East Stirlingshire 0 Alloa Athletic 1

Irn Bru Scottish League Third Divison, Saturday 10 September 2011 - Ochilview

Having been out for a couple of shandies on Friday evening, I didn’t venture north for Hearts clash with Inverness Caledonian Thistle. I figured my delicate constitution would struggle with a three and a half hour train journey to the beautiful capital of the Highlands. Instead, I headed to Larbert to see my other team, East Stirlingshire, take on a side now managed by a man still hugely popular with  Hearts supporters - one Paul Hartley (as used to be chanted at Tynecastle)

The man who destroyed Hibernian with a hat trick in the Scottish Cup semi final at Hampden five and a half years ago is now player-manager of Third Division Alloa Athletic and while he opted to remain in his suit, collar and tie for the short trip to Ochilview, there’s no doubt Hartley is already exerting considerable influence over The Wasps. Alloa played a neat, passing game which some might say will prove their undoing in the hurley burley of the basement league although it didn’t stop Livingston powering their way to the Third Division title a couple of seasons back. With former Aberdeen players Darren Young and Robbie Winters providing experience, The Wasps won 1-0 and it was interesting to see Hartley, a rookie manager, continually encouraging his players from the touchline.

Shire played some decent football at times and manager John Couglin has the team playing more of a passing game. However, as has been proved so far this season, Shire have nothing up front and their decent play counts for nothing when they get to the final third of the field. Chances are few and far between so when they do come along they really have to take them. After half an hour, Ally Love had a glorious chance to open the scoring when he pounced on a mistake from Ben Gordon but the Shire man, having rounded the goalkeeper, then contrived to place his shot wide of the post. Inevitably, Alloa scored just before half time when the aforementioned Gordon diverted McCord's cross for the only goal of the game.

I had hoped to see Paul Hartley in action but, with his 35^th birthday just a few weeks away, he believed the players in his team would do the business without his influence on the field. And he was right. Having been relegated to the Third Division following a play-off defeat by Annan Athletic at the end of last season, Alloa are among the favourites to bounce straight back up again. Led by a man who remains a hero to thousands of Hearts supporters, I would be very surprised if The Wasps didn’t live up to expectations.

As for Shire, they may be bottom of the league but they won't be there for long. If only they could unearth a striker who knows where the goal is...

Twitter @Mike1874

Death of a Football Ground

       
         A highly emotive video for devotees of East Stirlingshire FC...

Laced Up Boots and Paulo Sergio

Money may be changing football in a way many of us find disconcerting but while the rich clubs get stronger and stronger as others struggle for survival there remains one constant that has almost become a tradition in the game - certainly from when I first began following Hearts as a six year old in 1968. Namely, the adaptation of popular songs into football chants. Last week, as Hearts celebrated yet another Edinburgh derby victory over Hibernian, Tynecastle Stadium announcer extraordinaire Scott Wilson played a song that has quickly become adapted by the Maroon Army following the recent appointment of Paulo Sergio as Hearts manager. Unlikely as it may seem but the chorus of KC and the Sunshine Band’s 1982 hit ‘Give it Up’ was belted out with some gusto by Hearts fans, their arrangement being Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na - Paulo Sergio, Sergio, Paulo Sergio! (forgive me if I’ve missed out a Na or two there!) As I departed the atmospheric Section G of the Wheatfield Stand, Hearts fans were gleefully chanting this little ditty in the direction of those Hibs fans still left in the Roseburn Stand by the time the game ended. Why it has taken nearly 30 years for this song to be adapted is not entirely clear but it’s the latest in a long line of songs to be adapted by Hearts fans for football purposes.

It wasn’t that long ago that another song from that era - Culture Club’s ‘Karma Chameleon’ - was sung by Hearts fans in homage to legendary striker John Robertson (Robbo, Robbo, Robbo - well, you get the picture) However, there are songs from even further back that have become Tynecastle anthems. The legendary Frank Sinatra passed away just a few weeks before Hearts Scottish Cup triumph in 1998. His most famous song - My Way - has been adopted almost exclusively by Hearts supporters as their proclamation they are heading to foreign shores as in ‘So Make a Noise, We’re the Gorgie Boys, We’re Going to Europe’

It’s incredible to think that another Hearts song - ‘By the Light of the Silvery Moon’ (we’re the boys in maroon) - dates back to 1909, the Edwardian era when football was played in black and white and it had been just seven years since Hibs had last lifted the Scottish Cup. More recently, although I’m still going back four decades, is a song by The Beatles. The chorus of ‘Hey Jude’ has long been belted out by Hearts fans - Na, Na, Na, Na Jam Tarts - and the song is still played today by the aforementioned Scott Wilson as the team runs out on to the Tynecastle field.

Another song from the 1960s by another legendary band has become a relatively recent addition to the football anthems. The chorus from The Beach Boys classic Sloop John B has been re-arranged by supporters of clubs other than Hearts - and some, it has to be said, rather distastefully - but the Maroon Army used it to good effect when Hearts went 2-0 up against Hibs in the derby. ‘Your season is over - why don’t you go home?’ When Tottenham Hotspur came to Gorgie last month their fans were greeted with 'Your city's on fire - why don't you go home?

There have been numerous other songs modified by supporters for the purpose of lending their support to their heroes. ‘When the Saints go Marching in’ began as an American gospel hymn but has been chanted at most football grounds in Britain, including Tynecastle.

One of my personal favourites from a few years ago was Hearts fans rendition of ‘Hersham Boys‘, a classic from punk legends Sham 69. Hearts fans used to chant on the Tynecastle terracing Gorgie Boys, Gorgie Boys, Laced Up Boots and Corduroys - although admittedly this had more sinister connotations in an age when violence on the terracings was commonplace. I seem to recall this being chanted frequently during Hearts sojourn in the First Division when the Gorgie Boys would announce their arrival at places such as Dumbarton, Dumfries and Dundee.

I’ve written before about how there are few stadia that can match the atmosphere of a full house at Tynecastle. Money may be influencing football like never before but thankfully, the fans and their songs of devotion to their team will ensure the game will never stray too far from its working class roots. And with any luck, Scott Wilson will be belting out Jeff Beck’s Hi Ho Silver Lining at Tynecastle at the end of the season!

Twitter @Mike1874

Heart of Midlothian 2 Hibernian 0

Clydesdale Bank SPL, Sunday 28 August 2011 - Tynecastle

As I took my seat in the Wheatfield Stand this afternoon, I have to confess I felt uneasy. Edinburgh derbies are always tense occasions (at least until Hearts inevitably open the scoring) but when I heard the Hearts team announced by the always excellent Scott Wilson my anxiety increased. David Templeton, Rudi Skacel, Arvydas Novikovas and Eggert Jonsson were all on the subsitutes bench. John Sutton, Mehdi Taouil and the youngster who was so impressive at White Hart Lane on Thursday - Ryan McGowan - didn't even get on to the bench. The much-missed Kevin Kyle, who had targeted the Edinburgh derby as his comeback game, was nowhere to be seen.

Ryan Stevenson, who knows a thing about scoring in Edinburgh derbies, partnered Stephen Elliott up front. Full backs Jamie Hamill and Danny Grainger were encouraged to make forward runs. I wasn't convinced this would work but, in the end, I need not have worried.

It wasn't the greatest Edinburgh derby ever played but Hearts won comfortably after dominating the proceedings. There was a slight delay to the kick-off after some lout in the Hibs end thought it smart to lob a smoke bomb on to the pitch. A flare then appeared on the corner of the field but it was unclear where this was thrown from. What can be done about these idiots?

Hearts enjoyed plenty possession but a lapse in concentration in defence allowed O'Connor a header at goal which, thankfully, went wide. Six minutes before half time Hearts took the lead their domination deserved when fine play from Jamie Hamill on the right wing found Ryan Stevenson in the penalty box and former Ayr United man calmly stroked the ball past Hibs keeper Stack.

The second half followed the same pattern as the first with Hearts on top. Stephen Elliot hit the post before forcing a fine save from Stack who then saved well from Andrew Driver. Hearts doubled their lead with 20 minutes left when a brilliant cross from Hamill was headed home by Andy Webster. Hibs Sodje hacked the ball off the line but it seemed the ball had crossed for a goal. Jonsson blasted the rebound into the net to make sure but the goal was Webster's.

There endeth the scoring and a good week for Hearts who restored some pride with a goalless draw with Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane during the week and continued their domination of the Edinburgh derby. It was pointed out after the game that Hearts have won 276 Edinburgh derbies to Hibs 200. Even if Hibs were to win four derbies a season from now it would take them 20 years just to catch up.

Hearts are now fourth in the SPL. Hibs are bottom...

Top man: The quite brilliant Jamie Hamill

Believe in Better?

Sky TV's marketing catchphrase is currently 'Believe in Better'. The billions of pounds the satellite broadcaster has thrown at English football in the past two decades illustrated this adage to devastating effect at Tynecastle last Thursday evening.

Hearts Europa League qualifying round opponents, Tottenham Hotspur, even without several first team regulars, still had a team full of multi-million pound talent that was simply streets ahead of Hearts who, it has to be said, seemed in awe of their illustrious opponents. It's become something of a cliché that Scottish football lacks the technical ability of the more successful countries but tries to make up for this with fight, determination and an 'up-and-at-'em' attitude. This has worked for Hearts in the past as the likes of Bayern Munich, Vfb Stuttgart, Atletico Madrid and Bologna - who have all lost at Tynecastle in European competition - would testify. Sadly, even this commendable trait was lacking from the Maroons last week. The only good thing from the night was the truly magnificent Hearts support who gave their team tumultuous backing all through the evening - even as the goals were raining in. Hearts fans were hanging on at the end hoping there wouldn't be a sixth goal. Indeed, when the Spurs fans demanded 'we want six' the Hearts support retorted 'we want one...'

The following statistics perhaps highlight why no one should be surprised at the scale of the difference between Hearts and Spurs. Sky TV’s current deal with the Barclay’s FA Premiership is for around £1.3 billion over three seasons.

In Scotland, the current deal with Sky TV and its satellite rival ESPN is worth £65 million - over five seasons. You don’t have to be Einstein to work out why the London side won as easily as they did in Gorgie last week.

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp was moved to say how impressed he was with the Hearts support and 'how fans like these deserve success'. They do, but success has to be measured against reality. Hearts will not win a European trophy and although they may occasionally challenge for the SPL title, reality dictates they will not win it. More than a quarter of a century has passed since a team other than Celtic and Rangers were champions of Scotland - and this was an era before money influenced even the Old Firm.

For clubs like Hearts, ‘success’ is achieving third place in the SPL, getting to a cup final with a half-decent chance of winning it, and the occasional decent result in the Europa League although Scotland’s rapidly diminishing co-efficient in Europe means even qualifying for the group stages of this competition is an achievement in itself.

Despite protestations from Neil Lennon and Ally McCoist - whose Old Firm sides also failed to win their Europa League first leg ties against much weaker opposition than Spurs - the standard of Scottish football is as poor today as it has ever been. Money talks in football like never before and it's clear that thanks to television companies such as Sky the strong are getting even stronger while the weak are facing oblivion. The more successful the Barclays FA Premiership becomes, the more people will subscribe to Sky TV to watch exclusive live matches; thus, the more Sky will throw millions of pounds at clubs to keep it going. English, Spanish and Italian clubs feast at the top table of European football, laden with hugely expensive fine cuts. Scottish football doesn't get near the top table to feed off the scraps - in fact, it currently doesn't even get in to the dining room.

As impressive as Spurs were last Thursday, they are unlikely to win the Barclays FA Premiership because of the even larger resources of the four or five clubs ahead of them - and this was underlined by Manchester United’s 3-0 win over Harry Redknapp’s team at Old Trafford on Monday. This underlines how the allocation of TV money, along with the extra money it attracts e.g. big investors at Chelsea and Manchester City, has influenced football - and made success less achievable for the majority of clubs.

The top four in England - who qualify for the UEFA Champions League - get a larger slice of the massive FA Premiership cake, because they are on television more than other clubs. The same argument applies on a smaller scale in Scotland where provincial Scottish clubs get a reduced slice of much smaller Scottish cake because the Old Firm are always on the box. The outcry last week that Scottish football is in a bad way was not unexpected but it is so because it does not have the resources to be any better.

Yet, there are some Scottish players doing quite well in the money-laden English league. Charlie Adam at Liverpool and Steven Fletcher at Wolves are cases in point. A quick look at the Scotland side that defeated Denmark the other week tells you the number of players in Head Coach Craig Levein’s thoughts who are plying their trade south of the border. This suggests that there are more problems with the way that Scottish football is managed and coached.

Last year former First Minister Henry McLeish published the recommendations of the Scottish football think tank. Various ideas were discussed including league reconstruction, a pyramid system to enable ambitious non-league clubs to compete for league status, a winter break and a possible merger of Scottish football’s three governing bodies. There were some decent recommendations in Mr McLeish’s report - yet, still nothing has happened

The average football fan can see what needs to be done. Television money needs to be fairly distributed, a larger league where teams play each other twice each season, and a change to the season from August to May to March to December. This would see the close season take place during January and February when the Scottish winter is usually at its most severe. As an added incentive, I would have the League Cup winners play-off against the fourth placed team in the SPL to decide who would play in the following season’s Europa League.

I would also scrap the SPL and SFL and have just one governing body running Scottish football - perhaps a revamped SFA where the Chief Executive makes decisions rather than the plethora of outdated committees we’ve had for decades. The Chief Executive could be part of an elected board that require being re-elected every four years.

The way Tottenham Hotspur dismantled Hearts last week was yet another wake up call for Scottish football. Few Hearts fans expected their team to beat Spurs over two legs although some harboured a vain hope they might win the home leg. That faint hope was cruelly destroyed at Tynecastle last Thursday evening. Nonetheless, hope is all that Scottish football has to cling on to. There is a great line in that classic film The Shawshank Redemptionsays 'hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and good things never die’.

Those of us who love Scottish football and mourn its present state can only cling on to this thought. Or as Sky TV likes to tell everyone - believe in better.

Twitter @Mike1874

Heart of Midlothian 0 Tottenham Hotspur 5

Europa League Play-off Round 1st leg, Thursday 18 August 2011 - Tynecastle

Sky TV's marketing catchphrase is currently 'Believe in Better'. The billions of pounds the satellite broadcaster has thrown at English football in the past two decades illustrated this adage to devastating effect at Tynecastle on Thursday evening.

Spurs, even without several first team regulars, still had a team full of multi-million pound talent that was simply streets ahead of Hearts who seemed in awe of their illustrious opponents. It's become something of a cliche that Scottish football lacks the technical ability of the more successful countries but tries to make up for this with fight, determination and an 'up-and-at-'em' attitude. This has worked for Hearts in the past as the likes of Bayern Munich, Vfb Stuttgart, Atletico Madrid and Bologna - who have all lost at Tynecastle in European competition - would testify. Sadly, even this commendable trait was lacking from the Maroons on Thursday as Harry Redknapp's gifted side ripped Hearts apart.

Hearts seemed in awe right from kick off. It took the hugely impressive van der Vaart just four minutes to open the scoring before Defoe and Livermore added further goals in an embarrassingly one-sided first half. Hearts manager Paulo Sergio doubtless had a few words to say to his shell-shocked troops at half-time and the home side at least threatened for a ten minute period at the beginning of the second half. However, further goals from Bale and Lennon completed the rout and Hearts fans were hanging on at the end hoping there wouldn't be a sixth goal. Indeed, when the Spurs fans demanded 'we want six' the Hearts support retorted 'we want one...'

The only good thing from the night was the truly magnificent Hearts support who gave their team tumultuous backing all through the evening - even as the goals were raining in. Spurs manager Harry Redknapp was moved to say how impressed he was with the Hearts support and 'how fans like these deserve success'.

Despite protestations from Neil Lennon and Ally McCoist - whose Old Firm sides also failed to win in the Europa League against much weaker opposition than Spurs - the standard of Scottish football is as poor today as it's ever been. Money talks in football like never before and it's clear that thanks to television companies such as Sky the strong are getting even stronger while the weak are facing oblivion. The more successful the English FA Premiership becomes, the more people will subscribe to Sky TV to watch exclusive live matches; thus, the more Sky will throw millions of pounds at clubs to keep it going. English, Spanish and Italian clubs feast at the top table of European football, laden with hugely expensive fine cuts. Scottish football doesn't get near the top table to feed off the scraps - in fact, it currently doesn't even get in to the dining room.

Few Hearts fans expected their team to beat Spurs over two legs although some harboured a vain hope they might win the home leg. Those faint hopes were cruelly destroyed at Tynecastle on Thursday evening. There is a great line in that classic film The Shawshank Redemption that says 'hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and good things never die'.

I can only hope, for Scottish football's sake, this is so.

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