THERE'S A REAL BUS ABOUT THE PLACE

NEIL McCANN didn't return to Scotland yesterday for the money. He's back for the medals.

Hearts are mobilising for a major crack at the two remaining honours within their grasp - the SPL title and the Scottish Cup in the last five months of the season - and McCann wants a piece of the action.

He's watched from afar as the club he helped end their trophy drought in 1998 has undergone a revolution this season. Hearts are hanging on to Celtic's coat-tails in second place and have made serious moves in the transfer window to reduce the seven-point gap.

The capture of defender Nerijus Barasa and midfielder Lee Johnston strengthened those areas.

McCann's arrival will supplement coach Graham Rix's options further up the park and Liverpool striker Neil Mellor may yet arrive on loan.

Make no mistake, Hearts are getting tooled up. And they believe they have the firepower to pull off the heist.

McCann wants in on I the act and having spent I far too long on the periphery at Southampton, is itching to get started.

He could have plunged himself into Wigan's fairytale fight for a UEFA Cup place or thrown himself headlong into Sunderland's battle for survival. Both options would have swelled McCann's bank balance far more than the one he took yesterday when he re-signed for Hearts.

But the Scotland attacker has made a few bob in the last seven years with Rangers and Southampton and at 31 he's more interested in adding to his collection of 10 medals.

He believes he can do so at Hearts, as he did nearly eight years ago. Yesterday he was almost purring at the memory and at the aftermath, where he enjoyed an open-top bus ride round a city for the only time in his life.

He won nine gongs at Ibrox, of course, but Old Firm players don't get to enjoy parading their silverware around Glasgow in such a fashion.

Now McCann wouldn't mind climbing aboard another bus for an upstairs view of Edinburgh in May.

He said: "Hearts have a fantastic training facility and are seven points off the top of the SPL. The team is playing great and they have a fantastic squad.

"There are similarities to when I played here and won the Scottish Cup. There are a lot of Scots and British boys, as well as foreigners in the side, and the whole nucleus looks to be right.

"Hopefully I can help push the club on. I've won 10 medals in my career and the one with Hearts was so sweet. To be able to do the things we did after the Scottish Cup win with the open-top bus is something I will never forget.

"I won nine medals with Rangers and one with Hearts. I don't want to stop now, I want to push on and win more silverware.

"If this club does win anything this year the boys in that dressing room will remember it for the rest of their lives.

"That's why it is important to stress how important things like that are to the city. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets of Edinburgh when Hearts won the Scottish Cup in 1998.

Rangers are off-loading instead of adding players.

"Not to be able to go on an open top bus as an Old Firm player and parade the cup is sad in this day and age but I totally understand it.

"Clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United get to do it and to experience that feeling is fantastic.

"If Hearts could do it again it would be mind-blowing."

If McCann finds the kind of form he was in yesterday, Hearts fans could be in a for a treat. He was relaxed, happy and insisted he is fit enough to slot straight into the team.

Certainly, he wants to start sooner rather than later to begin his quest for more honours.

And he recalled that as well as a Scottish Cup winners' medal from 1998 he also has a mountain bike he won while playing for the Jambos in the 1996 League Cup Final.

McCann was man of the match in the 4-3 defeat by Rangers and received the unusual prize from the sponsors. He said: "That was one of my better matches even though we lost at Parkhead. It must have been a great game for neutrals to watch.

"I remember the game vividly as there was a bit of snow before the match and Jim Jefferies came into the dressing room and told us there was doubts as to whether the match would go ahead.

"The Hearts players were just desperate to play it as we were so confident we could win the League Cup. It was not to be but we did win the next trophy which was the Scottish Cup.

"I did win the man of the match award that day - a bike - and I've still got it. In fact you might see me cycling to training on it!"

McCann hasn't spoken to Vladimir Romanov yet but he has met his chairman son, Roman.

The Scot is clearly impressed by what has happened to the club he left in 1998 and is genuinely delighted to be back.

McCann said: "When you're down in England not too many people bother about what's going on in Scotland.

"But after the start Hearts had to this season a few of the Saints lads would quiz me and ask me what the story was up there as they knew I'd played for Hearts and that they were going great guns.

"I was like every other person - just totally excited for the club that they were challenging the Old Firm."

Not just challenging. Hearts are positively slapping the gauntlet in their faces.

Taken from the Daily Record