Hearts’ most wanted

“Although it’s a different level, (such) a streak has the same effect at Arbroath as it does at Hearts,” he insists. “If you’re confident going onto the pitch then things seem to come off, whereas if you’re low in confidence then apprehension creeps into your game. It’s a psychological thing, if you’re confident, you’ll play well; if results aren’t going your way or you’ve had a bad game, sometimes it’s difficult to pick yourself up.”

He sits back in his chair, another question safely dealt with. It is interesting to watch Webster as he addresses the media, a process he would gladly do without. He has kept the press at arm’s length since Rangers were credited with an interest in signing him during the summer and he subsequently chose not to join Hearts on their pre-season tour to Ireland. Last Friday, though, he received the player-of-the-month award for September and so had to attend a press conference.

Webster answered what was asked of him, as thoughtfully and reflectively as always, but no questions about Rangers were to be put to him. When one was, the gathering was brought to a halt and he left with an apologetic half-smile on his face. A perceptive, likeable individual, you suspect he would rather be more open and accommodating but his reticence is understandable, for some stories can follow you round with the clinging persistence of a bloodhound and Webster does not want this one to keep biting him. Backed by Vladimir Romanov’s investment, Hearts insisted that the player was not available at any price. So, like Paul Hartley, who had been a target for Celtic, he remains at Tynecastle and that is the end of it.

Yet as the talk drifted around the earlier stages of his career, it was impossible not to see other similarities between then and now. While Arbroath were striding towards promotion in 2001, Webster was being watched by clubs from both Scotland and England, and by March of that year he had moved to Tynecastle, his impressive displays having earned him an £80,000 transfer. Webster is only 23 yet he has performed with consistent excellence this season, growing in stature, experience and reputation, and so you find yourself wondering how long it will be before another club comes calling. It is the natural way of football, this is a game of shifting circumstances and it would be intriguing to know what Webster sees when he looks ahead at the rest of his career, but those are not considerations he will share for now.

Can Hearts keep hold of him long-term, though? What might happen when the transfer window opens again in January? Hartley signed a new three-year deal in August, but Webster’s contract runs until 2007 and he has yet to put his name to an extension. Charlton and Liverpool watched him when he was a teenager and now that he has become a regular in the Scotland team — he will win his 20th cap against Belarus on Saturday — others will surely be watching him. His manager, George Burley, certainly believes that Webster has the potential to travel far.

“He has all the attributes of a top-class defender,” Burley enthused. “He’s quick. he’s strong, he’s aggressive, he’s good in the air and he’s composed on the ball. He’s improved because he’s worked on his game and he is going to get better. For me, Andy Webster can be one of the best centre-halves in the country. There’s no doubt when I arrived (in the summer) that his head was turned. But we had a good chat, Andy said his views and I said mine. I think we had respect for each other and since that day, we’ve never looked back. He’s been absolutely outstanding and that’s to his credit. It hasn’t affected him one iota.”

Webster has always been a well-rounded, collected character. When he first joined Hearts, at 18, he felt uncomfortable having a player from the youth team who was the same age as him clean his boots, so he did them himself. There is a worldliness to him, despite his youth. He deferred his university acceptance to give full-time football at Arbroath a try and, nine months later, found himself at Hearts; last year he began a psychology higher through Open Learning, even although he also had to adjust to fatherhood after his partner, Julie, gave birth to their son, Kristian. On the field, Webster is one of only a handful of current Hearts players to have made more than 100 appearances for the club and so he has become a player who belies his age.

He has become as much of a talisman for the side as Pressley and Hartley. The team has found reliability and reassurance in the steady uniformity of his performances. As Rangers’ attacks ran aground on the solidity of Webster and Pressley’s partnership in the 1-0 defeat at Tynecastle last weekend, Alex McLeish might have regretted not pursuing Webster’s signature more forcibly. It is as much the defender’s willingness to learn, his need to seek improvement, as his natural ability that defines him. Craig Levein once remarked that while it might take some players three or four tellings for instructions to sink in, Webster only had to be taught something once. It is a trait Burley has noticed too.

“It doesn’t just happen, you’ve got to work with players,” he adds. “Andy Webster has played a big part in making us a very hard team to beat. He has to work with Craig Gordon and Steven as a unit and if they don’t listen, if they’re not intelligent enough to take things in, it makes that a lot harder. We have a chat before and after games and it shows in games, because we haven’t given many goals away.”

Watching Hearts this season, it is clear that the players who were already at the club have raised their games in response to the talent brought in, the likes of Edgarus Jankauskas, Rudi Skacel and Takis Fyssas. It is also evident that this is a group in which the chemistry is working; the indefinable qualities that must combine when people of disparate backgrounds are thrown together. There has been a catalyst, though, for Burley has worked on team spirit, aware of the role it can play in games running away from his side.

“The manager organised for us to go to Musselburgh races the other week,” Webster reveals. “All the boys came and then we went for something to eat. There’s a good dressing room here and we all get on well. Everyone turned up, which is good for bonding, even some of the boys who have just arrived at the club and who speak little or no English. The people already here appreciate that they’re trying to join in. They’re making an effort. You take it on board that they’re trying to adapt and fit in.”

Still, though, we do not know how far this momentum will carry Hearts. The league leaders have seen off the champions and have only to face Falkirk, today, Celtic and Dunfermline until they will have completed the first quarter of the season. Their campaign is beginning to harden into something tangible, a challenge that might yet prove sustainable. We must wait until they have to react to a setback to see just how firm their resolve is.

“When you’re winning every match it’s easy and everything just keeps falling into place, the bandwagon keeps rolling on,” Webster nods. “It’s true that once we draw or lose a game — and there’s every chance that’ll happen — it’s about how people react and how strong you are mentally to recover and get over it. It’s only been eight games, but we’re a good side and we’re capable of winning every football match. For us, it’s about performing week in, week out at the highest level. The manager always talks about consistency and that’s what we want.”

And when might we know that Hearts could actually win the Premierleague? “May,” he smiles. “In any walk of life, people put you up there and want to shoot you down. That’s the way things are. As long as we’re focused on our job, we can compete with anyone. How far that takes us, I don’t know.”

There is also the question of how far that might take Webster. The Hearts squad is still thinner than those at Ibrox or Celtic Park and Burley stresses the need to sign more players in January. Yet keeping hold of Webster will be just as critical to the club’s ambitions.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk