Why George Burley was such a success as Hearts boss - and the savage batterings he gave opposition players

Robbie Neilson enthused about the former Hearts boss’ style of management
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Hearts manager Robbie Neilson believes a mixture of simplicity and hammering opposition players in meetings was the key to the club’s fantastic start under George Burley at the start of the 2005/06 season.

The team won eight straight league matches at the start of the campaign to put them top of the league. It was followed by draws at Falkirk and Celtic.

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On the eve of the 11th match, Burley was infamously sacked by then owner Vladimir Romanov.

George Burley had a short but successful spell in charge at Hearts. Picture: SNSGeorge Burley had a short but successful spell in charge at Hearts. Picture: SNS
George Burley had a short but successful spell in charge at Hearts. Picture: SNS

However, in a short space of time, the former Ipswich Town, Southampton and Scotland manager had built a squad and fostered a strong mentality within it.

Neilson, in an interview with Hearts podcast Scarves Around the Funnel, recalled Burley’s methods of simplicity as he developed a fearsome attacking unit which often took commanding leads early on in games.

“I thought George was really, really good at getting a group together, getting them as a team, getting the buy-in from the players and enjoyment of football,” he said.

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"If you asked everyone they’d have gone for a beer with George because he had a great personality and it started to build through that pre-season.

Paul Hartley displayed a message to George Burley after the win over Dunfermline, the day the manager was sacked. Picture: SNSPaul Hartley displayed a message to George Burley after the win over Dunfermline, the day the manager was sacked. Picture: SNS
Paul Hartley displayed a message to George Burley after the win over Dunfermline, the day the manager was sacked. Picture: SNS

“I think there was a belief in the team that when we turned up at these games that we would implement how we want to play. So, no matter where we went, home or away, this is what we were doing. There wasn’t a lot of build-up play in the team. It was very much get it forward, get it wide, get the ball in the box and get support in there. So you would have the likes of Miko going down the line putting deliveries in, Rudi coming in from one side, Paul Hartley going in late from midfield and you would have two strikers in there attacking it.

"There wasn’t a lot of tactical work in, it was a case of ‘we’re Hearts, we’re going to turn up, we’re going to beat you’. And that was it.

“George kept it really simple. I always remember it, I liked a lot of his stuff and some of it I take into my own stuff I do with the players. He was very, very positive.”

Opposition analysis

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Burley wasted little time with analysing every detail of the opposition before games, preferring to keep the build-up light on the players and to an extent amusing.

Behind closed doors, players in the top-flight that season were given a verbal battering by the Hearts boss as he tried to hammer home to his team that they were better than the one they were about to face.

"We used to laugh when we were in the pre-match meetings,” Neilson said. “George would write up the opposition team on the board and you could never tell what their formation was because he’d just write it all over the shop.

“He would put it on the board and go through it: ‘s***e, s***e, really s***e, horrendous, don’t know how he is getting a game for them, murder, horrific, my god he’s s***e.’. He’d go through every team like that no matter who you were playing.

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“A lot of foreign boys had never played in Scottish football before so they didn’t know the opposition. They were going into games thinking ‘the manager’s told us they are absolutely rubbish so we’re going to batter them’.

“George was very much about the positives of our team and about how we were miles better than everyone else. There wasn’t a lot of tactical stuff, it was keep them fit, keep them happy, keep them enjoying it and keep them positive.”

The sacking

On Saturday, 22 October, 2005, the news arrived which many feared would come eventually. George Burley had been sacked as Hearts boss.

Neilson remembers the players waiting at the Dalmahoy Hotel where they went for their pre-match meal. With no sign of the manager, some even joked that he had left.

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"To be honest it wasn’t a massive shock because the regime had been so erratic," he said. “Things had been happening in the background. Just the way things were going at Hearts at the time I was surprised but I wasn’t shocked.

“George was doing a phenomenal job and he was getting a lot of attention from the media and I think Vladimir thought Hearts were him.”