The ‘Hearts Way’ explained and the 12-month target.

Laurie Ellis is thrilled with the youthful talent in the Heart of Midlothian youth system.

He was hired as the club’s head of academy coaching last month, a “wide-ranging role” that will integrate boys and girls’ practices across all age groups up to the under-17 level.

He will guarantee that the young players’ developmental needs are met so that they are as well-prepared as possible for the professional game. He will work with Emma Hunter, the head of the girls’ academy, as well as sporting director Graeme Jones, academy manager Andrew Webster, and Shelley Kerr, who arrived as technical development manager at the end of last year.

They will be implementing what has been dubbed the Hearts Way, a method that will be used across boys and girls youth football to help the club establish its identity.

“Shelley Kerr and Andrew Webster have worked hard under Graeme Jones’ guidance to develop the Hearts Way,” Ellis told Hearts TV. “And for the boys and girls academy, across all age groups, to have a truly aligned curriculum and a pathway that reflects our identity, regardless of player age. Things we want to see in Hearts players as they progress through the program.

“That’s a significant challenge, and everyone of the academy’s staff will need to be fully committed to it. “We’re all already brainstorming and bouncing ideas around to establish that alignment so that we can see obvious principles in each player as they progress through the age groups.

“That requires years of development. But I’m extremely lucky that we can now align things below that and bring people together to ensure that everyone is on board and focused on the parts of player development that build up to the real principles that we desire in our players under the Hearts Way.”

Ellis, a former defender, will also be “touching base” with David McNeil and Lee Wallace, the under-18s management staff. The former Queen’s Park manager, who most recently worked at Rangers focussing on individual player development across all age levels, said his excitement rose over a lengthy and difficult interview process. Ellis, 45, had a lengthy conversation with Webster about his new position once he had achieved success. If everything goes as planned, it will take some time to see the full advantages of his efforts, but in a year, Ellis wants to ensure that “everyone comes together”. He explained: “So, all of the phase heads meet to work on increasing curriculum alignment. And this will continue up until the age groups to the Hearts Way.

“So, in 12 months, we’ll have Emma Hunter managing the girls section, Graeme Combe leading the children’s part, Steven Hamilton leading the YDP [youth development phase], and Grant Anderson and Balerno.

“To ensure that every team we see across the age categories, on a pitch at Oriam or abroad, understands why they are at our club and is enthusiastic about the identity that is on display.

“And this evolves in greater detail over the age levels. It would be fantastic in 12 months to be able to watch games and see that everyone was on the same page about how we were developing players.”

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