Abuse of Mercer is over top

Ray Hepburn

7 Dec 1992

THE scenes at Tynecastle on Saturday, during and after Hearts' 3-1 defeat by Airdrie, were repulsive, and those involved have brought nothing but discredit to the club they support.

Being opposed to Wallace Mercer is allowed, and, indeed, can be regarded as good sport depending on which side of the Edinburgh divide you reside.

Over the years he has not exactly made himself a difficult target.

The aborted take-over of Hibernian, his high profile position within two breakaway movements, and his links with the Conservative Party are not designed to appeal to football's clientele.

But the level of personal abuse hurled at the club's major shareholder after Hearts' third defeat in a week was totally unacceptable.

This is his crime.

The team has lost three times.

There was a depressing sadness in his face after a game that he sat through with his wife and young son while one man, screaming in a deranged frenzy, described him as "a cancer on the club."

Youngsters on the terracing and later outside the stadium followed that poisoned lead and called for Mercer to resign, as the pain of watching a group of Hearts rejects win at Tynecastle became unbearable.

This is the man who currently has more than £500,000 in personal guarantees in the shape of property and shares lodged with the bank to support what undoubtedly has been excessive club borrowing.

The man who has stood closest to the volatile, unpredictable but likeable Mercer throughout his 11 years at Tynecastle is his vice-chairman, Pilmar Smith.

After Saturday's protests a swift meeting of the directors in the Tynecastle boardroom offered unanimous support for their leader, with Edinburgh bookmaker Smith clear about the future and the past.

"The chairman going will not help the club one bit and I've told them so.

The team have had a difficult spell but they will work with the manager to sort that out," he insisted.

"We have to look at this in perspective.

Two weeks ago we were the closest challengers to Rangers and we are still in fourth place in the league before halfway.

"No-one is more bitterly disappointed than we are that the supporters have not had the trophy that Hearts have been so close to winning many times.

Some of the young lads demonstrating outside the stadium may not remember the bad days, but I do.

We had fights at some games because we couldn't get out of the first division.

"Anyone with any semblance of judgment cannot fail to recognise the vast improvement in the quality of players at Tynecastle now, compared with the period when the chairman took over.

That time cannot be described as an unqualified success but it is certainly not abject failure."

What a pity that the off-field diversion should detract from the joy of manager Alex MacDonald, coach John Binnie, and the other former Hearts employees, Jimmy Sandison, Kenny Black, Sandy Stewart, Walter Kidd, and David Kirkwood.

They latched on to Owen Coyle's third-minute goal to play the game their way, and, when Hearts recklessly chased victory after Ian Baird's equaliser, Airdrie scored two late goals through Paul Jack and Alan Lawrence.

On May 3, 1986, when Hearts were defeated 2-0 at Dundee and lost the league on goal difference, MacDonald conceded that that was the day he lost his job.

The chance of topping that was slim.

Now, more than six years on, the man who sacked him two years ago may be suffering from the same legacy.

The dissident supporters should realise, however, that Mercer cannot be wrenched from his club by terracing taunts.

In this recession there is no individual with either the money or the inclination to recompense him for his 76% stake in Hearts.

Some years ago Mercer was contemplating the introduction of some American-style gimmicks to lift his crowd into a buoyant pre-match mood.

"Read them the team from 10 years ago, that'll cheer them up," quipped MacDonald.

The same observation should still apply.

Taken from the Herald