HEARTS TYNE HAS TO COME

HEARTS supporters have already had that bizarre Boxing Day message from eccentric owner Vladimir Romanov. And they're certainly not interested in empty 2006 resolutions.

What Jambos fans want now is a demonstration of their team's New Year resolve as the title race reaches a potential D day.

Not the Resolve you might have been grabbing for this morning to offset the excesses of Hogmanay.

No, I'm talking about the level of determination required if Hearts are to be taken seriously as contenders for Scottish football's big prize.

The championship contest could effectively be ended today if Celtic take three points. Even a draw for the men in maroon might not be enough.

I'm convinced only a win will be enough for Hearts.

Their belief needed bolstering last weekend on the back of a disappointing run of results since Graham Rix occupied the hot seat.

The 5-0 flailing of Falkirk was timely in the extreme.

Rix had been looking an increasingly strained figure in his after-match meetings with the media so last Saturday's demolition day appeared to lift a big weight off his shoulders.

Was it just a flash in the pan? Or have the players managed to regain their early momentum?

Those are questions that will only find answers when the whistle blows this afternoon. And we might not have to wait too long. I reckon the first few minutes are crucial.

Hearts have to be quick out of the blocks. They need to impose themselves all over the pitch and will have to be in Celtic's faces immediately.

If they allow the SPL leaders to settle and start to dictate the pattern of play it could be the beginning of the end for their tilt at the title.

There's no doubt Rix's men are capable of the win they desperately want to get within a point of the pace. If they do and can make significant signings in the next couple of weeks we may yet have that Old Firm championship monopoly broken.

Hearts would be a much stronger proposition if they had strikers who could score. Attacking trio Edgaras Jankauskas, Michel Pospisil and injured Roman Bednar haven't yet made it into double figures between them.

Eighteen-year-old Calum Elliot may be a loose cannon up front but Rix has no choice but to start with him today in partnership with the under-performing Jankauskas after the youngster broke his top team scoring duck with a double against Falkirk.

Elliot has just extended his contract with the club until 2009, he's a big bruiser and unlike some rivals for the striking positions puts himself about.

The Jambos are still too reliant on goals from midfield. Fortunately for them Rudi Skacel and Paul Hartley have 21 goals between them with the Czech on 14.

It has been an awesome performance from Skacel when you think he has scored twice as many as Celtic's Stilian Petrov and his 14-goal total is bettered only in the SPL by striker Kris Boyd. Hearts' top scorer has to be a stick-on for inclusion in the team of the season so far. And for me he's joined by five of his team-mates.

Hartley would have to team up with Skacel in the midfield and four of the Tynecastle side's back five would be in there too.

Only Celtic's Artur Boruc would be any threat to Craig Gordon for keeper but the birthday boy, 23 yesterday, has been outstanding.

Hearts have lost only two goals in 10 league games at home and an SPL-best 13 overall. The stats back up the widely held belief Steven Pressley and Andy Webster make up the strongest central defensive pairing in Scotland.

Another Jambo, Takis Fyssas, is my left-back and the maroon wall is only broken up by the inclusion of Hibs' Steven Whittaker at right-back.

Petrov and his Celtic team-mate Shunsuke Nakamura make up my midfield foursome.

Boyd and John Hartson get the striking places. So it's Gordon; Whittaker, Pressley, Webster, Fyssas; Nakamura, Petrov, Hartley, Skacel; Hartson, Boyd.

No doubting Hearts' individual talent then. We'll find out today how strong they are as a team

I FLED PUB IN TEARS BECAUSE I COULDN'T COPE WATCHING CELTS AND HEARTS ON TELLY

THE fact Mike Galloway will be able to sit through today's match between the two clubs closest to his heart is a testament to his character.

A few years after his near-fatal car crash in 1995 Galloway reached one of his many low points during a televised clash between Hearts and Celtic.

While on holiday in Cyprus the former midfielder walked into a bar while the game was on - only to discover he couldn't bring himself to watch the action. As the awful memories of a careercruelly cutshort by his horrific accident came flooding back Mike burst into tears and left the pub.

He said: "The first five years after my crash were hard. I couldn't look at a fire engine or an ambulance. I couldn't even watch Casualty.

"I remember being on holiday in Cyprus and walking into a bar. I didn't realise it but Hearts and Celtic were playing live on Sky.

"It was the first time since my accident I'd sat down to watch a big game. There were lots of Celtic fans and a few Jambos in the bar.

"They were all coming up to me and saying 'Alright Mikey, how's it going?'. I was like 'Whoa! Wait a minute here'.

"I just cracked up. I started crying and had to get out.

I turned and walked out of the pub andwent straight back to my hotel." But as Hearts and Celtic prepare for one of their biggest games for years a much different Galloway will be watching the drama unfold.

The 40-year-old has conquered the demons that led him to leave the pub in Cyprus and also the alcoholism that wrecked his life.

After attending another AA meeting this morning he will return to his family home in Ayr and take in the top-of-the-table clash.

Galloway said: "I couldn't watch football for the first five years so it's good to be able to sit down and enjoy a game like this.

"It was too hard before - it brought everything back"Every Saturday for five years was the worst day of my life because I knew I should have been playing.

"Every pre-season was also hard. My accident was on August 21 and this is the only year I've been sober on that date.

"However, this is the best I've felt for 10 years and I'm sober.

"I shouldn't really be here. My car was a lot worse than Princess Diana's when she had her accident and I was in a coma for six weeks.

"But I'd just come back from a pre-season training camp with Leicester City and doctors said I got through it because I was so fit.

"I can have a smile about it now because I know where my life is going whereas before I'd cry. I think I look OK for being nearly dead a decade ago.

"Because of that I'll go to my AA meeting then watch the game without any problem."

Galloway is sitting in a Dennistoun cafe, killing time before he heads to Calton Athletic - a team of recovering drug addicts founded 20 years ago. He helps out David Bryce, the leading figure in the initiative, and is as qualified for that as he is to talk about today's mouthwatering SPL clash.

Galloway enjoyed spells at Celtic Park and Tynecastle, Jambos boss Alex MacDonald having signed him from Halifax before he moved to his boyhood heroes in 1989.

Mike said: "I have supported Celtic since I was a wee boy and my dad took me to reserves games.

"Every Hearts supporter knew I was a Celtic fan. I need to stick with the Hoops whatever and fancy them to win a tight game 2-0.

"This is two cup finals and a league title in ONE game for Hearts. They want to get to the stage where going to Tynecastle is like playing Rangers or Celtic.

"In February or March we'll see if Hearts are still up there. This game will go a long way towards determining that.

"The key for me is who comes out top between Paul Hartley and Stilian Petrov. If either of them are let loose they could decide it.

"If strikers are out of form one of them can pop up with a goal.

"I don't know much about Vladimir Romanov but it's always going to be hard to compete with Rangers and Celtic.

"The big names go to Glasgow. No disrespect to Rudi Skacel or Edgaras Jankauskas who are doing the business but they're not Chris Sutton or John Hartson.

"It has been hard for Graham Rix but Hearts got a good result against Falkirk last week. I really hope the guy does well.

"Graham has had problems in life but everybody makes mistakes.

"I want Celtic to win but at the same time it would be good for the game for Hearts to keep the challenge going


Taken from the Sunday Mail