Heart of Midlothian 1 Aberdeen 1

SPFL, Wednesday 2 April 2014 – Tynecastle

Like a champion boxer knocked to the canvas but crawling back up the ropes for one last punch, Hearts refuse to accept the inevitably that is relegation without putting up one hell of a fight. Having thwarted their city rivals and spoiled the ‘relegation party’ by defeating Hibernian on Sunday, Hearts refused to let even a numerical disadvantage get the better of them by storming back for a well-deserved draw against high-flying Aberdeen at Tynecastle on Wednesday evening.

The consensus was that, while taking great delight in denying Hibernian the opportunity to demote them, Hearts plight was irretrievable and defeat from a team who lifted the League Cup a couple of weeks ago would confirm relegation. When the Dons took the lead in the second half and Hearts skipper Danny Wilson was sent off, it seemed that was that. However, there is no team in Scotland with more spirit than Gary Locke’s Hearts and, like they did in August, they denied Aberdeen victory with a late goal and one that means the Boys in Maroon are still clinging on to the lifejacket tossed from SS Relegation.

One of the heroes from Sunday’s Edinburgh derby victory – Dale Carrick – was injured meaning on-loan striker Paul McCallum was leading the line.

Aberdeen took a sizeable travelling support to Scotland’s capital city and the Dons wasted little time in posting their intentions. After just five minutes, good play from Pawlett set up McGinn who brought out a fine save from Hearts keeper Jamie MacDonald. The ever-dangerous Rooney then got away from his marker only to be thwarted by the Hearts keeper before McGinn followed up his blocked free-kick with an effort from 20 yards which went perilously close. It was all Aberdeen in the first half although their fine play seemed to lack a cutting edge. They almost paid for this just before half-time when Ryan Stevenson failed to connect properly with David Smith’s cross and a rare chance for the home side was lost. Right on half-time, Paul McCallum had the ball in the Aberdeen net but his challenge on Dons keeper Langfield was deemed illegal by referee Kevin Clancy and the Englishman received a booking for his trouble. Perhaps if he had been a Rangers player the goal would have stood, bearing in mind the Ibrox side scored from a similar situation against Albion Rovers in the Scottish Cup a few weeks back.

McCallum was replaced by Scott Robinson at half-time with both sides looking to make the breakthrough after an entertaining but ultimately goalless first half. The change seemed to energise Hearts with Stevenson and Smith both having ambitious efforts on goal. Midway through the second half, Hearts almost took the lead. A superb pass from Jason Holt found Calum Paterson on the right. The big man surged past two Dons defenders before firing in a ferocious shot from more than 20 yards which Dons keeper Langfield did well to save.

Hearts were now in the ascendency and for the first time in the evening it was the Dons who were on the back foot. However, with 20 minutes to go, Hearts were deflated when captain Danny Wilson pulled back a Dons player on the edge of the penalty box and received his second yellow card of the evening. An early bath for the skipper and things went from bad to worse for the home side when Flood fired home the resultant free-kick to give the Dons the lead, much to the delight of the travelling support in the Roseburn Stand.

Hearts though, as so often this season, refused to throw in the towel. With seven minutes left they were handed the chance on a plate to equalise when Ryan Stevenson pounced on an error from the Dons defence in the penalty area but, with an open goal to aim at, the former Ayr United player failed to hit the target. Stevenson fell to the ground with his head in his hands and the home support wailed in anguish. That seemed to be the final nail in Hearts relegation coffin. However, this battling Hearts team had other ideas.

With just four minutes to go, the tireless Calum Paterson ran through the Aberdeen defence only to be brought down by Logan in the penalty box. Penalty said the referee and Jamie Hamill, who had driven his team on all night, coolly sent the ball past Langfield to give Hearts a deserved share of the spoils.

The atmosphere at the end of the game was one of high emotion. Hearts aren’t relegated yet – but they can only match St. Mirren’s 28 points. Gary Locke’s side must win all of their six remaining games while praying the Paisley Saints lose all of theirs. As Locke said in the programme prior to the game this isn’t going to happen. But Hearts are at least going down fighting.

Locke was proud of his players afterwards. “First half I thought Aberdeen played well” said the manager. “I felt we had to make the change at half-time to get ourselves back in the game because we weren't getting enough of the ball. But, credit to the boys again. I thought they were absolutely brilliant, every one of them.

“While we’ve got Partick Thistle on Saturday, the main focus for the club is Monday.”

Locke was referring to the potentially crucial creditors meeting between Ukio Bankas and UBIG, where it is hoped a deal will be agreed to save Hearts from liquidation. Locke, like every other Hearts fan, is keeping his fingers crossed. “We just hope that we can get a good result Saturday, then Monday's the big day for us and hopefully all goes well there as well,"

Hearts: MacDonald; Paterson, McGowan, Wilson, McHattie; Hamill, Stevenson, Holt; Smith, McCallum, Nicholson

Aberdeen: Langfield, Logan, Anderson, Reynolds, Considine, Jack, Flood, Robson, Pawlett, Rooney, McGinn.

Referee: Kevin Clancy

Att: 13,913

Top man: Jamie Hamill – he may not be the most gifted of footballers but no one can beat his sheer drive and determination.

Rebirth of the Reds?

A Conservative Prime Minister. Russia and America at loggerheads. Liverpool challenging for the league title in England. Hearts facing relegation. And Aberdeen lifting silverware. Are we back in the 1980s?

The visit of Aberdeen to Tynecastle on Wednesday invokes memories of the late 1970s/early 1980s when the Dons were a force to be reckoned with and Hearts were struggling amid financial problems. I was at Pittodrie in May 1979 when Hearts travelled to the Granite City knowing defeat would consign them to the First Division, from whence they had returned a year before. These became known as the ‘yo-yo’ years. A youthful Hearts team which included three teenagers collapsed to a 5-0 thrashing from a Dons team containing Willie Miller, Gordon Strachan, Mark McGhee and Steve Archibald and a determined young manager in Alex Ferguson. Although Hearts came straight back up again a year later the limitations of that team were obvious and it surprised no one when they were relegated again. It wasn’t until 1983 that Hearts re-established themselves as one of the top sides in the country.

At the time of Hearts last promotion in 1983, Aberdeen were one of the leading sides not only in Scotland but in Europe. I was living there at that time and the euphoria that engulfed the city when the Dons lifted the now defunct European Cup Winners Cup - defeating Bayern Munich in the quarter final and Real Madrid in the final – was incredible. My devotion to the Maroons, however, never wavered and as the Dons marched on in pursuit of glory against some of the biggest names in world football, I was heading to Gorgie to see Hearts take on the likes of Ayr United and Queen of the South in the First Division. Indeed, three days after Aberdeen lifted the Cup Winners Cup, it was the last league game of the season and the Dons still had a chance of lifting the league championship. They hammered Hibernian 5-0 on that final day but Dundee United’s victory in the Dundee derby meant the league flag was heading to Tannadice. On that same afternoon, I was at Tynecastle watching Hearts defeat Hamilton Academical 2-0, our hopes of lifting the First Division title dashed by St. Johnstone’s victory over Dunfermline Athletic. This brought copious amounts of sniggering from my Aberdonian colleagues. ‘Who have your team got on Saturday, Mike? Hamilton Accies you say? All ticket is it?’ 

When Hearts returned to the Premier Division in the summer of 1983 there were many who predicted the Gorgie men would resort to type and be fighting a relegation battle. However, Alex MacDonald’s side began the league campaign with five straight victories, with Aberdeen being the first side to defeat the Maroons with a 2-0 win at Tynecastle in October. Not only did Hearts steer well clear of the relegation battle – promotion bedfellows St. Johnstone went straight back down without so much as a whimper – they finished in fifth place in the league at the end of the season to qualify for the following season’s Uefa Cup. Little more than 18 months after playing the likes of Alloa Athletic and Dumbarton, Hearts would be lining up against Paris St. Germain in the Parc de Princes in the French capital. A remarkable turnaround although one which cut little ice with some of my Aberdonian colleagues still basking in the glory of their side actually winning a European trophy.

However, fast-forward a few years and it would be my turn to mock as the Dons suffered cup humiliation to the likes of Stenhousemuir, Queens Park and Queen of the South while Hearts would lift the Scottish Cup in 1998, 2006 and in 2012 which, being a triumph over our city rivals, was something Aberdeen could only imagine, being a one club city.

Football fortunes tends to run in cycles. It’s currently Aberdeen’s turn to enjoy the excitement of cup glory while Hearts face a spell away from the limelight. Dons manager Derek McInnes is already drawing comparisons with Sir Alex Ferguson. When he became Aberdeen manager in 1978, Fergie was a young, ambitious manager with a determination and will to win. McInnes is already showing these traits and, like Ferguson, is a former Rangers player who perhaps feels he wasn’t given the chance to prove what he could really do at Ibrox.

It will be interesting to monitor the progress of Hearts and Aberdeen in the next couple of years. Hopefully, 18 months from now Hearts will be back playing the Dons in the SPFL Premiership with renewed hope and an exciting, vibrant young team. Having recently signed an extension to his contract as Aberdeen manager, Derek McInnes should still be in charge at Pittodrie. However, if he continues the success currently enjoyed, he may well be lured to pastures new.

And the swings of outrageous football fortune may well be in action again!

 

Mike Smith

Twitter @Mike1874

 

 

 

 

Heart of Midlothian 2 Aberdeen 1

SPFL Saturday 24 August 2013 - Tynecastle Stadium

Billed as: The clash of the two biggest clubs in the land outside of the Old Firm with Hearts continuing their quest to claw back the 15 point deficit imposed on them at the start of the season and  Aberdeen looking to get back on track following their defeat from Celtic last week.

Reality: A rip-roaring game played in front of more than 15,000 frenzied spectators at one of Scotland's most atmospheric grounds. Urged on by a noisy and passionate home support, Hearts youngsters yet again demonstrated their hunger, commitment and, at times, skill to secure another three points which may well be crucial at the end of the season when the points are added up and the fight to avoid relegation is concluded. After a splendid opening spell, Hearts went ahead after 17 minutes with a wonderful goal which began in their own half and ended with Jamie Walker waltzing into the Aberdeen penalty area before dispatching a shot low into the right hand corner of the net to put the home side deservedly a goal ahead. Cue the decibel levels from the home support rising to eardrum bursting levels - 'we are the Hearts and we're staying up'. Moments later, great play from Billy King gave Jamie Hamill the opportunity to double Hearts lead but the experienced defender couldn't direct his shot on target and the Dons breathed again. Aberdeen, though, are a decent, experienced side and they dominated the rest of the half. They certainly enjoyed more possession but couldn't find the equaliser by half time.

Hearts began the second half on the offensive and Walker brought out a fine save from Aberdeen keeper Nicky Weaver as the young Jambos sought to add a second goal. The impressive Billy King was proving to be a thorn in the flesh of the visiting defence but his effort on goal lacked the power to trouble Weaver. 12 minutes into the second half the game seemed to turn  - and not to the home side's liking. Hearts highly talented  Brad McKay suffered a head injury after clattering into an advertising board and while he tried to carry on after treatment it was clear the young defender was concussed. Hearts manager Gary Locke - rather than resort to the John Lambie method of telling a player who had a head knock and didn't know who he was that he was Pele and to get back on the field - replaced McKay with yet another Hearts youngster, Jordan McGhee. McKay had been hugely impressive and I felt his enforced absence would be a blow for Hearts, a feeling intensified minutes later when Aberdeen equalised. Home defender Kevin McHattie was adjudged to have brought down Zola inside the penalty box and Hearts were penalised twice as McGinn not only scored from the resultant penalty kick to level the scores but McHattie was ordered off for denying Zola a goalscoring opportunity.

For a brief spell Hearts young heads seemed to go down and the home support understandably feared the worst. The noise was now emanating from the Roseburn Stand as the Aberdeen fans sensed victory against a depleted Hearts team.  However, Jamie Hamill brought inspiration once more by almost scoring following a superb passing movement and this lifted the home side and the supporters. After McGinn headed over from six yards for the visitors, a huge increase in the noise levels rasped around the Wheatfield Stand and rather than settle for a point, this young fighting Hearts team went ahead once more with less than for minutes left to play. A long free kick was delivered towards the Aberdeen penalty box. Dons keeper Weaver came to collect the ball but Hearts substitute Jordan McGhee got his head to it first to nod the ball into the empty net. 2-1 to the ten men and Tynecastle erupted in a cacophony of noise. With an astonishing five minutes of additional time added Aberdeen looked to have secured a point when Magennis had a free header six yards out. This time the effort was on target - but Hearts goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald pulled off a brilliant point blank save to tip the ball over the crossbar. The home support rose as one to acclaim a stupendous save.

Moments later, the final whistle blew and Hearts had secured an incredible win against the odds.

Reaction: Words can barely express the emotion felt by Hearts players, management and magnificent supporters after an astonishing victory against a good Aberdeen side who may well be pushing Celtic at the top end of the league this season. Hearts are now on minus eight points - and are just nine behind St. Mirren. I felt if Hearts were nine points behind at Christmas they would still have a fighting chance of avoiding the drop. They have reached that stage now and the end of August is still a week away. Yes, this young team will hit a barren spell and the points deficit may increase. But the spirit, hunger, will to win and the feeling that everyone is in this together means this may well turn out to be a season that will go down in history for this great football club.

The good: Every Hearts player played their part - as did the truly magnificent supporters who are saving this club not only off the pitch but on it too.

The bad: It seems churlish to moan about the referee but some of Alan Muir's decisions were baffling to say the least.

Top man: Scott Robinson covered every blade of the Tynecastle turf on Saturday - his emotion at the end of the game summed up what every Hearts fan felt.

Five Star Show at Pittodrie

 

I blame Scott Wilson. Three weeks ago, there was a near full house at Tynecastle for Hearts vital 1-0 win over St. Mirren. This, alluded to a near full house at Murrayfield for Scotland’s rugby union international with South Africa, meant severe crowd congestion in the Edinburgh’s west end and Scott suggested fans might like to stagger their journey home as they would inevitably encounter delays. Now, as Scott is Scotland’s top stadium announcer by some distance, I took the legendary broadcaster to his word - and headed for the pub.

It was meant to be a quick pint but I got into a discussion with another Hearts supporter and we discussed what was the best Hearts performance we had seen over the years. The 2012 William Hill Scottish Cup Final was up there with the most memorable result but I have to say I’ve seen Hearts play better over the years - after all, we only won 5-1 that day…

One game that did spring to mind was back in 1999 against Aberdeen. Hearts had endured a difficult season in 1998/99 - the break up of the Scottish Cup winning team of the season before had a considerable impact - and the maroons were, at one stage, fighting relegation.

Hearts lost hugely influential midfielder Colin Cameron to an injury serious enough to keep him out until March. With other players suffering from injury and loss of form, manager Jim Jefferies moved to strengthen the squad. He signed midfielders Vincent Guerin and Juanjo respectively and former Rangers striker Gary McSwegan on a free transfer from Dundee United. Midfielder Lee Makel, signed the previous season from Blackburn Rovers as cover for Colin Cameron, was given the chance to make the midfield position his own. No one was harder working than the Englishman, but he lacked the goalscoring prowess of Cameron and with John Robertson now having left Tynecastle for pastures new and with players losing form, there became a real concern about where the goals would come from.

After a miserable run of games at the beginning of 1999 during which they could hardly score a goal let alone win a game, Hearts slumped to the bottom of the SPL in February. Less than a year after Scottish Cup glory, Hearts were staring relegation in the face. Then, three things happened that turned Hearts season around.

Firstly, Jefferies signed Celtic attacking midfielder Darren Jackson for £300k. Secondly, Gary McSwegan scored Hearts first competitive goal for eight weeks in a 2-2 draw against Kilmarnock - and then couldn’t stop scoring. Thirdly, Colin Cameron returned from injury. Hearts then won 3-1 at Dundee United and the season had turned.

By the time they headed to Aberdeen for the final game of the season they were safe from relegation - and proceeded to put on a five star show at Pittodrie.

Just two minutes were played, when Gary McSwegan fired a low right-foot shot past keeper Warner to give the visitors the lead. However, Aberdeen equalised just five minutes later, when Buchan unleashed an effort from 25 yards that whistled past Roddy McKenzie in the Hearts goal. This was the cue for Aberdeen to have a period of dominance, with Mayer and Jess coming close, although Hearts always looked dangerous when McSwegan had the ball. Half time came with the teams level - but that was a situation that didn’t last long when the second half got underway. And it was a carbon copy of the first half, when McSwegan was given all the time in the world to control the ball, turn and hit a magnificent effort past Warner to restore Hearts lead. Two minutes later, McSwegan completed his hat-trick when he tapped home from close range following a fine sweeping move that involved Darren Jackson and Colin Cameron. Hearts were 3-1 ahead. Three minutes later, a now rampant Hearts surged forward again with Jackson and McSwegan this time providing the link up play for Cameron to make a trademark run into the visitor’s penalty box. ‘Mickey’ was tripped by Buchan but dusted himself down before sending keeper Warner the wrong way to slot home the penalty to put Hearts 4-1 ahead - with just seven minutes played in the second half. Jess did pull a goal back for the Dons with half an hour to go, but two minutes later, Hearts French striker Stephane Adam - the cup final hero from 12 months and a week earlier - delivered a superb cross into the Aberdeen penalty box where Thomas Flogel nonchanently flicked the ball past the despairing Warner. There were still 35 minutes left and Hearts were, astonishingly 5-2 ahead and looking hungry for more. It was only a combination of good luck and fine goalkeeping by Warner - this might seem a strange thing to say given, he lost five goals - that kept Hearts to five. Nonetheless, the final score of Aberdeen 2 Hearts 5 was the Tynecastle side’s biggest win at Pittodrie for 49 years.

It had been a magnificent end to a rollercoaster season and one of the best Hearts performances I had seen since my first game in 1968. A similar result today would be an ideal early Christmas present!

 

Mike Smith

 

Hearts Greatest Games still available at all good bookshops and on amazon.

 

Young Aberdeen Fan Looks Ahead

Especially for Kenfitlike

Heart of Midlothian 3 Aberdeen 0

Clydesdale Bank SPL, Saturday 31 March 2012 - Tynecastle

Not for the first time in recent seasons Hearts put Aberdeen to the sword at Tynecastle - and not for the first time in recent weeks Rudi Skacel ran the show. The Czech Republic attacking midfielder scored two cracking goals against an Aberdeen team that showed little up front and looked vulnerable at the back.

It has to be said it was something of a tedious game with both teams perhaps having forthcoming Scottish Cup semi-finals on their minds. The atmosphere, too, usually fervent for a clash with The Dons in Gorgie was somewhat muted. After a dull first 25 minutes, Australian Ryan McGowan - who had a fine afternoon - headed home Hearts opening goal from a Danny Grainger corner kick. Although Aberdeen came forward on numerous occasions in the first half, home keeper Jamie MacDonald could have sat next to me in the Wheatfield Stand for all he had to do.

The game was livened up considerably eight minutes into the second half when Skacel collected the ball midway inside the Aberdeen half, took a couple of steps forward before crashing home a magnificent left foot shot from 25 yards that soared away from visiting keeper Brown to double Hearts lead. It was one of the best goals seen at Tynecastle for some time and typical of the man the fans adore.

Skacel had a chance to score again soon after but was denied by what appeared to be the arm of an Aberdeen defender in the penalty box - but no penalty said referee Willie Collum. With minutes to go, Aberdeen's Scott Vernon missed a glorious chance to make a game of it when he hooked a pass from Hughes high into the Roseburn Stand, to the despair of the visiting support whose anguish increased moments later when that man Skacel controlled Darren Barr's pass superbly before rifling the ball past Brown to complete the scoring at 3-0 to the home side.

Curiously, Hearts have played better and lost but there was no denying the quality of Rudi Skacel's goals. Getting the man 'who scores when he wants' to sign on again for next season has to be a priority. Aberdeen manager Craig Brown came out with a curious statement after the game when he said his keeper didn't have a save to make all afternoon. Perhaps if he had made three his side would have gained a point...

Top man: tempting though it is to say Rudi Skacel, for me it was Ryan McGowan, whose determination shone through.

Aberdeen 0 Heart of Midlothian 0

Clydesdale Bank SPL, Wednesday 28 December 2011 - Ice Station Zebra (aka Pittodrie)

I ventured to the frozen wasteland that is Aberdeen on Wednesday to see if Hearts could extend their recent good run over Aberdeen. The salient points of the evening were:

It was fecking cold (as it always is at Pittodrie)

There was what appeared to be a force ten gale howling in from the North Sea

The game was a farce and should never have been played. Credit to both teams for at least trying to play football.

Hearts fans were charged £2.10 for a steak pie. Nice as it was, I later discovered from an Aberdeen fan that they are charged just £1.80...

Summer football has never seemed so attractive...

Countdown

Heart of Midlothian 3 Aberdeen 0

Clydesdale Bank SPL, Saturday 13 August 2011 - Tynecastle

Hearts recorded their first win in the SPL for several months with a comfortable victory over Aberdeen. The game was fairly even for the opening 20 minutes and the Dons could have opened the scoring when Arnason - who was on trial with Hearts during the summer before then manager Jim Jefferies decided against him - hit the crossbar with a header. Craig Brown's side were made to pay for that miss when Arvydas Novikovas opened the scoring after 24 minutes. The Lithuanian winger collected the ball inside the Aberdeen penalty box before rifling a a left shot foot into the corner of the net.

Hearts doubled their lead ten minutes later when David Templeton hared past a bemused looking Aberdeen defence before crossing for John Sutton who tapped home from six yards to open his account in a maroon shirt. Hearts could have had more in the first half but it remained 2-0 to the home side at half time.

Hearts began the second half the way they ended the first and secured the win when Sutton capitalised on slack defensive play to steer the ball home for Hearts third goal. Thereafter the game petered out somewhat with the visitors appearing to give up the ghost and the home side looking like they were keeping something in reserve for the undoubtedly far greater challenge of Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League. Spurs boss Harry Redknapp clearly doesn't think Hearts will pose much of a threat as he sent his assistant Clive Allen on a 'spying mission' and I have to say on the evidence of the the first 25 minutes he's probably right.

It should still be a grand night at Tynecastle on Thursday. At least until Spurs score...

Top man: Scott Robinson - redeployed to midfield he was a revelation

1971 Aberdeen 2 Hearts 3

'See this nonesense?' asked the old fella standing next to me on the crumbling Tynecastle terracing one day in April 1971, ‘it’s just a gimmick. Fitba’s fitba. There’s nae place fur all this commercial rubbish’

Rubbish was an oft-used word that spring evening as Wolverhampton Wanderers put Hearts to the sword in the newly created Texaco Cup by winning 3-1. It was the changing face of football and while the muttering Jambo chewed on his pipe and reflected on Willie Bauld doing a shift down a Midlothian coal mine hours before turning out for Hearts twenty years earlier, the next generation of Hearts fans in the 1970s were being weaned on a diet of Texaco Cup games, one of the first football tournaments in Britain to be sponsored. Commercialism had indeed arrived but while the Texaco Cup was an early form of a British Cup, it was a poor consolation for those clubs not good enough to compete in European competition.

Back in the decade of long hair, tank-tops and Gorgie Boys with laced up boots and corduroys, we cast envious glances across Edinburgh where Hibernian were pitting their wits against the likes of Juventus and Liverpool in the U.E.F.A. Cup. Hearts were sliding down the slippery slope at an alarming rate as the 1970s began so we made the most out of our achievement of reaching the final of the Texaco Cup in 1971. Defeat from Wolverhampton Wanderers was hard to take, particularly as Hearts typically won the second leg 1-0 down in the Black Country - after losing the first leg 3-1 at Tynecastle. At this juncture, thoughts of Hearts actually playing, far less competing, in Europe were a million miles away.

In comparison to the Tynecastle experience we have today, the Tynecastle experience of 1971 could have been from a different planet. Four decades ago, there were just two divisions in Scottish league football. The patently obvious First and Second Divisions - despite the Texaco Cup sponsorship was still some distance from the hallowed corridors of the Scottish league. In 1971, Hearts were on the slippery slope although no one at the time realised what lay at the bottom. Eleven years had passed since Hearts had last won the Scottish League Championship with the remnants of the all-conquering side of the 1950s lifting the title - an honour that hasn’t bestowed on Hearts since, although they’ve come mighty close on a couple of occasions. By 1971, Hearts were no longer challengers for any domestic honours. That well-versed football cliché midtable mediocrity may well have been penned for Hearts as each season saw the boys in maroon ensconced in the middle of the league. This invariably meant when Hearts were knocked out the Scottish Cup there season was over and meaningless end of the season league games against the likes of Arbroath and East Fife saw sparse crowds at Tynecastle, the wide open spaces on the crumbling terraces telling their own story.

I was nine years old in 1971 and had already endured three years of being a Hearts fan. When my parents divorced, I was taken to live in Aberdeen, 130 miles away from Gorgie Road but the way Hearts were playing at the time this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. My visits to Tynecastle were few and far between at this time; my father had wanted me to be a Falkirk fan but his intention backfired somewhat on an October day in 1968 when he took me to my first game - Falkirk against Hearts at Brockville. I was bitten - by the Jambo bug. Consequently, my father never really supported the idea of me supporting Hearts - but once bitten etc. etc. However, it did mean that when Hearts visited Aberdeen this would be the highlight of my season. My father would travel up from his home in Cumbernauld and take me to Pittodrie. Being an Aberdonian, he was keen to show his support for his hometown team - as I was for the boys in maroon.

Hearts had made a decent start to season 1971-72 - something that could not be said for the majority of the decade. Four weeks before Christmas, they headed to Pittodrie in third place in the league having lost just once in eleven games. Those in maroon heading north on 27 November 1971 with unaccustomed optimism knew that while those statistics were impressive they weren’t as impressive as Hearts opponents that afternoon. For Aberdeen were top of the league, unbeaten all season and not having lost at Pittodrie for eighteen months.

 

 

Aberdeen: Clark; G. Murray; Hermiston; S. Murray; McMillan; M. Buchan; Forrest; Robb; Harper; Willoughby; Graham

Hearts: Cruickshank; Sneddon; Kay; Brown; Anderson; Thomson; Townsend; Renton; Ford; Winchester; T. Murray

Referee:T. Marshall, Glasgow

The Dons, managed by Jimmy Bonthrone who had taken over when Eddie Turnbull returned to his first love Hibernian a year before, had set Scottish football alight. With a forward line containing Joe Harper, Davie Robb and youngster Arthur Graham, the men from the Granite City had scored an impressive thirty-six goals in just twelve games.

More than 20,000 fans headed for Pittodrie on a dank November afternoon. Forty years ago, there was still open terracing at Pittodrie - as there was at most Scottish football grounds. At the back of the terracing adjacent to the pitch was a giant gas tank that loomed over the ground. At the top of the terrace stood the inevitable half-time scoreboard with a yellow clock. Hearts fans, as ever, headed north confident despite the home team’s record.

It wasn’t a complete surprise that Aberdeen dominated the first half. Harper and Forrest came close to opening the scoring and Hearts were indebted to goalkeeper Jim Cruickshank who was in fine form to keep the highest scoring team in Scotland at bay. Hearts, however, weren’t sitting back and Derek Renton fired in an effort, which smacked off the crossbar. It appeared Aberdeen’s frustration at failing to break through the Hearts defence was boiling over. Robb was booked just before half time for a crude foul on Jim Townsend. Half time arrived with a somewhat surprising goalless scoreline - but with hackles raised.

The second half began in the same manner as the first - with Aberdeen in the ascendancy. It seemed just a matter of time before the opening goal and it duly came ten minutes into the second half - but not at the end the home crowd expected. Great work by Hearts Tommy Murray took him beyond his Aberdeen namesake George before he passed to Donald Ford who fired in a great goal from an acute angle. Hearts Murray was capable of such sublime skill - he once sat on the ball at Ibrox before crossing to make a Hearts goal. The home side were stunned and the crowd were angered minutes later when their side was awarded a penalty kick - only for the referee to change his mind and award an indirect free kick instead, which came to nothing. With twenty minutes, left Aberdeen replaced young Arthur Graham with veteran Bertie Miller - and the impact was immediate. With the Hearts defence keeping their collective eyes on the substitute, Willoughby steered the ball beyond a trailing Hearts defence to allow Harper to equalise.

It was anyone’s game now and Ford set off on a great run with a chance to put Hearts back in front but home keeper Bobby Clark saved well. With fifteen minutes left, an already controversial game erupted once more when Aberdeen took the lead. There was more than a suspicion of offside when Davie Robb latched on to a long through ball and danced away from the Hearts defence. Robb finished with aplomb but the Hearts players were furious to the extend Jim Townsend was sent off as he doth protest too much. With Townsend seemed to go Hearts hopes of getting anything from the game. We reckoned, however, without Donald Ford.

There were just four minutes to go when Ford eluded his marker in the Aberdeen defence to head past a startled Bobby Clark to level the score. Those Hearts fans who remained in the ground roared their delight - which would turn to ecstasy in injury time. Aberdeen’s defenders looked shell-shocked, which may well have contributed to Ford having the freedom of Union Street to place another header beyond Clark to snatch a sensational winner for Hearts. Aberdeen 2 Heart of Midlothian 3 was the final score. Hearts fans danced on the terracing. The home support shuffled out not quite believing what they had seen. Aberdeen’s unbeaten record and proud home record had been smashed to pieces.

Ironically, the last team to beat Aberdeen at Pittodrie was Hearts in April 1970. Hearts fans headed south convinced their team would go on to challenge for their first league championship for twelve years. Rangers were struggling that season and many thought the race for the league flag was a two-horse affair between Aberdeen and Jock Stein’s Celtic. Moreover, Hearts had now achieved something no one else had done that season - beaten Aberdeen. The following Saturday, Hearts were involved in another five goal thriller when they defeated Dundee United 3-2 at Tynecastle. However, Hearts fans know what happens when optimism gets the better of them - the following week Hearts travelled to Brockville to face a Falkirk team containing Alex Ferguson and Andy Roxburgh - and were beaten 2-0, former Hearts stalwart George Miller rubbing salt into the wounds by scoring one of the goals.

Hearts took that defeat badly - they didn’t win any of their next seven games. At the end of January, any flicker of title aspirations were well and truly snuffed out when the team capitulated to a 6-0 drubbing at Ibrox - this coming a week after a 5-2 defeat at Tynecastle by Dundee. Hearts league season was over and although they finished the season in sixth place they were twenty-one points behind champions Celtic - in the days when there were only two points awarded for a win. Incidentally, Aberdeen finished runners-up - ten points behind the champions.

Hearts fans sought salvation in the Scottish Cup and the early signs were promising when a very good St. Johnstone team - at the time managed by Willie Ormond who would go on to manage Scotland and Hearts - were beaten 2-0 at Tynecastle. Clydebank were thrashed 4-0 in Gorgie in the next round before Hearts faced Celtic at Celtic Park in the quarter-finals. Derek Renton scored the goal that gave Hearts a 1-1 draw and therefore secure a replay at Tynecastle. The game, on 27 March 1972, attracted an attendance of just over 40,000 - the last time a crowd of such size would be in Gorgie. A Lou Macari goal was enough to take Celtic through and more crushing disappointment ensued for the maroon legions.

It was a disappointing end to a season that, at one stage, promised so much. The triumph at Pittodrie in November 1971 was one of the highlights of the season; particularly in the style it was achieved. Ten men Hearts simply refused to accept defeat and used their perceived injustice at the sending off of Jim Townsend to spur them on to a memorable victory.

I left Pittodrie that day with my father with mixed emotions. I was thrilled my team had won and in such a way that caused considerable angst to the home support. Living in Aberdeen, I knew what awaited me at school on Monday morning had Donald Ford not stepped in with glorious and impeccable timing. However, I knew my father would drop me off at home before driving back to his home in Cumbernauld. I felt a little cheated at not being able to share the joy of victory with anyone.

It was, however, a great day. And these would be in despairingly short supply as the 1970s progressed….

Football Can Be Cruel

On Saturday Hearts thrashed Aberdeen 5-0. The Dons are going through a bad spell just now - it’s just over a month since The Dons lost 9-0 to Celtic on a dark November afternoon in the east end of Glasgow. Having lived in the Granite City many years ago I still have a few friends in the north-east and I can’t deny I sent numerous texts to some of them that Saturday evening as well as last weekend. As is the way with football fans you would be correct in surmising these texts weren’t of the supportive nature and sending the contact details of the local branch of The Samaritans didn’t go down too well in some quarters.

I actually spent the Saturday afternoon of the 9-0 debacle in the company of an Aberdeen fan - namely my dear old mum. With her health not what it once was she moved from Aberdeen to Edinburgh three and a half years ago in order that she could be closer to me but her affinity to the Dons has not diminished - if anything, it’s strengthened. We sat in her sheltered accommodation flat and watched the BBC’s football results service via the ‘red button’ on her digital television. Once Paul Hartley also pressed ‘red’ and was sent off, the floodgates inevitably opened and my mother watched news of the goals being scored at Celtic Park through fingers covering her eyes.

It was the nature of the afternoon that she was cruelly denied even a brief flicker of hope. Celtic were 4-0 ahead early in the second half when the score flashed on the screen of Celtic 4 Aberdeen 1 - scorer Macgennis. I tried to instil some hope to my mother by saying the comeback was on - after all didn’t a certain team from Edinburgh lose a 6-2 lead earlier this year? Sadly, before she had a chance to respond the screen changed again. This time the score read Celtic 6 Aberdeen 0 - it transpired that the goal Macgennis had scored wasn’t for Aberdeen - it was an own goal. Moreover, by the time the BBC had realised their mistake a now rampant Celtic had scored again. This compounded my poor mother’s misery which rapidly descended into anguish when the seventh, eighth and ninth goals went in.

This little bit of drama reminded me of a couple of occasions when I’ve been at a game where all wasn’t quite as it seemed. Curiously, both those games involved Hearts and Aberdeen. Back in the mists of time at the beginning of season 1976/77, Hearts played the first league game of the season at Pittodrie. I was fourteen at the time and, for reasons I no longer care to remember, I arrived at the ground a couple of minutes after kick-off. There was the usual large Hearts support behind the goal but as the game was just minutes old, I didn’t think to ask if there had been any scoring yet. Aberdeen scored after just five minutes and when home favourite Davie Robb added a second with just five minutes to go I thought that was it. However, Hearts Donald Park scored a couple of minutes later - small consolation I thought. When the final whistle blew, I made for the exits with a heavy heart - until I heard a fellow Jambo say that a 2-2 draw at Aberdeen wasn’t a bad start to the season. It transpired I had missed Drew Busby’s opening goal in the first minute and therefore believed Hearts had lost the game. I learnt two lessons that day - firstly make damn sure you get to the game on time and secondly, if you don’t just ask someone the score.

The other occasion was circa 1992 when Hearts entertained The Dons at Tynecastle. I sat in the company of one of the infamous Mrs Smith’s relatives in the old enclosure. He was - and still is - an Aberdeen fan. Hearts went ahead through John Robertson but the visitors thought they had equalised only for the goal to be disallowed. As the referee was considering his decision, my in-law headed for the gents - unaware the goal was about to be chalked off for offside. When he returned, I was unaware that he was unaware the goal hadn’t stood. There was no further scoring and when the final whistle blew, he put his arm around my shoulder and said ‘well, I reckon 1-1 is a fair result’. It took a considerable effort by me to persuade him that Hearts had actually won the game 1-0...

Which proves, as Aberdeen discovered a few weeks ago in the east end of Glasgow, that football can be a cruel game.

Heart of Midlothian 5 (five) Aberdeen 0

Clydesdale Bank SPL, Saturday 11 December 2010 - Tynecastle

Hearts produced arguably their best performance of the season to hammer a hapless Aberdeen side who did little to impress watching new manager Craig Brown. Two goals ahead inside eight minutes, Hearts proceeded to tear The Dons to shreds and with a bit more clinical finishing may well have matched Celtic's tally of nine goals against Aberdeen last month.

The highly talented David Templeton - who, as a schoolboy was on Aberdeen's books - showed great determination to squeeze the ball over the line for the opener in four minutes. A superb driven effort from Rudi Skacel four minutes later doubled the lead as Hearts threatened to overrun the visitors. Skacel, Templeton and Kevin Kyle went close to adding to the score in the first half. The only moment of irritation from a Hearts point of view was when referee Mike Tumilty booked Rudi Skacel for taking a free kick before he had blown his whistle. A decision which was even more ridiculous when it wasn't Skacel who took the kick - it was Ian Black who also got booked for trying to show the hapless Tumilty the error of his ways.

The second half followed the same pattern as the first. Hearts scored another two early goals through the hard working Stephen Elliott and Rudi Skacel before substitute Novikovas scored a fine individual effort with twelve minutes left. Calum Elliot and Skacel again should have scored in one of the most one-sided Hearts-Aberdeen games I can remember seeing in more than forty years.

Hearts have now won five games in a row, scored thirteen goals and have conceded none. They are the form team in the SPL - and are now just six points behind Celtic. However, Motherwell - the team Craig Brown has just left - will provide a sterner test at Fir Park on Tuesday evening. Aberdeen? I can't recall The Dons being so poor. However, I suspect Craig Brown will turn things around - given time.

In the meantime I may pay a visit to the site of fellow blogger - and Aberdeen fan - Kenfitlike..

Derek Adams

New Hibernian assistant Derek Adams says he turned down the chance to manage Scottish Premier League clubs because they lacked ambition and funds. Adams refused to name any club, but Kilmarnock and St Mirren were both looking for a new boss in the summer.


"I had the chance to go, but the clubs I had the opportunity to go to were not the right clubs," he told BBC Scotland. "They didn't have the finance to go forward and they didn't want to be played the way I wanted to go forward."

From the BBC Sport Website

I suspect I'm not the only person who was surprised Adams joined Hibernian as assistant to Colin Calderwood. There's an irony in him claiming those clubs who approached him to be their manager 'lacked ambition'.

However, this story does add weight to the theory that Aberdeen didn't sack Mark McGhee because Adams turned them down...

Aberdeen 0 Heart of Midlothian 1

                                                              SNS photo from BBC website

Clydesdale Bank SPL, Saturday 16 October 2010 - Pittodrie

I don't go to many Hearts away games these days but made the effort to head to the Granite City on Saturday to see a game between two teams who have had a stop-start season thus far. Aberdeen began the season at the top of the SPL after winning their opening two games but have endured a barren run of late. Hearts, meanwhile, have turned Tynecastle from a fortress to a free-for-all - they haven't won a league game in Gorgie so far this season - but have a decent record on their travels. Which is why I was quietly but not overly confident of a win for the maroons at Pittodrie (well, the turquoise and white stripes...)

It was one of those games which the media like to call 'tousy'. Referee Mike Tumilty issued seven yellow cards and could - some say perhaps should - have issued at least one red. The bad feeling seemed to emanate from a quite ridiculous reaction from Aberdeen's Zander Diamond who fell to the ground as if he had been shot by a sniper in the main stand after he and Hearts Kevin Kyle went for a fifty-fifty ball. Kyle reacted angrily to Diamond's theatrics and from then on there seemed bad blood between the sides. Blood being the operative word in the case of Hearts Rudi Skacel who had blood pouring from his nose after receiving a smack in the face from a home player.

Suso Santana was then elbowed in the face by Dons defender McArdle. Santana required lengthy treatment and soon developed a lump the size of a large egg on the side of his face. Referee Tumilty stopped play but chose not even to book McArdle or even award Hearts a free-kick. Santana reacted with similar anger to that shown by Kyle and thought it would be wise to clip the Aberdeen player round the ear. Thankfully, Mr Tumilty also missed this although I have a suspicion the SFA will take retrospective action against the Spanish winger, who had an excellent game otherwise.

The only goal of the game came a minute into the second half when fine passing play from the visitors let Calum Elliot deliver an inch perfect cross for Kyle to powerfully head past home keeper Howard who was replaced moments afterwards suffering from concussion.

There was no doubt Hearts deserved to win the game, the only disappointment being they only had a single goal to show for their domination. With two home games coming up against St. Mirren and Kilmarnock, Hearts now have the chance to break their Tynecastle duck. Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee must feel he has a long hard season ahead.

Disappointingly for a fixture that used to be one of the highlights of the season, there were less than 9,000 at Pittodrie on Saturday. And over 1,000 were in maroon. Still, at least we enjoyed the journey home...

Scottish Cup Semi-Final 1996.

As Hearts head to Aberdeen this weekend, here's a clip from the Scottish Cup semi-final between the pair at Hampden in 1996.

Aberdeen 0 Heart of Midlothian 1

Clydesdale Bank SPL, Saturday 27 February 2010 - Pittodrie (or was it Aberdeen beach?)

The mini match reports on this blog are of games I have attended. I have to confess I didn't go to Pittodrie today for numerous reasons: a) a ridiculous kick-off time of 12 noon - how convenient for those who did travel to the Granite City, b) I've already seen Hearts lose twice to Aberdeen in the last six weeks and c) Hearts have been quite awful this season - the worst Hearts team for thirty years. Oh and d) the game was live on ESPN, hence the kick off time and, I suspect, the reason many people stayed away (I believe this was Aberdeen's lowest attendance of the season)

The game was, in keeping with so many Hearts games this season, quite awful. Forgive me if I have written this before but it is true. At least today there was some kind of excuse - the pitch was quite woeful and wholly unplayable and this combined with the biting wind from the North Sea made the possibility of free-flowing football non-existent. Not that it existed in any case given the teams who were playing.

Two shocking refereeing decisions threatened to undo Hearts efforts. Firstly, Ryan Stevenson was blatantly pushed in the Aberdeen penalty box just before half-time right in front of the eyes of the referee. No penalty said Willie Collum. Secondly, Larry Kingston went for a fifty-fifty ball with Aberdeen's Fraser Fyvie. Both had their feet high and there was an inevitable collision. It appeared as if Fyvie had been the victim of a terrorist atrocity as the way he reacted when he fell to the ground indicated he had been shot by a sniper in the sparse crowd. Referee Collum was suitably impressed by the youngster's antics to show Kingston a red card when a yellow would have been more appropriate.

Having lost Kurchaski and Zaliukas to injury, Hearts were now down to ten men. But what they lacked in skill they made up for in spirit - although Eggart Jonsson's superbly taken goal moments later was something to savour. The Icelandic internationalist took a deflected Calum Elliot effort on the volley and with a superb bicycle kick swept the ball past an astonished Jamie Langfield in the Aberdeen goal.

There endeth the scoring. Aberdeen looked a side bereft of confidence and ideas; Hearts at least played with a spirit that was commendable and look good for a top six place come the ludicrous SPL split in April.

To my esteemed blogging colleagues Ken Fitlike and Huntly Loon - things can only get better!

Heart of Midlothian 0 Aberdeen 3

Clydesdale Bank SPL, Wednesday 27 January 2010 - Tynecastle

A mind-numbingly hopeless Hearts performance. Just when you think they can't play any worse. Fair play to Aberdeen though - they played well and thoroughly deserved their victory.

Nuff said!

Aberdeen 2 Heart of Midlothian 0

Active Nation Scottish Cup Fourth Round, Saturday 9 January 2010 - Pittodrie

I headed to the Granite City on the Friday evening and shared a few beers with an old mucker before staying overnight. I don't think he quite believed me when I told him how poor Hearts have been this season. What about five games in a row unbeaten? Victory over Celtic? A good draw at Hibernian? Just papering over the cracks, I told him.

And so it was proved at a chilly Pittodrie Stadium (when is it anything else up there?) The tie was one of the few that survived the adverse weather conditions (the latest entry into cliched life in this country) and the thousand or so Hearts fans who made the considerable effort to head north must have wished they hadn't bothered. In keeping with the majority of matches this season it was poor fare.

Hearts were without the likes of Andrew Driver, Jose Goncalves, Lee Wallace, Ruben Palazuelos Craig Thomson and Jason Thomson but those who did take to the field in unfamiliar blue were, quite simply, awful. I counted just one effort on goal in the first forty-five minutes while Aberdeen certainly kept visiting keeper Marian Kello busy. Hearts front two were teenagers Gordon Smith and Scott Robinson - they tried their best but they looked out of their depth. They weren't helped by the somewhat mystifying tactic of launching constant high balls to Robinson who cut a diminutive and hapless figure. What's it all about Csaba?

It was inevitable Aberdeen would eventually score - and inevitable it would be Darren Mackie, a player who apparently hasn't scored for eleven months. Why is it all the droughts are ended against Hearts? St. Mirren, for example, took eight months to win a league game at their shiny new ground. Until Hearts came a calling...

More inevitability - former Hearts striker Lee Miller scored Aberdeen's second with fourteen minutes left. What happened after that, dear reader, I'm unable to tell you as I left the ground - along with hundreds of other disgruntled Hearts supporters.

Who have East Stirlingshire got next week...?

Archie Baird - Aberdeen Legend

Archie Baird, a member of Aberdeen's legendary 1947 Scottish Cup winning team, has died at the age of 90. The Dons hero was the last surviving member of the first Aberdeen team to lift the famous old trophy.

Born in 1919, Baird signed for Aberdeen in 1938, but the outbreak of the Second World War meant he did not make his competitive debut until 1946. He made 104 league appearances for Aberdeen, scoring 26 goals. He left Aberdeen to join St Johnstone and then became a teacher and journalist.

Fittingly, Aberdeen meet St. Johnstone at Pittodrie on Saturday - Remembrance weekend - and a minute's silence will be held for the player still remembered fondly in the Granite City.

What's the Score?

We live in an age where communication is instant. Indeed, we demand it to be so. Satellite technology and the advance of the internet and mobile phones means that no matter where you are in the world you can have almost instant access to any sporting event worth its salt. It’s a far cry from when I first began going to football back in the late 1960s.

Back then, satellite technology was in its infancy. Yes, the USA were putting men on the moon but life in Scotland was literally more down to earth. Football was different four decades ago. There were only two divisions, First and Second with eighteen teams in the top flight. Teams would play each other just twice a season in the league and if my team Hearts were playing away - always on a Saturday afternoon in the days before games were covered live on television - the reserve team would be playing our opponents reserve team at Tynecastle.

Hearts struggled throughout the 1970s and attendances at Tynecastle were about half what they are now. On cold winter afternoons with a biting wind and lashing rain fans would huddle in the old Tynecastle shed urging on the likes of Rab Prentice, Drew Busby and Donald Ford. Unless you had a transistor radio with you - it’s a seventies thing, younger readers - getting the half-time scores from other games usually meant forking out a shilling (five pence) for a programme (in the days before they were called match day magazines). The other fixtures would be printed with capital letters next to them and a man would climb the half-time scoreboard on the Gorgie Road terracing slotting numbers on the board. For example, next to the letter A he would place 1-1. A quick look at the programme would show Aberdeen were drawing at home to Hibernian…

I was living in Aberdeen in 1971 when Partick Thistle recorded their famous League Cup Final triumph over Celtic, who were then one of the best clubs in Europe. I was at Pittodrie with a friend and there were huge hoots of derision when the fella on the half-time scoreboard on the then wide open Pittodrie terracing put 4-0 next to the letter A. The silly man must have got the score the wrong way round we assumed. As if Thistle would be four nil up against Celtic at half time we chortled. Astonishingly, it was true…

Back in the 1970s, the term mobile phone meant someone picking up their old dialling contraption and throwing it across the living room on discovering on BBC1’s Grandstand results service that their team had lost at Arbroath. In fact, a good many households didn’t even have a telephone - we didn’t get one in our house until 1976. The internet was something connected with the space agency NASA. The radio was the main source of getting updated football scores and tuning into Radio Scotland was a challenge in itself. No digital radio then, of course. It was VHF and medium wave and I seem to recall Radio Scotland being an extension of BBC Radio Four. So much so, that Sportsound - or Sportsreel I think it was called back then - didn’t start until 3.30pm on a Saturday afternoon. When I lived in Aberdeen as a child I used to spend an anxious half an hour from three o-clock on a Saturday wondering how the mighty - okay this was the 1970s so not so mighty - Jambos were getting on. It was at this time my pessimistic streak developed and has remained with me to this day. Hearts away to Dumbarton? Ach, they’ll skoosh it. By half past three, we’re bound to be at least three goals ahead. Then the dulcet tones of presenter Brian Marjoriebanks would come on and after updating us on Celtic and Rangers first - some things never change - eventually he would advise ‘and the latest from Boghead is that Dumbarton lead Hearts by a goal to nil…’ I soon learned to accept crushing disappointment as a way of life. As my father used to say to me ‘well, son, you chose to follow Hearts…’

Those of us who grew up in the 1970s and were avid football fans will remember the magnificent David Francey as Radio Scotland’s commentator supreme. Francey sounded like a loveable grandad, someone who would offer you sweets when you were expressly forbidden to have anything to eat before supper. ‘Oh and there’s a drive from the edge of the penalty box which has just whistled past the left hand post of Jim Cruickshank’ - his commentary often gave us better pictures that Archie Macpherson did in the edited television highlights on Saturday evening. Having said that, taking a radio to the game to get the other scores was often fraught with danger. When Hearts needed just a point from that game at Dens Park on the final day of season 1985-86 and hoped Celtic wouldn’t get the avalanche of goals they needed at St. Mirren to address their inferior goal difference the fella standing in front of me at Dundee dared to relay the news that The Hoops were four nil ahead at half-time. He was either very brave or very stupid depending on your view…

When the dust had settled on a Saturday afternoon and all the results were in the Hearts result would determine whether I nipped down the road to the local newsagent for a copy of the Saturday sports paper which was rushed out shortly after five o’clock and had all the results and brief match reports from the top games. Nearly every city had one. In Edinburgh it was the Pink News, printed on horrendous pink paper; in Aberdeen it was the Green Final printed on - well, you get the picture. After scouring through the paper to get scores and reports your hands were usually black with newsprint. I still recall the air of anticipation waiting in the newsagents for the screeching sound of the delivery van whose driver would lob a freshly printed batch of papers toward the door of the shop with the accuracy of a Danny McGrain throw in.

We forty something fans are often accused of looking at the past through rose-tinted - or in my case maroon-tinted spectacles. However, I can’t deny there were some truly awful games at Tynecastle three decades and more ago. Moreover, it’s difficult to imagine going to games now without having instant access to other scores through mobile phone and satellite technology.
However, there was an innocence about the days before mass technology I miss. The days before everything was sponsored, strips were emblazoned with names and most of us actually stood on the terracing for ninety minutes. On the other hand I don’t miss standing on the wide-open terracings in the middle of winter with the rain running down the back of your neck; the pissheads who stumbled through the turnstyles at 2.55pm having been in the pub for the past three hours and who would urinate down the back of your leg; or the ever present threat of violence that meant when you wore your team’s scarf walking down the road you were asking for a kicking.

Something I’ll hang on to next time Christian Nade’s attempt on goal knocks a Blackberry from the hands of a fan in row 25 of the Gorgie Stand…