Hearts mourn loss of last captain to win the title

Published on Tuesday 9 March 2004 00:00

TRIBUTES were paid yesterday to Jimmy Milne, the last Hearts captain to lead the club to the Scottish championship, who has died at the age of 73.

Milne played centre-half in the Tynecastle side’s title- winning sides of 1957-58 and 1959-60, skippering the team to the latter triumph following the departure of Dave Mackay to Tottenham Hotspur.

The imposing Milne was a deceptively skilful player whose talents as a ball-playing defender were ahead of his time. Alex Young, the celebrated Hearts forward who played alongside Milne in both title-winning teams, remembers him as a popular and influential team-mate.

"He was different to the centre-halves of that era because as well as being very strong, he was very skilful," recalled Young. "He wasn’t a big basher. He would pull the ball down and play wee passes, building up attacks from the back. He was the last Hearts captain to lift the title and was very clever the way he organised his defence during the championship-winning season in 1960. He was also a smashing man and a very popular player. I remember joining as an 18-year-old when he was captain of the reserves and he was very kind to me, helping me settle in."

With Young plundering the goals and Milne organising the defence, it truly was a golden era for Hearts under manager Tommy Walker. The march to the title in 1958 saw all sorts of records broken. The Tynecastle side dropped just six points all season and scored an astonishing 132 goals in 34 games, a championship record which still stands. The title triumph was repeated two years later, with the 100-goal barrier again broken.

Milne joined Hearts from his home-town club Arbroath in August 1950 and spent 11 seasons at Tynecastle. He came to Edinburgh on a free transfer and eyebrows were raised when former manager Davie McLean signed him. But he soon proved his worth alongside more illustrious names such as Mackay and Freddie Glidden.

Milne made his competitive debut in a league match against Celtic at Parkhead on 29 September 1951 when he deputised for the injured Bobby Dougan at centre-half. The loss of Dougan, a Scotland international, was considered a major blow, but Milne proved an able deputy and retained his place in the team for the remainder of the season.

His Hearts career could not have got off to a better start, the Edinburgh side defeating Celtic 3-1 thanks to goals from Alfie Conn, Willie Bauld and Jimmy Wardhaugh, the forward line on which much of the club’s success in the 1950s was founded.

While the Terrible Trio stole most of the headlines, Hearts were also defensively strong and Milne initially found it hard to hold down a regular place.

With a recognised half-back line-up of Mackay, Glidden and John Cumming, chances were few and far between for Milne, but an injury to Glidden in season 1956-57 opened the door for his return to the first-team.

With Milne at centre-half, Hearts were unbeaten in the last 21 league matches of the 1957-58 season and were as parsimonious in defence as they were prolific in attack. The title was reclaimed in 1960 and Milne played in the European Cup ties against Benfica the next season, but Hearts were well beaten by the Portuguese side, who went on to lift the trophy.

Milne left Hearts to return to Angus in April 1961 when he signed for Forfar Athletic. On retiring from football he worked for the Post Office in Arbroath but remained in the game as a director at Gayfield.

Among the mourners at his funeral, which took place in Arbroath yesterday, were his former Hearts team-mates Jimmy Murray, Gordon Marshall, Glidden and Young.

Taken from the Scotsman