Off-field bust-ups and petulant play belie bashful side of Hearts' Mr Nice

MOIRA GORDON

IT WAS a scene which just didn’t seem to fit. On a night most Hearts fans present have already decided outstrips the famous win in Bordeaux, the majority of the Hearts players appeared from the away dressing room deep within the St Jakob Park stadium on Thursday night, laughing and joking. There were a few who slipped past the media quietly with just a smile and a knowing wink, and there were others who simply looked embarrassed by all the attention they were getting.

That Dennis Wyness was one of the few who fell into the latter category will hardly surprise, but the fact Michael Stewart was another may just be hard for some to absorb.

This after all is a big-head. A lad with an attitude problem. A starlet who shone too bright too soon, burnt himself out but still can’t quite accept his fall from above.

Wrong. If he is any of those things he is very good at hiding it.

In fact, get past the stories of training ground bust-ups with David Johnson at Nottingham Forest, bouts of on-field petulance, the whispering campaigns that might as well have been Tannoy announcements and when you get away from the hype and actually meet the person, he verges on the side of shyness, is introspective and, well, really quite nice.

He is also honest enough to claim that immaturity and frustration have prompted him to make mistakes in the past, but he maintains that he has learned from those mistakes and is determined to prove the naysayers wrong.

"I can’t have any argument when people label facts and say this, this and this has happened and the only common factor is that I’m involved in them all," he says. Ensconced in a wee office at the Hearts training academy, he might as well have been on a psychiatrist’s couch, as he flicked back through the chapters in his life, probably looking for clues as to whether the end will be of the happy-ever-after variety.

"I can’t be the innocent party every time and I know I’ve made mistakes along the line in the past but when I walk into a new changing room I want people to take me at face value. Because I’ve not been playing at Hearts I realise people will have put two and two together and come up with eight. The easy answer is that they’ll be thinking I've got a bad attitude but it’s not the case." The answer is given with so much conviction that you have to believe him or at least believe that he believes it.

"I don’t want to lose being a bastard on the pitch but sometimes I would let frustration with myself boil over because I want high standards from myself and couldn’t accept making a mistake and would lose the plot and be out of order with other people because I was annoyed with myself. I’d like to think if you asked anyone at Hearts they couldn’t turn round and say he’s an arse, he’s got a bad attitude and everywhere I've been I've got on really well with the lads who have been there.

"But when you get older you realise there’s no point in getting upset or taking it to heart when people are making comments about you.

"If they don’t know you they’re only going on hearsay and you’ve got to let it wash over you. As long as people whose opinions you value are saying decent things about you then that’s all that matters."

The one thing that has rarely been disputed is Stewart’s god-given talents. His application and attitude may have been questioned at times but not now. Not according to his new boss and not on the evidence of Thursday night, when he was drafted in to a starting berth.

"He has lost his way a bit and he knows that himself," says John Robertson, of the player he inherited, "but he’s got a chance. There’s nothing I don’t like about him. He’s got a good engine in him and has been working hard since we arrived and he’s a good passer of the ball but he’s got to take a grip and control, not just of games but of his career. Sometimes he can try too hard and he’s got to settle down and have the confidence to show the ability he’s got because he’s got it in abundance and he will be given every opportunity to fulfil his potential."

Still on loan from Manchester United, where his contract still has another year to run, Roberston says he has until the end the season to get it right.

On Thursday’s evidence he still might. Minus the suspended Paul Hartley and Patrick Kisnorbo, the 23-year-old was thrown into a midfield which was asked to be all things to all men, helping out the defence and raging forward to aid and abet the waves of attack. It was a hard shift but by the time Stewart clocked out in the 69th minute to make way for the fresh legs of Neil McFarlane, he’d more than earned his win bonus and ensured there will be marginally less blushing the next time he is spotted by fans.

"I feel quite embarrassed at times when people come up to me because, although I’ve got a wee bit of a name because of where I’ve come from, I’ve done nothing in the game. I’m not comfortable with the situation because up until this point I’ve not really done anything in the game. It doesn’t sit well with me when people notice me outside of football."

One thing he is more at ease with is the variation in playing style adopted by Hearts under Robertson.

"There’s a lot more passing of the ball and hopefully that will suit my philosophy in the game and things will turn for me. It’s a fresh start not only for myself but everyone at the club."

He had sought that fresh start at Ibrox in the summer but trials there didn’t work out. He returns to face them this afternoon with no hard feelings. Life can be full of regrets if there’s enough headroom for them. But these days Stewart prefers to utilise that space more positively. That’s not a bad attitude.

Taken from the Scotsman