WHEN Tom Ritchie was charged with the responsibility of putting the Hearts players through their paces on the first day of pre-season training, there may have been a few eyebrows raised among supporters.
But one man who wasn't surprised by Ritchie's elevation was football agent and former Hibs goalkeeper Jim McArthur, who believes the Tynecastle coach can go from strength to strength.
McArthur helped launch Ritchie's career in the footballing worl
d when he first came into contact with the former athlete back in 1998 when he was managing Fife boys side Kirkcaldy West FC.
The Jambos fitness coach had just come to the end of a successful running career, representing Scotland in major athletics meetings at all levels and holding the British Mile title and Scottish 400m title, and wanted to become involved with football.
His nephew, who played for the Kirkcaldy club, knew that McArthur was struggling to find willing volunteers to coach the youngsters and put his uncle's name forward.
After just a couple of sessions he had done enough to impress and was a popular figure among the players and less than a season after joining the club, Ritchie was set for bigger and better things.
Using McArthur's contacts in the football world he arranged to spend some time watching local team Cowdenbeath's training sessions and then-boss Craig Levein was so impressed by Ritchie's input that he took him to Central Park.
When Levein moved to Hearts in December 2000 to take over from Jim Jefferies, he took Ritchie with him on a part-time basis and he has been a full-time member of the backroom staff for the past two years. McArthur, who represents Hearts striker Calum Elliot, said: "I was running Kirkcaldy West Boys' Club when I first met Tom. I was coaching the team and had become involved with them really because my son Steven played with them at that time.
"When you're involved with football at that level it can be difficult to find people to help out on a regular basis and I was struggling to find someone who could help out with the coaching and fitness side of things.
"One of the boys in the team said his uncle was interested in becoming involved with football and that he had all of the credentials because he was into fitness in a big way, having been a runner.
"So, I told him to bring him along, which he did and it built from there.
"He was a very good athlete in his own right and won the Scottish Junior Championship at his distance, so he knew his stuff."
And while there has been much criticism of the coaching set-up at Tynecastle in recent weeks as the long-running managerial saga rumbles on, McArthur for one is a huge fan of the former athlete.
Ritchie became a full-time member of the backroom staff at Tynecastle in September 2006 and McArthur believes that his ability to put players at ease is one of his biggest strengths.
However, it was his fitness coaching which persuaded Levein to take him on as part of his team at Cowdenbeath and it didn't take the present Dundee United manager long to make his mind up.
McArthur added: "He helped me out a lot, he would take the players for runs or sprints and that let me get on with other things.
"He's a great lad and well liked by all of the players because he can have a laugh with them but, at the same time, can get them to knuckle down.
"He has a great range of knowledge of the game as well as being extremely fit and, to be honest, he was probably wasted at that level.
"Tam wanted to move up to another level as well and one night when we were training Tam asked me if there was any way that he could go along to watch how Cowdenbeath trained so I phoned Craig Levein and arranged it.
"Craig was more than happy to help out and when he saw what Tam was doing he thought that he was great.
"Which was fantastic for Tam – but I lost my fitness coach!
"I spoke to Craig again after Tam had moved to Cowdenbeath and he said that if he moved on, he would be taking Tam with him.
"As it turned out, Craig went to Hearts and he took Tam with him and it's great to see him reaching the levels that he has done so far.
"We still keep in touch, mainly when I see him at games or functions or when I'm up at the training ground. People might have questioned the decision at the start of the week but there's not a problem there. He knows his stuff, he's a good lad and he's worked hard for it."
With Stephen Frail placed on 'gardening leave' last week, it was left to Ritchie to take the players their paces at the beginning of the week and he has since been joined by returning coach Angel Chervenkov, who is expected to revert to reserve-team duties when the club appoints a full-time manager.
Despite the upheaval, Ritchie has been pleased with the reaction from the players in training this week.
And the Tynecastle fitness coach, who is now one of the few remaining members of the backroom staff to speak fluent English, said: "Angel was in at the Academy on Tuesday, we all know him from last season and it was good to catch up with him again.
"He is here to assist with the training of the first-team squad and I am sure that he's looking forward to getting out on the training pitches with the lads.
"The players have all been working hard this week and the spirit in the camp is excellent.
"We have been following an intensive programme and to be fair to them, they have been terrific. They were looking forward to getting the football involved again. While that may be a welcome change for them though, they must maintain their focus as there is plenty of hard work left before we play our first match of the pre-season against Glentoran in Belfast."
The full article contains 1049 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
