Ann Budge has not got where she is today by playing it safe. The Gorgie club’s owner built up a multi-million pound IT business from scratch and oversaw more than 1000 staff before selling it for nearly €50 million. Her business background has taught her that talent, no matter how young or old, deserves to be nurtured, and that risks can reap rewards. She had no qualms, therefore, of appointing Ian Cathro as Hearts’ new head coach.
The Tynecastle outfit sparked fevered debate when, searching for a successor to Robbie Neilson, it became clear they had targeted Cathro, just 30 and without any senior playing career. He would not be able to command a dressing-room, claimed some, and there is more to football success than good coaching sessions and an ability to put together a PowerPoint presentation, scoffed others.
For someone so steeped in business before being plunged into the peculiar world of Scottish football when she saved Hearts from the dangers of extinction, the polarising arguments must have confounded Budge. She took Cathro, a former youth coach with Dundee United and assistant at Rio Ave, Valencia and Newcastle United, at face value and left the meeting with the contemplative Dundonian and assistant Austin MacPhee filled with excitement for the future.
“Have I fast-tracked promising young employees in business? Absolutely,” she said. “Because when you’ve got talent, you have to give them opportunities, in whichever field you are in. It can only benefit you as well as them. There’s nothing gives you greater satisfaction as a [business] manager than watching someone you’ve helped give an opportunity to, go on and do something better.
“I have seen that many times in my career, so I have no fears about giving young people or people with talent opportunities.That’s what it’s all about. It’s almost a mantra for me to never be frightened to move out of your comfort zone. If you have an opportunity that you think is worth taking then don’t let that fear hold you back.
“There probably would have been safer appointments – as there were two-and-a-half years ago [when Neilson was appointed]. But, certainly, I don’t worry about taking risk – as long as it’s managed risk and you know what that risk is. And this to me is the right thing to do. It’s not hugely risky; OK, it’s a bit different, but I think it fits in with our overall plan.
“I am relaxed and really excited about what the next few months and years are going to bring.”
IN a clear reference to the perceived accepted domination of the Old Firm, Cathro has claimed he does not respect the kinds of “limits everybody else has set for years”. Hearts have been here before, but with less thoughtful voices, when Vladimir Romanov made wild promises of where he could take the Gorgie club, but on-field success was matched with the dangerous flirtation with administration.
Budge insists she will not preside over any financial extravagance in a bid to chase a dream. Instead, she believes a challenge can be pieced together in other, more systematic, ways and she views the new management team as an integral part of that.
“There’s certainly no way we would attempt to do it financially, using the models that have run in the past,” she said when asked about Cathro’s “no limits” comments. “That’s an absolute no-no. Therefore we have to look at what can we do as a club, whether it’s to think differently, put in a different structure – a few of the things we have already done – and I do think that’s absolutely crucial.
“It’s so much about people and management skill all the way through the club, whether it’s managing the team, managing the backroom staff, the admin staff down here; it is what can we do to make the club better in all of these different aspects?”
One feature of the planned improvements is the building of a new main stand at Tynecastle. The headaches associated with that work ensured that Budge flinched when she heard of Neilson’s decision to depart for MK Dons. However, that initial concern has been replaced by the determination to ensure the change in management simply helps lead the club into an exciting new era.
“With everything happening as it is, we’ve had a good two-and-a-half years,” Budge said. “With what’s going on here, clearly that’s the beginning of a new chapter in the club’s story and I have to say when I first heard Robbie was thinking of moving on, I thought, ‘oh dear, does it have to be now?’.The timing, I thought, ‘oh my goodness’.
“We are just embarking on this stadium work and it’s change on the pitch as well. But, hey, we’re set up to do that. That’s why we have a director of football [Craig Levein], it’s why we are able to take what comes on the field and also focus on what’s going on off the field. We have a broad and good management team here, we can cope with it.”
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