Jambo Jim’s Hearts not in it
The League Cup final that is.
On paper you would take Hearts to beat St Mirren but the SPL is much of a muchness between a great number of teams so it is not as if the Fir Park was a result.
Hearts are currently going through a terrible run of form.
They’ve already been dumped out of the Scottish Cup this year but since their last minute disappointment at Ibrox, Hearts have failed to score and have lost three games on the spin.
They also lost a manager.
It seemed like a shock decision for most of Scottish football but Hearts fans took the loss of Csaba Laszlo in their stride.
Not because of the managerial merry-go-round that has taken place under Vladimir Romanov at times but because they were tiring of his proclamations and interesting line-ups.
Hearts had a good run of form in December and much of the praise was being delivered on the crop of youngsters in the team. Laszlo was getting the press praise for playing them but yet again, the hacks missed the point of this.
Over ten years ago, Ebbe Skohvdahl at Aberdeen was lauded for sticking with youngsters and flooding the Dons team with a new wave of youngsters. The reality was that the Dane had no one else to turn to, Aberdeen were skint and had offloaded most of their experienced players. It was play them or play no one, hardly inspired managerial choices.
The same was true for Laszlo. An injury ravaged squad combined with a small spend in the summer saw Laszlo left with no alternative. The enthusiasm of these additions and the penalties of Michael Stewart appeared to have turned the corner for the Jambos but there is still a lot wrong at the club.
Is Jefferies the man for the job or the right man at the right time? After all, he just happened to have been in Edinburgh shopping with the wife when Hearts contacted him to replace Laszlo. With that soet of luck on your side, how could you not appoint him?
A 1-0 loss to St Johnstone was bad enough but falling out of the League Cup meekly to St Mirren would have been a major blow to the former Killie boss. Hearing that his former team overcame Celtic for the first time in 9 years wouldn’t have made his mood any brighter.
With no Scottish Cup tie at the weekend, Jefferies next game is at Celtic Park on Wednesday 13th and as bad as Hearts are, you would not be shocked to see them take a point or three from Parkhead.
With a full week to prepare the Jambos, Jefferies can have no excuses but he will be under no illusions the size of the task that faces him.
Can Jefferies firmly cement Hearts in the top six?
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