Frank McGarvey Changed My Life!

Supporters of both teams at Tynecastle yesteday who followed their teams in the 1980s will recall St. Mirren striker Frank McGarvey. As well as being a forward of some repute, he is a player who helped changed the direction of my life. Let me explain.

In 1987, I was living in Aberdeen. Although I was in my mid twenties, I felt as though I was in my mid forties. I felt I was achieving nothing in life, stuck in a dead end job with no prospects. I still had ambition. I still wanted to do so many things. However, I felt trapped, unable to achieve anything with the shackles of life and work in Aberdeen hanging on me, dragging me into misery. My devotion to the mighty Heart of Midlothian FC was still total. Moreover, it was following a Hearts game that I made what was to prove to be a life-changing decision.

In the spring of 1987, I had joined the Granite City Hearts Supporters Club. I wasn’t the only Hearts supporter residing in Aberdeen and when I became aware of a Hearts supporters club in the city I decided to join this fine group of people who undertook the trek to see Hearts home and away every week. Having family commitments there was no way I could travel with the lads and lassies every week. Nevertheless, I went on the occasional journey, one of which was the Scottish Cup semi-final between Hearts and St. Mirren in April 1987. Hearts had knocked Celtic out of the cup earlier and with Rangers out in the first round the way was clear for an Old Firm free final for the second year in a row - and Hearts were favourites to lift their first piece of silverware since 1962. The semi-final against St. Mirren was seen as a passport to the final itself for the maroons and the Granite City Hearts Supporters Club set off for Hampden Park, Glasgow on a sunny spring afternoon full of expectation - which, as every Hearts fan knows, is always dangerous. The club, led by the inimitable figure of a fella called Charlie Brown, had a penchant for setting off from Aberdeen at 12 noon which meant getting to games before kick-off was usually a race against time - not helped by the tradition of stopping off at a pub in Forfar for a couple of pints and a game of pool en route to the Hearts game.

On the way to Hampden Park and the clash with St. Mirren, the bold Charlie considered it prudent to take the names of those fans wishing to go to the cup final a month later. When I ventured that, perhaps it might be worth thinking about this after the St. Mirren game I was almost booted off the coach at Dundee. Didn’t these fellas know anything about following Hearts? Against my better judgement, I put my name down to go with the lads to the final. However, somewhat predictably, Hearts were awful in the semi-final and proceeded to lose 2-1 with Frank McGarvey scoring the winner for the team from Paisley.

The trip back to Aberdeen was akin to travelling home from a family funeral. In a fit of pique, I blamed Charlie’s arrogance for costing us a trip to the final and promptly ceased my membership of the club. The following day, I sat in despair in my home in Aberdeen. Foolishly, I had been relying on football to deflect from the real problems of my life, thinking that as long as Hearts were winning and had a chance of winning the Scottish Cup all would be okay. That Sunday afternoon I made my mind up that something drastic was indeed required to sort my life out. Once my young daughter was in bed that evening I sat down with my wife and spoke to her about my feelings. She knew I was unhappy, knew my health was suffering and desperately wanted to help. I hated living in Aberdeen and wanted to change our lives for the better. The solution in my eyes was to move away from the Granite City - to a place I loved and had wanted to move to nearly a decade before. A place that was always in my heart. A place where I felt invigorated, at ease and at peace. That place was Edinburgh.

A little more than two years later I secured a job with Lothian Health Board and we headed to a new life in Scotland‘s capital city. The only regret I have is that I didn’t move sooner. Perhaps if Hearts had not lost to St. Mirren that day and had gone on to lift the Scottish Cup I may still be in Aberdeen to this day. So that’s why Frank McGarvey changed my life - thankfully for the better!