IN HIS 10 years at Hearts, Alex MacDonald grew to love the phrase "same team as last week". "Nothing suited me better," he says as he extols the virtues of finding a formula which suits and sticking with it. It is something he hopes the Tynecastle club can adhere to this season as they strive to find their way back to the higher reaches of the league and threaten for silverware.
With managers coming and going and playing personnel chopping and changing on a virtually weekly basis over the past few seasons, there appears to be a greater sense of equilibrium since Csaba Laszlo was handed the managerial reins at the beginning o
f this campaign. The incessant interference in team matters by Vladimir Romanov has apparently waned and the mass rotation of the rank and file has been replaced by a more predictable team selection. Every game bar one has spawned at least one change but there has never been more than two per game since competitive action got under way this summer.
Having finished in the bottom six last term, the current line-up is serving up more positive results. MacDonald is convinced that stabilising the team selection has helped and says it could make a difference heading into the first derby of the season.
"It's even hard to get to know the team because of the changes. You get all these fancy names and then the next week it's changed. If you're going to be dropped as part of this rotation stuff, it's hard to get the sort of team spirit that I wanted."
The impact of such chopping and changing is most keenly felt when the side are in a hostile environment with backs to the walls. That's when the togetherness and understanding is vital, says MacDonald. A derby day trip to Easter Road would certainly fall into that category and when it comes to making the most of those occasions, MacDonald has fared better than most. As player and manager he was involved in 28 capital head-to-heads, winning 13, drawing 12 and losing just three.
"It's a right hard game, every derby is a cup tie. There is just a passion with the players, especially when I was there. There was just no way these guys could get beat by Hibs.
"Some of the foreigners don't realise what it's all about but if you're a regular in the team you're going to have a feeling for it."
A Rangers fan, MacDonald is a prime example of that. Speaking at the launch of Gary Mackay's book this week, he confessed that during his decade at Tynecastle his allegiance to Hearts was finely tuned. "I developed a real passion for Hearts but you couldn't help that with guys like Mackay and (Dave] Bowman – they were all Hearts mad.
"I pumped them up before we went out. Jumping, screaming and running on the spot so they went out there wanting to win. As a coach you're trying to get them ready to play well but I also had to calm some of them down because they were all ready to go. I don't think the players are as pumped up now – they certainly don't look that way to me."
The paucity of locals in the team is one contributing factor, according to the former gaffer, who took them to within minutes of a league title and a Scottish Cup back in 1986. But he says that can be over-ridden by a sense of belonging if the right team spirit is generated.
Recalling the likes of Mackay on derby days he says the local ties could also be an added burden. "The pressure he used to feel as the local boy...he had his rattles on. The passion is much the same as the Old Firm game. There are more punters and maybe a slightly better class of player in Glasgow but the passion is the same."
It will be a new sensation for Laszlo, entering the dragon's den in his first derby as Hearts manager, when he takes his side to Leith this afternoon.
"Early doors there's not so much pressure because you either win or you don't," said MacDonald. "The longer you're here, the more you come to realise how important it is. It's not just about the players and the manager, it's for grannies, cousins and somebody's dog who's not even looking!
"The supporters and the players used to pick on Robbo and he'd put the ball in the back of the net to keep them quiet which was nice for me."
That potent goal threat may be the missing component today. Already this term the midfield and defence have had to wade in with goals to ensure Hearts' presence in the upper league slots, the team conjuring up just 10 in nine games, giving them one of the worst goal differences in the SPL.
But MacDonald will tell you, derby games are about more than stats and more than form. He says it's about a spirit of togetherness and heart and which team has those qualities in greater quantities.
The full article contains 865 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
