head at the coaching staff after being subbed following his own reckless tackle on Kevin McHattie which left the kid on a stretcher.
Words and actions of this type don’t smack of a unified camp.
There is chaos off the park at Rangers and too often this season there has been just as much clutter on it.
Unlike Hearts they are playing off the cuff, hoping for individual moments to get them through.
Sure, the Ibrox team could point to significant moments which went against them after they had opened reasonably well in Gorgie.
The game-altering red card for Smith, which was as merited as it was senseless as he chose to clatter through Callum Paterson, even though the ball was 80 yards from his own goal.
Rangers were doing okay at that point yet it was hardly a vice-like grip on proceedings.
You could also look at Darren McGregor’s deflected shot off a post at 0-0, Ricky Foster’s deflected shot off the bar and Nicky Law’s volley saved by Neil Alexander at 1-0 down after Jason Holt’s spectacular opener. But if you concentrate on those individual moments you are choosing to ignore the collective picture – that Rangers were one-dimensional.
As Hearts’ kids interchanged positions smoothly in the middle of the park to support the frontman, static Rangers shelled long-range grenades at Jon Daly.
As Miguel Pallardo and Morgaro Gomis used calm and composure in the engine room Ian Black and Law scuttled around without real input.
Could Hearts could handle the spotlight was the question posed beforehand by the likes of Black, McGregor and Miller. Well they handled it a damn sight better than Rangers, that’s for sure.
Having scored the clinching goal to secure a thrilling win, Jamie Walker had his opportunity to ram those jibes back down their throats. But he didn’t. And that’s how Hearts are going about their business.
Popular opinion suggests when the dark winter days arrive and injuries and suspensions begin to hit Hearts they will start to struggle.
Well on Saturday, as Rangers arrived with a full compliment, their hosts were missing three of their most influential men – Danny Wilson, Prince Buaben and Osman Sow. A key trio bang down the spine of the team absent, yet it had little detrimental effect.
They weren’t tremendous to begin with. Rangers had a modicum of control and while they didn’t really threaten their territorial advantage meant Hearts’ front four of Walker, Jason Holt, Billy King and Soufain El Hassnoaui were being forced to do their work back the pitch.
But Smith’s red card changed the dynamic and the good start evaporated. Suddenly, the impressive Gomis and Pallardo took control. Walker, Holt and King began to get involved and Hearts were on the ascendancy.
Had Steve Simonsen not made a breathtaking save from Brad McKay’s header just before the interval the hosts would have led at the break.
But when the opener did come it was as sweet a ball as Holt will hit all season after McCulloch’s scrambled clearance dropped into his path 20 yards out.
Rangers’ mood darkened. Miller went crashing through Kevin McHattie before being hauled off and sub Kris Boyd also left one on McKay as frustration mounted.
When Walker duped Black into shoving him in the box and he converted the award it capped
a miserable day for the visitors which has put them bang under pressure in this title race and raised yet more questions about the manager.
McCoist has been around long enough to know that when his own fans start chanting “Ally, Ally, get tae ****” and 15,000 home supporters gleefully follow that up with a raucous rendition of “Super Ally”
it’s not a good sign.
The red card was pivotal, yet there was a concerning lack of a plan from the dugout with 10 men to try to stem the tide when Hearts went in front.
Instead, store seemed to be placed on loading the box at set-plays and praying for second balls and crumbs to level.
McCoist’s team are not out of this title race. With only 14 games gone and 22 to go it would be an idiot who says they are.
But it would also be idiotic to ignore that if things continue to progress in the manner as they are on and off the field at both clubs the Ibrox club will be out of it soon enough.
Hearts are floating on a cloud right now. Across the M8 there are only black ones gathering over Rangers.
And right now, it’s more than nine points on a league table that separates these clubs.
