McManus returns to lift spirits at Dens Park

While the striker will receive a rapturous reception from the home crowd, there will, however, be a section of the ground occupied by travelling Heart of Midlothian fans and McManus knows that they will not let him forget that, until the early part of this season, he had been a Hibernian player.

“This is a big game for me as well as the club,” the Glasgow-raised striker, said. “I know the Hearts fans don’t like me. I was at Hibs for a number of years and have played in plenty of derbies, so I know I will get pelters from them.”

It isn’t something that seems to bother him. Having endured a five-month exile with Boston United, the Coca-Cola League Two side, McManus is just happy to be back in Scotland. Hearts fans never stopped him doing his job well at Hibernian, so it is hardly likely to make a difference now he is at Dens Park.

It is, however, a sign of just how precarious a living football is. At the start of the season, McManus had been hoping to be part of a Hibernian side that, even now, fancies its chances of gaining a place in the Uefa Cup. He had featured in the pre-season friendlies and had been in the starting line-up for the opening games of the season.

“I played the pre-season with Hibs and the first two games of the season, then Tony Mowbray (the manager) said my contract was a problem because I was getting appearance money and he wanted to know if I would take a big cut. When I said ‘no’ he said it would probably be better if I went somewhere else.

“It was a week before the transfer window closed, so it was a rush to get something sorted out. Boston came in at the last minute and I took it.”

From being a potential Scotland striker, and part of a Hibernian side admired for its attacking football, to the footballing and cultural backwater of Boston was, as McManus admits, a jolt to the system. “I had been at Hibs since I was 16, seven or eight years, and was the longest serving player there,” he said. “I did alright at the football down in Boston, but off the pitch, Boston is a very quiet place.

“I was down there on my own, away from my family and friends, living in a hotel. At first that seemed okay, getting your clothes washed and being served, but after a while it starts to grate on your nerves living in a tiny space, living out of a suitcase. I felt trapped and claustrophobic.”

Come the transfer window, then, it was not just a case of being ready to move on, but a determination to return to Scotland.

The fact that McManus has pitched up at Dundee has, however surprised many. A similar contract offer to the one he signed at Dens Park was tabled by Motherwell, but it was the persuasive tongue of Duffy, the Dundee manager, that enticed him to throw his lot in with the struggling Tayside club. “Jim Duffy was at Hibs when I was a kid and he remembers giving me my first start in the reserves. It was his perseverance that brought me here.”

Now that he is at Dundee, there is no question that McManus will be committed to the cause. The enthusiasm that he showed on his debut will, he insists, continue. “I have a two-and-a-half-year contract and I will be here for that, whether it is in the Premerleague or the first division,” he said.

“I don’t want any Dundee fans thinking I am going to jump ship if relegation happens. I don’t think that is going to happen because we have a good squad and a good manager, but if it does, I will still be committed to this club.”

The fight against relegation has already had a number of false starts, with Dundee failing to follow up any of their five wins with an immediate second victory and Hearts will not be arriving in the city to do them any favours.

For McManus, however, this game is a double opportunity. As well as lifting the spirits of Dundee, if he can prove a point against the Hearts central defensive partnership of Steven Pressley and Andy Webster, he could well put his career right back on track. “It is going to be difficult to get chances because they are Scotland’s first-choice centre backs,” McManus said, “but I have to establish myself back in Scotland again.”

Taken from timesonline.co.uk