I was the Hearts Grim Reaper but Critchley has brought Jambos back from the dead and third place is ON - Ryan Stevenson
Let's be honest. It’s not been much fun writing a weekly column about Hearts over the last six months. As grateful as I am to have this role with the Daily Record, it’s not exactly been a barrel of laughs lately, has it?
There have been times when I’ve felt a bit like the Grim Reaper of Edinburgh. Had things got any worse for my old club I’d have posed for a new picture wearing a black hooded cloak and carrying a scythe. So I can’t tell you how good it feels to be sitting here right now with a smile plastered all over my face on the back of the most enjoyable few days of the season on Gorgie Road.
Saturday’s 6-0 win at Dundee felt like a game changer where this whole campaign is concerned. The transfer window then closed on Monday night with the squad looking in great shape for the remainder of the campaign.
And let me tell you something, if I was in that dressing room right now I’d be telling the boys that a third place finish in the league is now an achievable target. That may have sounded ridiculous just a few weeks ago but it doesn’t seem quite so daft now that Hearts are moving up through the table again and are currently just seven points behind Dundee United.
OK, nobody could have foreseen the wheels coming off at Aberdeen as spectacularly as they have. But with Jimmy Thelin’s team in a state of free fall I genuinely believe third spot behind Celticv and Rangers is up for grabs.
United are in that position for the time being but they’re also struggling for wins at the moment. So why shouldn’t Hearts aim high now that they’ve managed to get themselves back into the chasing pack? Seven points is far from insurmountable, especially when you consider that Hearts are third in the form league since Neil Critchley took over the job.
The mood music around Tynecastle has completely changed and that’s also really significant heading into the second half of the season. The problem I always found with football is that there is no such thing as a happy medium. In my 17 years as a player I can’t remember a single time when I was just bobbing along thinking, ‘This is alright!’.
It was either absolutely amazing or f****** horrendous! That’s just the nature of the beast.
And that’s where I think the manager has done an incredible job. He has been the stable one since his first day in the hotseat and he’s done it with great grace.
Bit by bit he’s built a team that’s fit for purpose and the performance at the weekend was everything you could possibly want to see from a Hearts side. The finishing was clinical, the defending was solid and new signings have come in, hitting the ground running.
Hands up, I’ve been critical of a lot of things this season and, yes, I was sceptical about Critchley’s appointment and the use of Jamestown Analytics to source new recruits. But, from his first interview, I liked what I was hearing. I enjoyed the way he came across because he calls it as it is.
I always felt January was going to be a massive month for the club because the window was going to be so important. But he got his business done early and that helped to settle everybody down, myself included.
You could see that they were on the ball in everything they were doing. There were obviously a few comings and goings on deadline day and everything now seems perfectly set up for the rest of the campaign.
That’s why third place should now be the focus. I guarantee the players will already be talking about it. If they can get there by the end of the season then everyone will forget all about the problems at the start and the fact that Hearts were at one point sitting at the bottom of the table, in serious danger of dropping out of the league.
For Critchley, what an achievement that would be. He’d have to come into contention for the manager of the year awards and that would put a tin lid on this turnaround. Let’s not forget they are still in the Scottish Cup and you never know what might happen there. But, for now, it just feels massively positive and the momentum seems to be building at the right time.
If Jamestown is responsible for the signing of Elton Kabangu then I’m going to have to eat my words on that too because the early signs are that they’ve landed an absolute cracker. He’s basically scored in every game he’s played and you’re always worried that the bubble might burst at some stage. But there’s no sign of that so far.
More importantly, I see a difference in some of the players who have been there for a wee while. It looks as if it’s all starting to fall back into place for them.
Lawrence Shankland was back to being Lawrence Shankland on Saturday. His opening goal was a trademark finish and his pass for the fourth was out of this world.
Hopefully that’s him back to the levels we have come to expect from him. If he recaptures his best form between now and the end of the season then Hearts will be flying again - and somebody should be battering down his door with an improved contract to get his future sorted out.
Like I say, all of a sudden there’s so much for the club to feel excited and optimistic about. And even the Grim Reaper can see it.
