Kenneth Vargas will likely be on a flight back to Scotland from Central America today. I just wonder what kind of reception he’ll get from Neil Critchley and his teammates when he lands back at the Oriam after his ill-advised comments on Costa Rica duty.
I’ll be honest, I flew into a rage when I read his thoughts about wanting to play at a higher level, against better players and a potential January exit. It brought me in mind of the day I was brought crashing back down to earth by the man we named The Jet. Jim Jefferies.
When I first came into Hearts from Ayr United I was flying. But Jim dropped me. I couldn’t understand it. So I thought it would be a good idea to chap his door. Big mistake. The Jet’s office was at the back of a bigger office and all the staff in there knew as soon as I pressed his buzzer what was coming.
The door opened and before I could even move my lips Jim blasted: “you better think about what you’re going to say here or you’ll be back at Ayr faster than you f***** got here”. Honestly, I burled round on my heels and escaped without muttering a word. I could see Gary Locke and Billy Brown laughing. But Jim was 100 per cent furious with me.
He would always say “make sure you have your own house in order before you start calling out others or saying how good you are”. If Jim was still manager now then I assure you Vargas would be in for one hell of a return to Tynecastle. Back then he’d be hammered by Jim then nailed to the floor by his team mates especially when his performances haven’t been up to standard.
Andy Webster, Michael Stewart, Kevin Kyle, Stephen Elliott … these boys would never have stood for that. It’s disrespectful to his teammates. It’s disrespectful to the fans. It’s disrespectful to the league. Regardless of how good Kenny thinks he is, he needs to realise he is where he is.
Listen, I’ve calmed down and now see it as an opportunity to lay it on the line to the player. It all boils down to his footballing ability when he is representing Hearts and he needs to do so much better.
Is Vargas good enough to go and play at a higher level like he thinks he is? No. At times he struggles to get in this Hearts side. That’s the truth of the matter. He needs to re-evaluate where he is right now and focus on proving that he deserves a start for Hearts. He simply doesn’t score enough goals.
His miss against Rangers in the last game when he was one on one with Jack Butland summed him up. If you want to play for Hearts never mind an even higher level then those chances in those games have to be buried. He got my back up a few weeks ago when he did the shush celebration after scoring in a 4-0 win against St Mirren. That was disrespectful too.
He has to stop the nonsense and start to deliver regularly. If he doesn’t we all know what way it will go. Listen, we all make mistakes. And everyone wants to play at the highest level. That’s fair enough. But those comments were ill judged.
The only way he will ever put everything right now is by doing his talking on the park. That’s the experience I had when I came back to Hearts less than a year after leaving to go to Ipswich. I knew if I did well for the supporters on the park then all would be forgiven.
If Vargas can do that in then next three games then that would be a massive help. Celtic at Tynecastle on Saturday is followed by a trip to face Cercle Bruges in Europe then Aberdeen back in Gorgie – all in the space of eight days. Celtic are so far ahead of everyone it’s going to take a massive performance from everyone. That’s the minimum requirement.
If Vargas plays then he has to take any chance that comes his way. Then he might just discover the Hearts fans can be a forgiving bunch.
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