Gary Mackay: Uncertainty needs to end with passionate manager in Hearts dugout

Uncertainty can be the worst thing when you’re a football fan not knowing what the future holds for your club. Welcome to the world of a Hearts supporter.

It’s the unknown for us all just now, not having an idea of what is going to happen regarding a new manager. There is that uncertainty and it seems like it is transmitting itself to the team just now.

You look at Sunday’s result against Rangers and the biggest thing you take from it is that it now makes tomorrow against Livingston a really massive match. And remember Livingston have given us real problems in recent times.

It is a bottom-of-the-table clash that Hearts would rather they weren’t part of. That’s the situation and they simply must deal with it.

We are hearing from media outlets that Daniel Stendel is the guy Hearts want. We put our faith in the people making that decision, especially if Stendel takes charge soon.

It seems Stendel is the man they want and, if that is the case, it doesn’t make it easy for anyone who is approached in the event of him not being appointed. This is becoming quite a long and drawn-out process now.

If you have a Plan B when Plan A was imploding, you would have thought things might have been done by now. If the longevity of the decision being made brings positive results on the pitch, then it will be vindicated.

I just want a manager who is going to give everybody a lift. People are having a go at Austin MacPhee but I sympathise with him and his fellow coaches. They have been thrown into a position that is really difficult. We were in a bad position anyway and that has not improved.

What I would like to see is someone who will show a real passion and understanding of this football club. Someone who gets what the football club is about. Right now, I feel we are draining a lot of our main supporter base of that passion they have.

You want a manager who has the qualities and attributes off the pitch that Steven Naismith brings on it. He is somebody who knows about Hearts but has never really had an affiliation with the club. Yet he came in with a natural enthusiasm from the start.

That leadership, desire and demand is what you want to see from the manager. If you get that then the supporters will respond positively. You have Livingston at home and St Johnstone at home coming up. These games become big games. I wouldn’t say they are six-pointers but they are massive matches.

If you do get yourself stuck at the bottom, it’s not the easiest place to get out of. I discovered that under Tommy McLean during my playing days at Hearts. It took us until the very tail end of the season before we rescued ourselves. We had lots of good footballers around the club at the time but the dynamic wasn’t right.

Unfortunately, there is a parallel with that situation and the current one.