Burley proved wrong as Hearts youths prosper

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PART 2
Behind the scenes: club is reaping the benefit of youth academy, says John Murray

CRAIG Gordon's £9 million move from Hearts to Sunderland pulled John Murray out of a hole, in the eyes of his critics.

Murray, youth academy director at Tynecastle and the man in charge of overseeing scouting, signing and coaching of youngsters, has been readily compared with his counterparts at Easter Road. Kevin Thomson, Scott Brown and Garry O'Connor earned Hibernian millions of pounds having developed from youth to first-team level. Derek Riordan remains an Easter Road prodigal son and Steven Fletcher is expected to be Hibs' next multi-million pound departure while Callum Booth's reputation already belies his teenage years.

Hearts, some would say, have had no such embarrassment of riches in recent years but Murray stresses his club are anything but behind the times at youth level.

"People forget that Kevin Thomson did youth time at Coventry City, Scott Brown was at Rangers first," said the amiable Northern Irishman. "At that time, Hibs had nobody else to play. No disrespect to them but they had a very small squad and a low wage budget which gave young boys a chance early, to develop quicker.

"We have boys here now like Andrew Driver, Christope Berra and Eggert Jonsson who are worth a lot of money; it is all about timing. If we sold these guys tomorrow, we would make millions of pounds."

The current Scotland manager George Burley was another who seemingly also took a dim view of the talent at Murray's disposal. Burley, during his brief tenure at Hearts three years ago, expressed surprise at the quality of youth players compared to what he was used to dealing with in England.

"I had a few different views to George," recalls Murray, who can at least smile about such verbal jousts now. "But he was a good coach, a good manager.

"If you want to look at England, you could ask why there are 55 million people and they can't find left-sided midfield players."

While Burley was not, in truth, at Tynecastle for nearly long enough to make a full assessment of the youngsters within Hearts' system, the matter clearly still irks Murray, who points out that several of the under-19 squad of 2005 "are in the first team now".

Murray doesn't do vague answers. Hard work is more his thing, 12 hour days at the Riccarton training complex routinely followed by taking in youth matches at weekends. The man brought to Edinburgh by Jim Jefferies, then as a first-team scout, more than a decade ago, hardly ever sees Hearts play "I get to the odd midweek first-team game," he said. "I get more enjoyment from watching the young boys play."

Murray's main competition when securing youngsters comes, he says, from both halves of the Old Firm. Celtic even made an approach to lure Murray himself to Glasgow last season, an offer he rejected out of hand without so much as scrutinising the terms on offer.

"Rangers and Celtic have spent a lot of money on youth development but this season at every level, Hearts and Hibs are competing with them. Hibs' Under-19s are top of the league just now.

"Youngsters get a chance here where maybe they wouldn't with bigger clubs. There are different challenges here, boys are not put under pressure to do things they are not meant to do. Here, we can bring them through at a slower pace.

"There is nobody who has walked out of here who I thought should have had a first-team chance and didn't get one."

Hearts have sold three youth players to England in recent times, Manchester United securing the services of David Gray and Daniel Galbraith, while Kris Paterson moved to Blackburn Rovers. The Tynecastle club did, however, attempt to re-sign Gray on loan in the last close season. Their current under-19 team, ironically in which the Hibs-supporting Craig Thomson has been the star of the campaign, defeated Celtic 3-0 earlier this month.

"Liverpool and Man Utd are watching our players every week," Murray said. "If they like what they see, we will get offers; if that offer isn't good enough we will say no.

"I'd rather have a player who wants to be here than one who doesn't. I tell all the parents, if the lad doesn't 100 per cent want to be here, don't come. We want players who want to play here long-term."

Given the often turbulent nature of off-field events in Gorgie, it is testament to his work ethic that Murray has remained in place and with increasing responsibilities under Vladimir Romanov. The academy director has, in turn, full admiration for the Lithuanian businessman.

"One thing Mr Romanov appreciates is if you are honest with him and tell him the truth," explained Murray. "Even if you disagree with him, tell him you disagree with him. I have had about four one-hour meetings with him. We talk about the future, what we are doing. At the moment he is happy and happy with what we are doing.

"He is a football person, when he comes and watches the academy games you can see he is very enthusiastic about the boys playing in Hearts colours. He loves football. People say he has a lot of faults but, I can assure you, he loves football. He is very knowledgeable, he knows everything that is happening at this club. He is a very shrewd man, who can come in here and talk about players that you wouldn't think he knows about. He has asked time and again for a list of all the players at the academy, from the age of 11 upwards then he will mention those names back to you in conversation.

"Every year the budget gets raised. We are currently negotiating to buy a couple of young Scottish players and we are looking for more. Anything we put to the board with regards the academy, we normally get it, be that facilities, coaches, players or scouts."

Murray believes a declining standard of youth player throughout Britain makes scouting for fresh talent tougher than ever. "Manchester United are going to Brazil to bring in 17-year-olds. You would think they could get players as good as that in Scotland, England or Ireland, but they can't."

The best player to have appeared on Murray and Hearts' radar within the last 18 months is Havard Nordtveit; hopes of luring the Norwegian defender to Edinburgh were ended when Arsenal were willing to pay £1.6 million, plus add-ons, for the then 17-year-old. "He is the only one I have seen in the last five years who I thought was already a great player."

Closer to home, the much-heralded Branimir Kostadinov and Dimitru Copil are yet to force their way into first-team squads. "A lot of people have built them up as superstars but there are no stars at this club," said Murray. "They have potential, just like the others. Dimitru could play at any level in Scotland but he has had issues with his parents and has been homesick."

The present for Murray and Hearts centres around proposals which have been submitted to Romanov, which would see a youth scouting network set-up in European countries such as Norway, Sweden and Denmark. "The education system there seems to be better," Murray added. "If you bring in players who are educated, you have a better chance of coaching them properly. They are more cultured in the way they play and their attitude is better. They appreciate things more and their diets are good."

Not that Lithuania is out of the equation. Arvydas Novikovas, a 17-year-old striker, has arrived in Edinburgh from Vilnius. "He looks an exceptional player," Murray insisted. "They think he is the best player they have produced in ten years.

"Vladimir wants to bring some of his own players in, which is understandable, so we have that, European scouting and an emphasis on bringing young Scottish players into the club."

TOMORROW: PART 3

How new-look Hearts are shaping up under Csaba Laszlo