Driving away from Csaba Laszlo's first press conference at Tynecastle on Friday evening, the nagging sensation lingered that we had seen this all before somewhere: the easy-going charisma, the bold promises, the German accent. Then came the light-bulb-above-the-head moment of clarity.

Had Hearts just unveiled a clone of Berti Vogts as their new manager? We can only hope, for the sake of their long-suffering supporters, that the comparisons with the former Scotland head coach begin and end there.

Frankly, given all they have endured since George Burley was inexplicably sacked as manager in October 2005 with Hearts unbeaten and sitting top of the league, yet another false dawn could have the Gorgie faithful lining up to take the plunge from the top of Salisbury Crags. Hearts held on to finish season 2005/06 in a creditable second place after Burley's shock dismissal and also lifted the Scottish Cup. It all seems a lifetime ago now.

Two subsequent seasons of under-achievement have heightened suspicion regarding the motives of Vladimir Romanov, Hearts' majority shareholder, and diluted expectation.

An eighth-place finish last season was almost universally accepted simply as a sign of the times. Instead of revealing how he was going to turn around this fine, proud Scottish institution, Romanov was back home practising his moves for his television appearances on the Lithuanian equivalent of "Celebrity Come Dancing", a storyline so surreal as to encroach into the realms of Monty Python.

A string of Eastern European coaches were flown in to direct team matters, each as forgettable and as ineffective as their predecessor. So, when Romanov announced at the start of 2008 that it was time for a change of tack, and time to employ a "British-style manager" who would work alongside Stephen Frail, the Scottish patsy for the invisible coterie of Lithuanians operating behind the screens, ears pricked up.

The Herald recalls emerging from a self-imposed stupor on New Year's Day to bother Charlie Mann, Romanov's erstwhile PR advisor, as to whether a managerial appointment would be imminent. With remarkable foresight, Mann advised that targeting the right man could take some time, although surely not even he could have envisioned the process to drag on for more than six months, rivalling Agatha Christie's Mousetrap in its longevity.

When that extensive search was finally brought to its conclusion - after overtures to land Mark McGhee, Vladimir Weiss and Juergen Roeber among others were rejected - the man chosen by Romanov had no experience of British football and would not be turning to Frail for guidance after all, the caretaker head coach having been surprisingly dismissed the week before. The welcome afforded to Laszlo, therefore, was unsurprisingly lukewarm.

Heading in, late, to the Gorgie Suite on Friday afternoon, it was surprising to note that not a single curious Hearts supporter had turned up to catch a glimpse of their new manager. Departing close to three hours later, it was a similar scene, with the car park's only occupants a pack of hungry and rather vicious seagulls.

In the intervening period, the former Uganda national team manager had been inside setting out his vision for the future. It was passionate, defiant, optimistic but also realistic. Most importantly, despite Laszlo's lack of experience of the British game as demanded by Romanov himself, it was what the Hearts supporters wanted to hear.

Here, for the first time in almost four years, was a manager who insisted that only he, with input from his coaching staff, would be responsible for team matters. That challenging the Old Firm's dominance, winning trophies, and qualifying each season for European football were reachable targets but not formalities.

Romanov, intriguingly, appointed Laszlo without ever meeting him and sources in Lithuania have indicated that the majority shareholder plans to take a back seat when it comes to the day-to-day running of Hearts' affairs. That distancing could well be the key to on-field success.

The Hearts players, for months demoralised by ongoing uncertainty, have warmly welcomed Laszlo's appointment. Christophe Berra, the club captain, has vowed to remain at Tynecastle, thwarting Wolverhampton Wanderers' and Rangers' bids to sign him.

Persuading Andrew Driver to also stay put while bringing in another five or six new players capable of lifting Hearts from the mediocrity regularly doled out last season will be the next steps.

Based on first impressions alone, Laszlo is either the bold, adventurous, independent coach Hearts have been crying out for, or a naive charlatan, either desperate to return to European club football regardless of the working conditions or blissfully unaware of what could lie in store for him.

For the sake of Hearts, and Scottish football as a whole, we can only hope it is the former.