January 2024

Heart of Midlothian Shareholders Association Dinner and AGM, 25th January 2024

For notes regarding the AGM portion of the evening view our AGM 2024 page.

Andrew Webster and Liam Fox

The chair introduced our guests for our January meeting, Andrew Webster who joined Hearts from Arbroath in 2021 and made 272 appearances for Hearts over two spells and won the cup with both Hearts & Dundee United. He won Scotland B, Under 21s and also 28 full caps. He was the St Mirren under 18s & 21s coach before joining Hearts in July 2023 as the Academy Manager. He’s got a Masters in Sports Directorships at the University of East London and is a huge Big Hearts Supporter.

Liam Fox took over the B team from Steven Naismith last season when he stepped up to the first team. He was previously in charge of the U17s and has had spells in charge at Dundee Utd & Arbroath and Joe Savage is delighted with the work he’s doing.

Andrew Webster started his presentation with a slide stating the Vision Statement which is “Be the best academy in Scotland & Strive to develop players for the Hearts Men’s & Woman’s first teams”. The mission statement was “Providing an elite environment where players are challenged, supported & inspired to reach their potential”

Andy explained that he was studying during his last year of playing as he knew what he wanted to do, he did a Sports & Business Management MSC in 2016 and spent two years doing an MSC in Sports Directorship in 2020. He works closely with Andrew & Ann.

As the Academy manager, his main role is to help the staff to be able to help the players and their parents.

He showed a slide of the structure which highlighted how many people work at the academy. There are 17 scouts and 3 volunteer scouts, 10 are based in Edinburgh as we need to ensure we get the best local talent, there are 119 boys and 55 girls signed. We have the Performance School at Balerno which Angus Beith runs and there are 22 boys and 2 girls there.

Each weekend there are around a dozen or more games and Andy tries to attend as many as he can.

Each player that signs need to know the Jam Tarts Identity and know what it means to play for Hearts.

We’ve got several teams in finals and semi finals of national cup competitions and we have got the best academy on the girls’ side. The boys’ side is also great and I’d ask any Hearts fan to come to Riccarton to watch and see the work that goes on there.

Liam Fox then explained to us what his role was with the B team and that his role is to get 16-18 year olds ready to play in the first team. He’s got staff that support him, Donald Park, Gary Kirk, Jack Ferguson to name a few. He showed us a B Team squad list with the players who have moved from the B team are involved with the first team and also a list of players who have moved from the Under 18s to the B team. He told us that there are three non negotiables, Always give your best; Always be willing to learn & Be all in. He didn’t have as good a career as Webby & Naisy and it’s gone in a flash so you need the right attitude and application, he’s not there to be their mate, he’s there to push them, to drive them forward and if they give him everything he’ll be there for them.

We know how we want to play attacking football:

Front Foot attacking football
- Forward runs
- Brave in possession / speed of ball
- Structured
- Aggressive
Play through, round or over
- Play in pockets of space
- Create attacking 1v1 situations
- Use FBs as midfielders to create overloads
Dominate the Pitch
- Structure gives you control
- Width & Length
- Kill the counter

Similar defensively

Front Foot Defending
- High Line
- Distances
- Press to contact
Dominate the pitch
- Narrow and compact
- Always force wide
- Dominate 1v1s
Reactions
- Body language
- Intent
- Anticipate

He then showed us a slide of a typical week for the B team and just how much the players do, from strength training to post match reviews. He also explained that each player gets a minimum of 3 video sessions, there are also individual video sessions from previous games that players can watch to see what they did well and can improve on.

We’re never going to get 15 players into the first team, we can dream but that won’t happen so we need to get the players ready for life and make sure they are good people.

He showed a Navy Seals quote “You don’t rise to the occasion, you descend to the level of your training” and then went over some typical training drills they do and what they’re trying to achieve.

Each player is given an Individual Player plan and every six months this is updated and we go over it with the players. The players are tested every six weeks on how they are doing at the gym and it’s all monitored so everyone can see how they are doing which creates competition and pushes them on.

Harry Cochrane & Anthony McDonald both got into the first team quite early but I feel that we let them down and didn’t have the right support for them but they also let themselves down and they didn’t do the work off the field that they needed too.

You can see from the League table that we’re doing much better this year compared to last season and we’ll continue to work to get players into the first team.

Q&A

Q1 – More an observation – I come to the HMSA meetings often and now understand what the Academy is about – Thank you.

Q2 – I’ve watched the B Team many times,, do you feel that the Lowland League is the right place for the B team?

LF – The Lowland League is brilliant, it gives them an opportunity to play against better teams and we’ve done really well against the other full time teams, Celtic, Rangers and a friendly against Raith. It helps get players ready for the first team as they are playing against grown men, Macauley Tait came on in a game recently and he didn’t look out of place.

Q3 – What does an Under 10s contract look like?

AW - £100k per week 😊. No, we want players to come in happy and leave happy with smiles on their faces. We want it to be enjoyable for them.

LF – A lot of parents look to live through their kids and that can be hard.

Q4 – Can you play school football?

AW – Yes, they’re kids and we want them to enjoy themselves and play with their friends

Q5 – Kirk went on loan to Hamilton, why?

LF – He’s got 27 goals so I didn’t want to lose him, but it’s the best opportunity or him, we hope he goes there and does well. They’re flying just now and it gives him a chance to show what he can do at a higher level. In addition, we know John Rankin well and know he’ll be in good hands there.

Q6 – What sort of fees do we get from clubs in England for our players and who sets it?

AW – It’s set in Scotland, we would want more money if our young players are moving but Brexit has had a huge impact on this as English clubs are now looking to Scotland more and more.

LF – If a player wants to chase the money down south, off you go but you’ve got far more chance of getting into the first team at Hearts.

Q7 – Who decides what club a loan player goes too?

LF – There are a number of factors, taking McKenzie Kirk, when we let him go to Hamilton it’s because they’ll be playing competitive games as they’re going for the title in League one. We felt this would be better than a League 2 team as we believe the B Team could beat most League Two teams. As stated before, John Ranking being there and us knowing him also means we know he’ll be looked after.

Q8 – Do you keep in touch with him?

LF – Yes, constantly to see how he’s doing?

Q9 – How does the Balerno Performance School work?

AW – We identify kids pre Christmas, with a view to intake in the summer. It’s a big commitment up at 6am each day through 1st to 4th year and it’s not just football, it’s about getting a good education. We’ve got a 6th year that’s no longer in football but is doing his Highers and we’ve made a commitment to him and look after them.

James Wilson is in the first team and he’s doing his Highers just now. It gives opportunities to still do your school work and get a great education because not everyone is going to make it in football.

The meeting closed with the Chair thanking Andy and Liam for their fantastic presentation, one of the very best we have had at the Shareholders, and for kindly and clearly answering all the questions from the members present.

There was warm applause from the attendees who really appreciated the work and attention to detail put into the presentation

Many thanks to Tommy Fallon for providing the notes above.