Another one bites the dust

[HOOPBHOY ' 67]

Stephen Frail: Manager leaves Hearts by 'mutual consent'


Picture: Dan Phillips

Published Date: 09 July 2008
By IAN RODGERS


STEPHEN Frail has left Hearts "by mutual consent", the club have announced.

The caretaker manager was told to stay away from training when the players reported for pre-season two weeks ago.

The former Hearts player had been a constant presence among the coaching staff during the turbulent spell under majority shareholder Vladmimir Romanov. But Frail's exit was confirmed a day after Romanov criticised his spell in charge.

He was appointed interim head coach in January following an unsuccessful experiment with a coaching triumvirate also involving sporting director Anatoly Korobochka and Bulgarian coach Angel Chervenkov.

Frail had been the public face of the management team and was given apparent responsibility for team selection with Hearts in 10th place in the Premier League following a five-game losing streak.

The team moved up the table and were pushing for a top-six place before a 0-0 draw at Kilmarnock in the final game before the split. Hearts then finished the season in eighth spot after losing their final three games.

That led to criticism from Romanov, who appeared to rule out employing a Scottish coach in an interview with BBC Scotland on Tuesday.

He said: "Scottish people are part of the local footballing mafia, and it is very difficult for them to rise above that level.

"In the past I had experience of allowing people to run the club, allowing locals to run the club, but that really didn't bring tangible results. Even in the beginning of the year, the team was managed by local people. It was fully their responsibility, nobody interfered with them.

"You knew who was in charge of the team, Stephen Frail, so in the end that did not bring good results. They lost a lot of places in the table, nearly falling down to the lower league."

The club were more conciliatory in announcing the departure of Frail, who rejoined Hearts as under-19 coach in 2004 before being promoted to assistant coach.

A statement on the clubs official website, www.heartsfc.co.uk, said: "As a former Hearts player, having appeared 66 times for the Edinburgh football club, Stephen will always be welcome at Tynecastle, and leaves Hearts with everyone's best wishes for the future. Hearts will make an announcement on the appointment of a new football manager shortly."


The full article contains 393 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
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• Last Updated: 09 July 2008 4:08 PM
• Source: The Scotsman

Romanovs a fuckin muppet , what manager in his right mind is gonna take this job

[MarcyBhoy]

At some point I think the SFA will need to step in, there is too many dodgey things happening with that man.

[HOOPBHOY ' 67]

didn't realise I had such a big family , Scottish Mafia , lol

[clagan24]

the express was linking holloway to the job today

[david_trezeguet]

is a joke!.....i think hearts should put an application form on there web site for the job!.......you never know anyone off tc could be there manager who you think would be good?...........clagan get your suit on you sound as if you could do a good job there

[Bo'nessBhoy88]

I feel quite sorry for Frail ( celtic fan ) to be honest. I think he should have left them a long time ago. The way they have treated him is shocking.

[Colin McRae]

tbh, this one mad vlad had right.
he had them in the bottom six. that is not good enough not even NEARLY good enough for hearts.
that'd be like us finishing 3rd.
just not acceptable, no matter what the circumstances

[Bo'nessBhoy88]

Originally Posted by Colin McRae

tbh, this one mad vlad had right.
he had them in the bottom six. that is not good enough not even NEARLY good enough for hearts.
that'd be like us finishing 3rd.
just not acceptable, no matter what the circumstances

They might be able to push for 3rd if Vlad stops interfering and if there is a bit of stability. I don't think it's Frails fault they finished in the bottom six as the damage was done when the team was picked by the previous management earlier in the season.

[zmcfc]

I still think George Burley should be their manager. If he still was, they could seriously be challenging us and the Huns.

[Bo'nessBhoy88]

Originally Posted by zmcfczm

I still think George Burley should be their manager. If he still was, they could seriously be challenging us and the Huns.

I agree with you there mate. If Burley wasn't sacked they would've gave us a REAL challenge for the league.

[celticdaftdan]

There loss, hopefully they have an even worse season hate hearts.

[Bhoys Dont Cry]

would be good if they could put a little bit of pressure on us and the buns... make it more interesting.