McCann's heart set on more medals

NEIL McCann was on the playing staff the last time Hearts won a trophy. As he rejoined the club yesterday, he revealed how desperate he was to be part of the team to take the next trophy to Tynecastle.

The 31-year-old, who has joined the Edinburgh club on a two-and-a-half-year deal after being released by Southampton, was a member of Jim Jefferies' side which won the Scottish Cup in 1998. He had joined from Dundee in 1996, at the end of which year he was man of the match when Hearts lost the Coca-Cola Cup final to Rangers, the team they would beat at Celtic Park 18 months later.

McCann would go on to join Rangers later on in 1998, and went on to win a further nine medals with the Ibrox club. As he looked back on those achievements, however, he recalled that the medal he won with Hearts was special.

"I've got ten medals under my belt just now, and the one with Hearts was so sweet," McCann said. "To be able to do what we did that day with the Cup and the open-top bus - I'll never forget it. I won another nine with Rangers and I don't want to stop.

"If this club can go on and win things, the boys in there will remember it for the rest of their lives. That day in 1998 stressed how important winning the cup was to the city. There were hundreds and thousands of people.

"I won nine medals with the Old Firm and not to be able to do that sort of thing is sad in a way. You can totally understand it. But to experience that whole open-top bus thing with a club is fantastic."

Having watched his old club from afar, McCann sees recent developments as similar to the process which took place under Jefferies, when a squad gradually came together and ended up by winning the cup. "There are similarities to when I played here the first time. There's a lot of Scottish boys as well as foreign boys, and the whole nucleus looks to be right, so hopefully I can help to push it on. I can't wait.

"Mr Romanov is obviously pushing the club in a certain direction, which is upwards. We've got this fantastic training centre now, the team's playing great, only seven points from the top of the league, and there's a fantastic squad here.

"As soon as I spoke to Graham Rix I think I made it clear to him how much I wanted to come back. In the conversation I had with the gaffer he made me feel wanted, and it's always nice to be in that kind of regard and feel important again to a team, which I felt I hadn't had for some time."

Such factors were more important by far, he said, than the monetary side of the deal. "It's been a hard couple of days trying to get the deal sorted out, so I'm absolutely delighted. I'm buzzing. There were a couple of offers from Premiership clubs at the last minute, but as soon as Hearts were mentioned to me that was it.

"If it was about money I could have moved somewhere else and got a better deal, but as I said all along it's totally about football. I had a good relationship with the club and with the punters the last time I was here, and I got a good reception the first time I was back with Rangers. I did say when I left I'd love to come back, and I'm so happy I've been given the opportunity.

"I think the punters were quite pleased with how I performed the last time I was here. I must admit I'm so hungry now.

"It's been so frustrating for me. To get the opportunity to come to a club like Hearts who are challenging is magic. I just want to push on and help the team gain success.

"John McGlynn and John Murray are still here from last time, so there's a familiarity about the place. But the most important thing for me was just coming back and playing for Hearts.

"It's the best I've felt about football in a wee bit. At Southampton it never worked out. I loved coming up and meeting with Scotland - it was magic just seeing the boys and getting the crack again.

"It's very flattering to be quoted with Premiership clubs, but as I said it wasn't about that. It did mean that much to me that Hearts were interested."

Besides the 2-1 win over Rangers in the Scottish Cup final, McCann's most cherished memory of his first spell at Hearts was in the Coca-Cola Cup final. He got a mountain bike for being man of the match in that game, a prize which he still has.

"The Coca-Cola Cup final in 1996 was a special night as well. We lost 4-3, but God, what a game it must have been to watch.

"I remember sitting in the dressing-room. It was snowing that night, and there was a wee bit of talk about the game being off, and we were absolutely desperate for the game to go ahead, we just felt so confident. It wasn't to be, but obviously we won the next final - the Scottish Cup in 1998."

Rix, for whom McCann is the third recruit of the transfer window, said: "He's a good player and gives us loads of options. He can play wide left, he can play as a left-winger, he can play through the middle. He really wanted to come here, he's a current international - he's a great signing for us."

Taken from the Scotsman