O'Neill stunned but club to consider Australia trip

A PROPOSAL for Hearts to play a ‘home’ league match against Celtic in Australia next season provoked an incredulous reaction last night from Martin O’Neill, the Parkhead manager.

The clubs have already held talks about the game, which would generate hundreds of thousands of pounds, but O’Neill has clearly not been consulted.

Speaking after Celtic had booked their place in the fourth round of the UEFA Cup with a 3-1 aggregate win over Teplice, the Irishman said: "When it was mentioned to me today I thought it was a joke. Are you saying we have to a play a match in Australia, getting there and travelling back? It will take us about four weeks to get there."

However, the agent responsible for brokering the deal says he will approach Rangers if Celtic decide not to take part.

Lou Sticca, managing director of Tribal Sports Management, said: "Celtic is our top target for the away team, we’ve got a lot of Scottish and Irish immigrants of various generations who would be desperate to see their heroes. If Celtic decided against it then Rangers would certainly be allowed to step into the breach, they are not far behind Celtic in terms of Australia-based support."

If the game is sanctioned by the Scottish Premierleague, Sticca says he will attempt to bring Rod Stewart over as part of the pre-match entertainment. "We want this game to be a celebration of Scottish football in the eyes of the world and Rod would certainly help us with that," he said.

While O’Neill is unimpressed, the idea received a more sympathetic hearing yesterday from Peter Lawwell, Celtic’s chief executive, who said he would consider the possibility of playing the match against Hearts in Melbourne.

Chris Robinson, the Tynecastle chief executive, approached Lawwell last week with the ground-breaking proposal. The game has been pencilled in for either August or January.

Lawwell said: "It is still very, very early for us to consider it further. We are nowhere near a final decision and it depends on a lot of things. You need an SPL vote and approval, but this has come out early. We’ve not even spoken about it internally yet, but I will have to talk to Martin about it. Chris Robinson spoke to me very briefly last week at the SPL meeting, but this is very early days.

"There are a lot of hurdles, but we will consider it like everything else. But this is very early and I’m surprised it’s come out. It sets a precedent and we will consider anything that is put before us, but I don’t want to worry too much about it yet."

Hearts head coach Craig Levein has already given the idea a cautious welcome with the club needing funds to service a debt of £17.6million.

Levein said: "I don’t know if it will happen. It is certainly something that is new and different. What we would probably do is give ourselves plenty of time to acclimatise. We’d obviously come back as quick after the game as possible.

"It is something that we would welcome as an experience more than anything else. I think that there are a lot of ex-pats in Australia and I would see it as a life experience and it could help the club."

News of the audacious proposal, first revealed in The Scotsman yesterday, stimulated huge interest in the Australian sporting media.

Sticca revealed: "It’s gone off the scale over here, everywhere you look it’s Hearts this, Hearts that. I expected this kind of response simply because I know the situation out here, Australia is crying out for this, we’re sick of exhibition matches. Hearts and the opposition would be welcomed with open arms, they would give the Australian public a top-class game of football in a setting that the players would remember for the rest of their careers."

TSM and Hearts have been in discussions about the fixture for a number of weeks, and Sticca was at pains to stress that it is the Tynecastle club who would be the main beneficiaries.

"Hearts would be the home team, let’s not forget that, the whole thing is based around Hearts, and that is a truly incredible opportunity for them. Hearts also have a great support out here in Australia, I remember Dave McPherson getting mobbed just walking down the street when he was over here."

McPherson, who works for TSM in Scotland, had a short spell as a player in Melbourne with Carlton after leaving Hearts in 1999.

Sticca’s co-promoter in Australia is Paul Dainty, who has worked previously with the acts such as the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, ABBA, as well as Rod Stewart.

"He’s been bringing Rod Stewart to Australia for 30 years and he is currently in negotiations with Rod to have him performing at the game," Sticca added. "We all know how much Rod loves Scottish football and I’m sure we’ll see him in the centre circle."

The SPL member clubs are expected to discuss the proposal at their monthly board meeting on 30 March. Each member club would receive £20,000 from the promoters. It is thought Hearts could make up to £500,000.

Taken from the Scotsman