Kick it Out

I would like to dedicate this blog entry to www.kickitout.org just because i feel like it, any kind of ism really it's about time it just all disappeared never to rear it's ugliness again.

Maybe as a Jambo with Celtic coming to town you take a bit more notice of the goings on in the crowd, i did, i took notice.
Make no mistake i am not about to pontificate that the Hearts support is - to a man angelic and devoid of ism's, i am not!
Neither will i see the opposition's antics through a fetid rage red mist, i will try not to.
But as a mark of the passing times i will state here for the record what i saw and heard at Tynecastle yesterday, in the shape of bigotry and racism as it descended from the stands.

I saw exactly one Union Jack in the Hearts support, it fluttered about aimlessly in the Roseburn Stand. You can argue that the display of the Union Jack is not in itself an act of bigotry. It's not! But it has more of an affiliation to that bigotry laden ideology, we all know and hate than it does to Heart of Midlothian Football Club.
There were exactly zero renditions of any billy boy, anti catholic songs that i heard from the Hearts support. There were at least three renditions of that number where the Celtic support give it - "mumble mumble ( do they even know the words until they get to ) SOLDIERS ARE WE mumble mumble" I don't even know if that song has been classified as racist or bigoted by UEFA or whoever but for the same reason as the Union Jack it has got to go. Each rendition had an uptake rate of exactly 100% of the Celtic support. Each time the effort was drowned out by a cacophony of boos from the Hearts quarters.
For the last ten minutes of the game the same 100% of celtic support belted out "Oh the wee Huns are Shi-ite" the Hearts support by then did not have the energy to respond.
There were a few TriColours but not many.
Behind me i kept hearing this bloke shout "f'n Chink" everytime Nakamura done anything remotely interesting with the ball ( not very often ). The saddest thing about that is, for the first half dozen times he said it, i heard 'Tink' not 'Chink' - see how far those dark decades of the seventies, eighties and nineties thrust the stereotypes into my Psyche. My kids will not suffer the same level of indoctrination but the above litany of useless crap is too much still -
It is time to stop!
None of the above bothered me in the slightest, apart from the "wee huns are shi-ite" but that had nothing to do with being deeply offended by an attack on hunness and everything to do with the fact that we had once again threw away a lead against Celtic and they were far far far too happy with themselves. My conscience is truly blunted to expressions of bigotry but just because i don't recoil in horror in the face of such horror does not mean i don't recognise it as horrible.
It is time to stop!
Rant over.

So the game had a big billing - it was the return of Steven Pressley to Tynecastle after the acrimonious divorce of captain from club late last year. Ever the optimist there was another agenda in my mind. For me the game was the leagues last chance saloon :-

If Hearts could get a result against the run away champions
and
after the other ugly sister won 5 - 0 against Dundee Utd having clutched at their straw and brought back Scotland manager and 9 in a row hero Walter Smith, Rangers go on a bit of a run.
Maybe the league was not all over.

The longest of long shots i know and even for me this was the very last chance for a wobble to be introduced that might just turn into a tailspin.
Sounds crazy but if you saw the final of the darts championship that went on yesterday in some working mans club in deepest darkest England, you'll know that it is never over till it's over.
The favourite goes 6 sets to 0 up in a first to 7 set final against the 150 - 1 outsider, who then claws his way back to 6 sets each and had the favourite f'n and blindin at himself. The favourite cruelly dispatched the final set 3 - 0. But there you go never over til the fat man flings the arrows.

The Steven Pressley show?
I mentioned in an earlier blog that i would be happy for Pressley to be applauded onto the park on his return to Tynecastle then to receive the same pelters as all the rest of the enemy from that point on. Have to say though that the minute i saw him emerge from the tunnel in the black and green of Celtic's away strip i saw no connection to me. I just saw a member of the opposition, the bad guys, someone who was to be castigated and vilified for the next 90 minutes or so. So did the rest of the Hearts support - so if you have read that he was applauded onto the pitch by the Hearts support that is a myth.
How did he play, he played pretty well within himself for the most part, after all he is a centre half not exactly the most expressive of positions. He commited the same niggly fouls he used to do for us, he organised and motivated the back 4 pretty well, he made a couple of well timed and important challenges and he got found out for pace and mobility a couple of times. All in all i think he just played a mature professional game and was not affected either way by the circumstances. A couple of points, having won the toss he made Heart shoot to the Gorgie end first ( always annoys us when it happens ), he looked livelier than usual when he came up for corners.
To sum it up, it is obvious that if there were any lingering emotions he hid them well and just got on with it, and that just makes perfect sense. Any one who has ever played any team sport knows it takes only seconds to develop an affiliation to your team exactly as long as it takes to pull on the team colours. It is to my deep regret that the only two Sunday league teams i have played for played in Green, White & Gold and Red, White & Blue - once the strip was on though i was one of them 100%.
A little aside - the Green, White & Gold was a team called Albion Park, i was 21 and they were coached by Mickey Weir and his brother. That wee sh*te was truly full of himself! I may never have been anywhere near his level of football but when you are fit and twenty one and a Hearts supporter you take great pleasure in catching a wee Hibee sh*t like him, crunching the tackles in. The beautiful game indeed.
So Pressley took great pleasure in the victory it was obvious and why shouldn't he, from our perspective we seem better of now that he is gone, we seem more settled and focused. So everyones a winner. I hope though that that is it now, no more lingering threads connecting him to us - no longer wish to read about Pressley the ex Hearts talisman forced to quit and join etc etc etc.

Hearts started the game in fiery spirit, and set about their task of outgunning Celtic all over the park in good fashion. For such a massive squad the line up looked somewhat makeshift - Brellier injured and Aguair suspended, we had to make do with Driver on the left and Neil McCann inside in central midfield. McCann much vilified, actually had a decent first half, putting himself about in midfield ( struck me that he was putting tackles in because he didn't have the time to think about it and ... bottle it like normal ). Barasa was performing his usual thuggery in the right back berth but managed to nobble himself somehow and had to go off to be replaced by Tall around 20 minutes, Tall doesn't seem to be cutting it for me and maybe their second goal would have been stopped if Barasa/Neilson had been there. Much gusto by Hearts had Celtic on the rack without really looking like they would buckle, we seemed to be short on ideas for the final ball. When Bednar played it square to Miko 30 yards out with the full compliment of Celtics defence stationed between him and goal then, we remained seated wondering what final ball failure he was about to conjure. I love it when a plan comes together, Miko has been very good at lulling the opposition into a false sense of security, no one in the Celtic defense thought for a second that they were in any danger of a venomous netbound shot from the wee Lithuanian. One step in with the left and he unleashed an unstoppable left foot pearler into the net with Boruc stranded and helpless.
A screamer!
Hearts had a chance to make it two close to half time with a neat ball through to Driver who took the defense for pace and sent a decent effort well saved by Boruc but only as far as Velicka to head back in a a goal mouth scramble which left us all confused and breathless. When i saw the pictures later on the TV it was never over the line but a good goal mouth clearance from Telfer.
Maybe if that had gone in things would have been different. Not convinced Celtic had featured in the Hearts box at this time, but a great effort low to Gordons left was saved perfectly - Half time.
Hearts 1
Celtic 0

My half time comment other than waxing lyrical over Miko's strike was to say "we have put an awful lot into the game i worry about the last twenty minutes.
In real terms it was the last 45 that i had to be worried about. The proverbial game of two halves!
Shortly after the interval Driver was taken off to be replaced by Elliot, playing out of position in midfield, and McCann moved out to his normal berth where Driver had been. Heard later that Driver was ill and probably should not have played at all, ill or otherwise had lost a degree of drive when he left the park.
The ball was out! a clear foot over the line on the half just below the Wheatfield Stand, the linesman ignored and Celtic retained possession, which they kept for another 10 or 15 seconds as they navigated their way into the Hearts box and set a drive towards Gordon. It was a hard shot but Gordon spilled - is it my imagination or is there a conspiracy of silence when Gordon makes a mistake, not just amongst Hearts supporters but all in Scottish football. He seems to be being treated like porcelain. Mind you if his infallible reputation keeps his price maximised then how can i argue with that!
Yan Venegoor of Castlemilk netted the rebound.
I was gutted, the ball was out man, frustrated!
Hearts forced a number of corners in the second half but frustratingly the quality of ball in was just not good enough always too long, too high and too predictable, so we never came close. I would like to see the stats on Hearts goals from corners this year, i bet it is very low.
The killer came from Jarosik, he collected the ball on the left and seemed to take Tall with him inside with out the challenge going in, he hit an effort which i thought was Gordon's all the way until it went in, i guess it bobbled over his hands, bouncing just in front of him.
Que the Celtic support and a rendition of "Thats why were champions" to the tune that we used to sing "Vladimir Romanov" to - like i said they were far too happy with themselves.
Hearts probably deserved a draw out of the game but from the point we went behind we never really looked like we believed we could get things back even. Celtic on the other hand always looked like they believed they could take the game and i guess that indeed is "why they are champions"