Hearts Signing policy

[Not In The Know]

Apologies if this has been discussed before but I just read this article in the scotsman about them. its from before the Transfer window opened, and its staggering when you think about it. They are basically saying they are signing players they can't really afford. Hoping they unearth a talent they can sell on and cover their costs. All it takes is a run of bad signings and they are in trouble. So it looks like the years of over spending are not over.



MOIRA GORDON

Wednesday 21 December 2016


Recruiting players who can cope with the demands of playing at Hearts is not always easy, with the club admitting to one or two disappointing signings but insisting that the good outweigh the bad.


Addressing more than 400 shareholders at the club’s AGM yesterday, director of football Craig Levein responded to criticisms of certain acquisitions, including Juwon Oshaniwa and the latest target for the Tynecastle boo boys, Conor Sammon, saying that the signing policy was risky but simple – to get the best value for money possible and hopefully unearth unpolished gems.
Saying it was inappropriate to talk about individual players and insisting no player in their price range comes with a guarantee, he said: “Fans can pick the players they like and the players they don’t, but every one signed is done so in a bid to make the team stronger.
“There are a number of ways of recruiting and most of them are very expensive, involving feet on the ground in Europe. Even then a lot of teams don’t get it right. The model we have is risky – I agree with that – but we will take some disappointments along the way and hopefully the ones that work make up for the ones that don’t.
“We made a conscious decision to take some risks and try to get players we thought were probably better than we could afford – and in some cases it has worked extremely well. But it is difficult to say for absolutely sure. You can do as many checks as you like, and look at their character, but when the pressure is on, maybe they can’t handle it. It is very difficult to know that unless they are here and actually playing.”
Detailing three types of players he said were part of the club’s long-term strategy, Levein, who once again had to assure the shareholders that he did not interfere in the picking of the team and was simply there as a sounding board and mentor for the head coach, said there was a need for solid, hard-working professionals, a good influx of graduates from the academy and a sprinkling of special players.
The youth system is key to that, freeing up the cash needed to finance big buys, but Liam Smith, who is one of the current squad to have progressed through the youth ranks, says there are other advantages to promoting from within.
The 20-year-old full-back, who has been earmarked as the natural successor to Callum Paterson, was with his team-mates at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children yesterday, handing out gifts to patients. But, on Saturday, the players had been booed off the pitch following their 1-1 draw with Partick Thistle by supporters infuriated at their inability to beat their bottom-of- the-table opponents.
“You try to block it out but when there are 17,000 people then you hear everything that is going on around about you,” said Smith. “In fairness, they had a right to be annoyed with that second-half performance but it is up to us to handle it in a way where we can push forward and then turn the atmosphere around so that it is for us rather than against us.”
But he admitted that it is hard to prepare new arrivals for the lofty expectations and the wrath of a hostile Tynecastle crowd.
“You don’t get anything like it at many places in Scotland. Obviously, we have one of the top attendances in the country and when that happens, it’s not something you prepare for but you get experience and learn to deal with the pressure.”
Coming through the ranks, like Paterson, Jack Hamilton, Jamie Walker and Sam Nicholson, Smith says they were possibly better prepared for the atmosphere than some of their experienced colleagues, who were less educated on the expectancy levels at the club.
“I think it is part of the club’s philosophy that they want to produce kids who have come through the youth academy and that has been done over the past few years, myself being one of them, and I think all the boys are there at the games, seeing it and getting a feel for the atmosphere,” he said. “If you can prepare like that before you come into the first team then it can only stand you in good stead.”
For those who haven’t adapted or failed to make the grade, Levein told the shareholders to expect comings and goings during the January transfer window. There is money in the budget for new manager Ian Cathro to bring in his own players but more could be freed up by moving others out.
“As for moving players on, it’s a game of ‘who blinks first’,” said Levein. “If you give someone a contract then discover six months later that the manager doesn’t fancy them, then they will sit tight and essentially, you are writing off a chunk of money. We try not to do that, and to get them to get a move of their own accord or ask their agent to get something.
“The nature of football is that we don’t have a level of budget that we can guarantee they will all be successes. What we are hoping is that we will get more right than wrong. In this period, as we wait for our own young players coming through, we will continue to take risks and get some right and get some wrong.”"

[Deansy]

Ach it's just what all the 'Big teams' just fresh out of administration do - no real punishment for the first admin so no worries about the next !


I just hope that this time, any charities daft enough to deal with them collect their cash every week !

[Ozyhibby]

I don't think he is saying they are over spending? Just that they are gambling with the money they do have in trying to find a gem that they can sell for big money. They are not able to scout players properly so they are hoping if they buy poorly they are hoping to move the player on quickly.
They may get lucky but I'm glad it's not us.


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[Not In The Know]

[QUOTE=Ozyhibby;4936001]I don't think he is saying they are over spending? Just that they are gambling with the money they do have in trying to find a gem that they can sell for big money. They are not able to scout players properly so they are hoping if they buy poorly they are hoping to move the player on quickly.
They may get lucky but I'm glad it's not us.

he does say "We made a conscious decision to take some risks and try to get players we thought were probably better than we could afford"

Do that 3-4 times and they turn out duds Heriot-Watt will be short of rent money again...

[tamig]

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he does say "We made a conscious decision to take some risks and try to get players we thought were probably better than we could afford"

Do that 3-4 times and they turn out duds Heriot-Watt will be short of rent money again...

Is someone like Sow maybe not an example of that? Ex-EPL player who could probably expect a wage far higher than what hertz could afford to pay him? I read it as they are gambling on players who may be trying to get their career back on track and they are paying them a relatively small wage compared to their actual market value had they not been injured, in the stands or whatever before joining them.

[Bostonhibby]

Does seem at odds with the earlier propaganda about developing their own youngsters

Must be a great place to be a youth or development player - maybe that's reflected in the quality of their development side and how it's doing? It's a load of knee jerk signings driven by Potters panic reaction to a few humpings and the cup draw which tends to define their season.

Debt? nae problem, we'll just owe it to ourselves again.

[GreenLake]

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"...“As for moving players on, it’s a game of ‘who blinks first’,” said Levein. “If you give someone a contract then discover six months later that the manager doesn’t fancy them, then they will sit tight and essentially, you are writing off a chunk of money. We try not to do that, and to get them to get a move of their own accord or ask their agent to get something."

They have a history of not paying players wages and we know how they like to write off chunks of money, especially chunks of money due to creditors.

So they try to get players to "leave of their own accord" so that Hearts avoid writing off a chunk of money due to them? You can't make it up.

[tamig]

One other thing on signings. Where does Bikey fit into this? Will be interesting to see if he gets any game time at all between now and the end of the season. Convinced that signing was purely down to Levein trying to get one over on us. Twat.

[Peevemor]

They'll be minted after this;

"We have new incentives coming. For example, anybody who nominates someone else to join will be entered into a competition to win the plot of grass on which Rudi Skacel scored his first goal against Hibs. Architects and everything have been involved to measure it but we’ve now got a glass cube with that patch of turf inside."



http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.co...arts-1-4359489

[macca70]

Whoever Johnn Colquhoun offers them, they take, Harry Potter then gets a brown envelope!!

[Spike Mandela]

9 signings, new stand, at least £3m shortfall, key transferrable players injured, season tickets, FOH pledge money ongoing , money payable to Budge deferred yet it all just keeps ticking along, business as usual with no alarm bells ringing.

Sooner or later Hearts will wake up to real life economics. Hopefully it starts Sunday with the end of a potentially lucrative cup run.

[Salt N Sauzee]

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They'll be minted after this;

"We have new incentives coming. For example, anybody who nominates someone else to join will be entered into a competition to win the plot of grass on which Rudi Skacel scored his first goal against Hibs. Architects and everything have been involved to measure it but we’ve now got a glass cube with that patch of turf inside."



http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.co...arts-1-4359489

Hahahaha wow. That's pathetic. Even their own fans have got to cringe at that?

[Big L]

It hurts to say, but they have signed a few players that I wished played for us! the guy that sits in front of the back four looks a real find, wins the ball, makes good passes and they are always forward. The wee pasty faced playmaker , I also like, we've been crying out for someone like him for ages. Theirs no doubt their new striker, he got two on Sat, will score goals. Being positive, I think the result against sevco was a one off, no one was more surprised than them. Mixture of sevco's bad defending and a lot of luck. Against Well 0-0 30min's to go and Well were the better side, even when they went down to 10 men, no worries for Sun.

[Betty Boop]

Tom English and co think Hertz is one of the best run clubs in the country.

[Geo_1875]

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They'll be minted after this;

"We have new incentives coming. For example, anybody who nominates someone else to join will be entered into a competition to win the plot of grass on which Rudi Skacel scored his first goal against Hibs. Architects and everything have been involved to measure it but we’ve now got a glass cube with that patch of turf inside."



http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.co...arts-1-4359489

Surely they've relaid their pitch since 2005?

So they're giving away a recently grown patch of turf from the spot where a loan player they couldn't afford scored a goal nearly 12 years ago?

Desperadoes.

[Peevemor]

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Surely they've relaid their pitch since 2005?

So they're giving away a recently grown patch of turf from the spot where a loan player they couldn't afford scored a goal nearly 12 years ago?

Desperadoes.

Yeah, but "architects and everything have been involved..."

[JDHibs]

Pretty much what a hearts guy i do business with has told me. Hes a season ticket holder etc.

They are taking risks on players. Such as most of their January signings, they can get them cheaper as theyve barely played in 6 months. In the hope they come here, preform well and they can sell them on.

Its a risky way to do business but they will get lucky like Kilmarnock did with Coulibaly and make some cash out of it.

They will be hoping Strauna, Martin & Isma will do well and sell them in the summer. SO much for bringing through youth and doing it that way!

[Jack Hackett]

How does their policy work when they sign players on short contracts, and are free to make their own deals?

[greenginger]

I see the Yams have signed up a new Director.

Stuart Wallace, a Senior Tax Partner with PWC.

I wonder what they need his expertise for ?

[Geo_1875]

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I see the Yams have signed up a new Director.

Stuart Wallace, a Senior Tax Partner with PWC.

I wonder what they need his expertise for ?

He looks like Andy Cameron's brother.

[tamig]

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I see the Yams have signed up a new Director.

Stuart Wallace, a Senior Tax Partner with PWC.

I wonder what they need his expertise for ?

Story in the News link above GG. New FOH chair.

[greenginger]

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Story in the News link above GG. New FOH chair.

The question remains, why would HOMFC or FoH require a tax expert on board ?

I wonder if there could be anything wrong in the way all the FoH funds were transferred from liabilities to equity in their last accounts. Maybe didn't dot the i's and cross the t's, and Hector is looking to take a cut to make up some of the dosh he was stiffed for a couple of years back.

Just guess work by me, maybe CWG would know if there were any pitfalls in moving funds around in company accounts.

[CropleyWasGod]

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The question remains, why would HOMFC or FoH require a tax expert on board ?

I wonder if there could be anything wrong in the way all the FoH funds were transferred from liabilities to equity in their last accounts. Maybe didn't dot the i's and cross the t's Hector is looking to take a cut to make up some of the dosh he was stiffed for a couple of years back.

Just guess work by me, maybe CWG would know if there were any pitfalls in moving funds around in company accounts.

It's possible. I did do some mental gyration on the question of the donations a while back. I eventually satisfied myself that it was "ok".

However, now that the original agreement with FOH seems to have been changed, perhaps not.

I'm about to leave the country for a month or so, so you'll have to make it up yourself. 😛

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[greenginger]

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It's possible. I did do some mental gyration on the question of the donations a while back. I eventually satisfied myself that it was "ok".

However, now that the original agreement with FOH seems to have been changed, perhaps not.

I'm about to leave the country for a month or so, so you'll have to make it up yourself. 😛

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Nothing new with that then, according to Yakback I make it all up anyway !

Have a good trip.

[NAE NOOKIE]

Certainly looks like a risky strategy ...... but how can you make money from transfers out of guys on 6 month contracts, even if they do turn out to be an undiscovered new Ronaldo?

Given that they came a baw hair from oblivion I'm surprised they would enter into any 'strategy' that would risk losing large chunks of money ..... I wonder what the FOH guys think of this.

Edit:

Actually I couldn't give a toss what they think about it, lets hope they're horrified

[where'stheslope]

I read last week that their problem with their own youths was from the last year of the Romanov reign when nothing was done to bring in or improve the youth set up.

[Ozyhibby]

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I read last week that their problem with their own youths was from the last year of the Romanov reign when nothing was done to bring in or improve the youth set up.

They lost a lot of kids at that time, including the lad Shaw that is scoring bucket loads for us in the u20's. He's a die hard Jambo as well.


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[hibees 7062]

The fan-led group have now handed more than £5million of money over to Tynecastle officials in less than three years. They must raise another £4m to gain control of Hearts owner Ann Budge’s 75.1 per cent shareholding by 2020

I wonder how much this'll be in 2020

[ancient hibee]

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They'll be minted after this;

"We have new incentives coming. For example, anybody who nominates someone else to join will be entered into a competition to win the plot of grass on which Rudi Skacel scored his first goal against Hibs. Architects and everything have been involved to measure it but we’ve now got a glass cube with that patch of turf inside."



http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.co...arts-1-4359489

I was astonished when I read this.This is a guy who has got some background.I'd like to think he was joking.

[Bostonhibby]

Big teams obviously never replace their turf, either that or they've kept the romanov tradition of taking money of them for any old scam.