Hearts v Rangers Preview

There, watching high the least alarms,

Thy rough, rude fortress gleams afar;

Like some bold veteran, grey in arms,

And mark'd with many a seamy scar:

The pond'rous wall and massy bar,

Grim-rising o'er the rugged rock,

Have oft withstood assailing war,

And oft repell'd th' invader's shock

Today’s invaders at Tynecastle might not carry the historical threat of Burns’ Address to Edinburgh.

But how Hearts would like to withstand and repel Rangers in the SPL clash of the day.

Since Hearts' unbeaten run - now stretching to ten SPL games - started to gather pace two clashes have gained ever more importance.

The first arrives at lunchtime when they host the defending champions. The next comes on Wednesday when they travel to Glasgow to face Celtic.

Talk has grown of a sustained challenge to the Old Firm, of Hearts sandwiching themselves between the Glasgow pair or even, whisper it, taking the championship.

I’ve viewed those as unlikely aspirations although, leaving any Capital rivalry or green tinged envy aside, most welcome achievements in the barren landscape of the national game. But I have tempered my pessimism with an addendum: these two games could define Hearts’ season.

Suddenly Hearts would have people believing and maybe, just maybe, the Old Firm looking over their shoulders in disbelief. These two games could provide a springboard to a monumental season and at the very least drive Hearts on towards an Ibrox clash at the start of next month.

That, at least, is the theory. Can Hearts get the job done?

The stage is set. Hearts have momentum and Tynecastle provides the perfect backdrop to the kind of blood and thunder clash that will make people cast down their lunch and take a bit of notice of Scottish football again.

Rangers are now officially deprived of the services of Kenny Miller. Will that impact on the mood of the squad as well as robbing Rangers of this season’s most noticeable goal threat?

Worth remembering that in their last three games Miller has played only once and drew a blank. Rangers still scored eight goals without reply in those matches. As ever with the Ibrox side there are still resources to be drawn on, a thrawness in the face of adversity to rely on.

And even as Rangers remain in their apparent state of penury we can't forget that they signed Nikika Jelavic for big money in the summer. Free of injury now is the time that Walter Smith needs the Croatian to start delivering.

Hearts themselves are contending with injury woes as both Kevin Kyle and Rudi Skacel face late fitness tests. Big players to be missing from big games.

But Hearts were without them against Kilmarnock on Tuesday and came through after going a goal down.

A depth to the squad, ability, belief and a strong manager. Hearts have much going for them this season.

How much? Ninety minutes at Tynecastle today should go some way to telling us. This could be a cracker.

My verdict: Learning's eagle eyes will search in vain for Burns' science in her coy abode in Edinburgh today. But hopefully there will be drama enough to satisfy even a bard's cravings.

A fit Kyle and Skacel would help Hearts’ cause. Even without them they remain a threat, mixing a doughtiness in defence with a dangerous directness and no little cunning. Time for them to prove the challenge is a real one. Guts, passion, goals and a home win should set them up nicely.

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Killie me softly (Updated)

Update

Kilmarnock have confirmed that Jefferies and Billy Brown are to leave the club by mutual consent:

"An agreement has been reached among Kilmarnock Football Club, team manager Jim Jefferies and assistant team manager Billy Brown which will allow Messrs Jefferies and Brown to leave the employment of the club with immediate effect. 

"The agreement was reached by mutual consent."

The background

It’s never been all that difficult to spot the difference between Jim Jefferies and a man with a vivacious love for life.

Right now, however, his grumpy git demeanour looks to be entirely justified. Kilmarnock seem to be in the midst of the kind of internal bun fight that would have Gordon Brown nodding in recognition.

Like most Scottish clubs Killie are currently enduring the painful belt tightening that is the inevitable consequence of a good few years of financial silliness. As always in these situations the manager is punished for the recklessness of the board. And then he finds the board blaming him when the results begin to suffer. Such is the manager’s lot.

Jim Jefferies is too long in the tooth not to expect that. And he is certainly bloody minded enough to see it out.

But I’m increasingly of the view that it might be the right time to jump ship for JJ.

We all knew something was seriously wrong when the Kilmarnock players threatened to strike in the summer over the clubs refusal to pay the wages needed to move Gary Locke into a permanent coaching position.

Jefferies weathered that storm like he’s weathered so many over the years. Things haven’t improved as the season has worn on. His threadbare squad has struggled, the lack of strength in depth meaning consistency was all but impossible to achieve.

And now, it seems, the Kilmarnock chairman Michael Johnston has tried to persuade JJ’s current head boy, Kevin Kyle, to dish the dirt on the boss.

It must be said that Johnston has denied the claims, even suggesting that it was Kyle who originally raised concerns over tactics, and threatened to discipline the gangly striker for mouthing off to press.

A storm in a teacup? A manufactured media mash to fill the vacuum caused by a disrupted fixture list and a quiet transfer window. Or even an elaborate move by Kyle to engineer a move to pastures new?

It could be all of these things. But it has served to further strain relations between a chairman hell bent on cost cutting and a manager desperate to galvanise his struggling team.

It has also given Jefferies an exit strategy. If he leaves now few would blame him. He’s seen as one of Scottish football’s more decent guys and he deserves more than to be the victim of a cack handed conspiracy of whispering idiots. Walking now lets him control his own destiny.

Staying out of loyalty to the supporters and players would be laudable and in character. But at this stage in his career does he not want more than a battle with SPL survival?

There are options out there. Dundee United and Motherwell would probably sit up and take notice if an experienced Scottish manager suddenly announced his availability.

And Kilmarnock, with their small but reasonably solid squad, would probably benefit right now from an injection of enthusiasm from a younger man. The board would be able to set out the constraints and ambitions of the club to a new manager from the start. That would remove the resentment that Jefferies and his staff obviously feel about the shifting sands that have blighted Rugby Park recently.

Sometimes a parting of the ways is the healthiest option for all concerned. Who knows, we might just see Jim Jefferies smile before January is over.

Let's talk about money

Money. Makes the world go round apparently. And makes footballers go weak at the knees. Not weak enough that they can’t run into the arms of whichever millionaire club owner has arrived at their door with a wheelbarrow full of used notes though.

But. Money’s not everything. I know it’s a short career. I know you could get injured tomorrow and never kick another ball. I know all that.

The thing very few footballers ever seem to grasp is that the grass is not always greener.

Money talks. And at the moment it seems to be calling a number of SPL players to the lower leagues in England.

Colin Nish from Hibs is the latest to be linked with a move, with talk of him linking up with his erstwhile captain Rob Jones in what’s looking like a Championship relegation scrap with Scunthorpe.

Now Colin Nish currently plays for the team he supported as a kid. We all had dreams on the playing fields of our childhoods. Colin Nish has worked hard, succeeded and his dreams have come true. What’s more he earns a decent wage and gets to live in Edinburgh, a city with a world wide reputation.

Is Scunthorpe really worth trading that in for?

Danny Cadamarteri, Nicky Weaver, Kevin Kyle, Anthony Stokes. Just a few of the players who’ve decided that life in the SPL is better than life in the lower reaches of English football. It’s not all glitter, wags and cash down south.

We’re down on Scottish football at the moment. Useless in Europe. Scotland struggling. The game run by numpties. There’s a lot to be down about.

But we’re also home to some decent coaches, passionate fans, improving facilities. Some of the football’s not great but some of it is genuinely exciting, honest, fast, furious. We’re not a nation of trumpet blowers but we should at least move away from the almost suicidal depression that’s been surrounding us.

Kevin Kyle is on the verge of a Scotland recall.

I can’t quite believe I’ve written that. But would he have been in that position if he’d stayed down south?

Is Colin Nish not guaranteed to begin a long descent into obscurity the minute he signs for Scunthorpe?

Go south. Go west. But remember for every Alan Hutton there’s a couple of Michael Stewarts. For every Scott Brown there’s a Derek Riordan or an Alan Gow.

I suppose players will always be blinded by money. There’s very little we can do about that.

But we can at least accentuate the positives. We’re not world beaters, our top flight is not a top league. But it’s not all bad. Some players are beginning to realise that, are beginning to base their transfer descisions on factors other than simple, hard cash.

Let’s hope that trend is here to stay.