REMEMBER the intro to the TV programme Baddiel And Skinner Unplanned? A bunch of people skipped down the street singing “It’ll never work, it’ll never work”, getting louder as they went, and looking rather pleased with themselves.
Not one of the great theme tunes, I know, and not one of the great TV shows either, but the song has come to mind over the past couple of days as various sages within Scottish football have voiced their opinions on Hearts’ appointment of Ian Cathro as head coach. Now that Austin MacPhee has joined him as assistant manager, the sceptical noises will no doubt increase in volume.
Granted, there is an element of risk in every appointment - a fact Cathro himself acknowledged in the press conference where he and MacPhee were unveiled yesterday. Indeed, probably a majority of coaching appointments end in disappointment, such is the unforgiving nature of football.
But the criticism of the new team at Tynecastle has gone beyond any rational scepticism, and instead reflected some of the ingrained resistance to change that is one of the main reasons why Scottish football is in such a desperate state. And it is notable that the disparagement of Cathro has not actually focused on his ability or otherwise as a coach.
Instead, we’ve been told a few things that supposedly make him the wrong man for the job. He’s young - only 30. He has never played the game at a high level, having turned to coaching aged 22 after playing as a youth with a few clubs. Shockingly, he has a laptop and is not afraid to use it. And, perhaps even more damningly, he once attended a coaching course where he supposedly kept himself to himself.
If Scottish football were thriving, some of those criticisms might make sense. If, for example, there were scores of vastly experienced middle-aged men out there inexplicably available for work right now, each one with a chestful of medals acquired over the course of an illustrious coaching career, perhaps one of them should have got the job instead of Cathro. Or if the quality of coaching in this country were so high that no-one could actually benefit from using a laptop for statistical or video analysis, instead relying purely on their own innate genius, Hearts should surely have gone for someone else.
As for the suggestion that he must be a bit shy given he did not muck in with some of the other people on a coaching course, perhaps he had something better to do with his time? Like working, for example.
Yes, Cathro is inexperienced when it comes to taking charge of a team, having so far only been an assistant manager. But he was in that post at Rio Ave, Valencia and Newcastle, which means, for one thing, that he has a lot more experience than did his predecessor, Robbie Neilson, when he was appointed. And Neilson did not too badly during his time in charge, taking Hearts to the Championship title in his first season then finishing third in the Premiership in his second.
What is more - again, as Cathro himself discussed yesterday - he has not been appointed in isolation. This is not about one man who will be left to sink or swim, buoying Hearts up or dragging them down with him.
Craig Levein remains the director of football, and will continue to play a vital role in the development of the club - though that role, Cathro made clear, will not extend to picking the team. MacPhee, who is 37, will also have a crucial part to play. There is a coherent structure at Hearts, a proper plan for progress, and Cathro will be given ample support within that structure to ensure that the progress continues.
So what kind of person is the new Hearts coach? On the evidence of that first press conference, he is certainly not shy or retiring. Nor is he some sort of otherworldly intellectual as he has been painted in some quarters.
He listens when you ask him a question, thinks about his answer, then replies in plain English. His enthusiasm is infectious - not, alas, something you could say of every coach in the land. He has a nice line in self-deprecation, referring to the controversy about his appointment by claiming he never knew he was so interesting, and offering to deliver a powerpoint presentation.
And he is self-confident too - not in the sense of wanting to assert himself all the time, but self-confident enough to be open to sceptical questions rather than feeling defensive. Take the way he replied to a question concerning the doubts about his suitability for the job.
“I understand those doubts,” he said. “Those doubts are valid and I accept the responsibility for the removal of those doubts. That’s on me.”
Hearts fans, of course, will hope that those doubts are removed as soon as possible, but supporters of other clubs should do so too. Because the best way to bring about an overall improvement in the standard of the domestic game has to be to increase the amount of genuine competition within the Premiership - and the best way to do that is by bringing in the kind of new blood and new ideas represented by Cathro.
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