McCann follows his heart

DARRYL BROADFOOT January 18 2006

As Southampton brace themselves for the inevitable departure of the prodigious Theo Walcott, Neil McCann's exit from St Mary's went almost unnoticed.

Yesterday, the Scotland international winger completed his return to Hearts and, in doing so, ended a miserable experiment with English football. A seemingly forlorn attempt to restore Southampton to the Premiership amid the Rupert Lowe-inspired mayhem has been swopped for a championship challenge in the Bank of Scotland Premierleague.

Money, even during the opulent era of Vladimir Romanov, was not the motivation for returning to Tynecastle after seven years. These days, Gorgie is a curious destination to seek professional stability.

Yet, having amassed a paltry 21 starts since his £1.5m transfer from Rangers three years ago, McCann rejected the offer of peripheral involvement with Premiership suitors to finish his top-flight career with what he hopes will be a silver-lined flourish.

"There was some interest from the Premiership and a couple of clubs made attractive offers that would probably have meant more money," he said upon completion of a two-and-a-half year contract with Hearts.

"I won't say I wasn't tempted to give it one more try in England because it never quite happened for me at Southampton for a variety of reasons, but the attraction of Tynecastle and the relationship I felt with the club was too big a factor to turn down."

However, a well-appointed first-team squad at Hearts offers no guarantee of an instant return to prominence. In Rudi Skacel, Hearts have a worthy contender for player of the year and a rich source of goals from the left wing, the position in which McCann has made his name.

Lee Johnson, of Yeovil Town, and Nerijus Barasa, the Lithuanian defender, have already been recruited, and while Romanov is optimistic the shopping spree will continue, he has refused to part with the £1.2m Racing Genk are demanding for their midfielder, Mirsad Beslija.

Exciting times for McCann, who harboured ambitions to return when he joined Rangers seven years ago. "I always hoped I might get the chance to come back and play here again one day and I think I said as much when I left," he said.

"I always felt I had a good relationship with the people at the club, and with the supporters, and even the first time I came back with Rangers I got a great reception from the fans.

"I'm hopeful it will be the same again and I'll be able to prove to everyone again how much the club means to me."

His memories of his previous place of work are not so fond. Signed by Gordon Strachan at a time when crippling debts at Ibrox forced Alex McLeish to conduct a fire sale, McCann's enthusiasm evaporated almost instantly.

Strachan, now ironically in charge at Parkhead, left Southampton citing stress and his departure sent the club on a downward spiral from which they have yet to show signs of recovery.

Steve Wigley, Paul Sturrock and Harry Redknapp have come and gone but all shared a similar failure to regard McCann as anything other than a fringe player.

"That's probably the most frustrating thing for me because, for the past year or so, I've been virtually injury-free," he said.

"I've had the usual strains and so on but nothing serious that was keeping me out of the team. It was just that I wasn't being picked by the manager and I'm not really sure why that was."

Inquiries from his somewhat embarrassed team-mates proved the final straw. "They would ask me what was wrong and why I wasn't playing but the simple answer was that I didn't know," he confessed. "That was when I knew the time was right to move on."

The preservation of his international status, oddly revived by Walter Smith at the height of his club problems, was a secondary consideration in his decision to head north.

Never blessed with abundant pace and notoriously one-footed, the subtlety of McCann's art may have been lost on Southampton but the Scotland manager is an unashamed admirer of his craft.

Now, having felt undeserving of Smith's unwavering faith, he at least has an opportunity to vindicate the support.

"Scotland is still very much a live issue for me," he said, with the qualification draw for Euro 2008 taking place in Montreux, Switzerland, at the end of the month. "Walter Smith has been fantastic with me since he took over and has kept me involved in the squad even when I wasn't playing first-team football for Southampton.

"That was only going to carry on for so long. My priority now is to play my way into the first team at Hearts and then we'll see where we go from there."

Taken from the Herald