STEPHEN Frail has not had to wait long for his first gig back in football following the formal cutting of his ties with Hearts on Wednesday. In a decision which further proves his resourcefulness after a troubled last few months at Tynecastle, the former Hearts stalwart will this morning clamber aboard a flight chartered by Hibs as they head out to Sweden for the second leg of their Intertoto Cup tie.
He knows some gentle – and perhaps not so gentle – banter awaits. His presence in the Hibs party has not been motivated by a desire to cock a snook at Vladimir Romanov, who dispensed with Frail's services this week having criticised the side's perfor
mances last season. Frail has too much respect for the Tynecastle club not to have thought long and hard about accepting an offer from BBC Scotland to be an expert summariser as Mixu Paatelainen's side seek to turn round a two-goal deficit against IF Elfsborg.
"It is not Hibs I am going away with – it is the BBC," he said. "I was called during the week. My time at Hearts is over. I thought hard about it. I know it's strange that my first job in football after Hearts, although it's actually with the media, is to watch your rivals. But I am not working for Hibs, I am doing it for the BBC. They kindly asked me along. It's a game of football in another country, and I am looking forward to it. Like anybody else, I need to earn a living."
He feels liberated by confirmation of his exit from Hearts, and, as well as being head-hunted by the BBC, has already received invites to training grounds as clubs prepare for the new league season.
"I don't think Craig (Levein] will mind me saying this, but he said I was welcome any time I wanted to go up (to Dundee United] and watch training for a day, and John McGlynn has been the same at Raith Rovers," revealed Frail. "I will definitely take them up on it. It shows who your friends are. It gets you back on the training pitch. And it beats crashing around golf courses as well.
"It was back in 1985 when I began as an apprentice at Dundee," he continued. "Obviously I have missed a pre-season before when I have been out injured. But at least you are still involved. This is the first time I haven't been involved in an employment sense. It's tough."
Frail has kept himself busy in the short time since his departure from Hearts was confirmed by "mutual consent" on Wednesday. That very night he honoured a prior commitment and made his debut as a co-presenter on local radio station Talk 107. He knew there were likely to be some difficult questions, but he handled them with aplomb. It proved a positive experience and even some Hibs fans offered their sympathies.
Frail's exit from Hearts was mutual in so much that Frail has agreed to keep a dignified silence about events behind the scenes at Tynecastle, but there is no disguising his hurt. Romanov's throwaway remark about his appointment not having worked out was, as well as being thoughtless, a too-basic interpretation of what unfolded last season. Frail was handed full responsibility for first-team affairs at the start of the year, and more than steadied the ship. Hearts' record between then and the start of the split would have seen the side positioned behind only Celtic and Rangers in the league. Three defeats in five bottom-six games stained an otherwise commendable performance from Frail and his players.
"I am not going to sit and agree with him (Romanov]," said Frail. "I disagree with him and I am allowed to disagree with him. Not all the performances were great, but, from January to the split, we were the third best team. I put pressure on myself to get into the top six, but to have finished third behind Celtic and Rangers in my time in charge gives me hope and, from my own point of view, shows me I am up to it. I am entitled to my opinion even with the confidentiality clause, and I don't agree with him."
The day may come when Frail is walking down George Street in Edinburgh and he looks up to see Romanov bearing down towards him. Asked for his reaction, he said: "I would not be embarrassed. I can look people in the eye and say I gave my all. If he was there, I would never ignore him. I am not like that. I have been told I will be made welcome back at the club. I hope that is always the case."
The full article contains 808 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
