Sensible Webster proves Hearts defender is happy not to get carried away

EVERY nook and cranny of the Riccarton training academy was adorned with pictures of Andy Webster scoring his first and, to date, only Scotland goal. The pile of magazines which had previously sported the image on their front page were lying mutilated. Webster sat looking pleased with his handiwork.

Not normally a showy person, for years he had talked about strikers getting all the glory and how all his boyhood dreams of playing for his country culminated in a goal, so he was making the most of his moment.

"That goal is something no-one will ever be able to take away from me," he explains. "If it all ends tomorrow, I'll still have that. Playing for your country is always an honour, scoring is a dream. I used to get stick at training for my lack of goals, so when the Extra Time magazines arrived with that photo on it, I plastered them everywhere. Now when I get stick I ask them how many international goals they've got. Elvis stays pretty quiet!"

It says a lot that his captain and mentor is now one of those feeling the brunt of the 23-year-old's humour. Times have changed.

Less than three years ago, Andy Webster looked bashful as he entered the room and eyed the dictaphone with caution. At that time he wasn't used to in-depth interviews, he still didn't consider himself an automatic starter at Hearts and had just been named in the Scotland squad for the first time. He was nervous, and his then manager Craig Levein was wary of the euphoria surrounding him. But both believed the kid had the ability to handle the press and the pressure. They were right.

He negotiated that first interview like a seasoned pro. He was honest but astute. Down-to-earth while harbouring high ambitions. He thought he was level-headed enough to cope with the hype he was attracting, smart enough to realise that he had to keep improving. He was spot on and he matched that talk with deed.

At that stage he was developing under the watchful eye of Levein and learning alongside Steven Pressley. Now, he is still desperate to learn and enhance his game, studying psychology, and fitting extra weights, biometrics, and yoga into his training regime. And he still extols the virtues of his central defensive partner but is more self-reliant.

"I think myself and Elvis go hand-in-hand because I came to the club as an 18-year-old boy and I've developed a lot through the guidance of Elvis. People are always going to associate me with him, which is okay, I don't mind that -there are worse people to be associated with! He's been amazing for me but I have played quite a few games and a few international games and I would like to think I'm a big boy now and I can stand on my own two feet."

Just as well, because Pressley is still suspended for Saturday's derby match. The last time the sides met, Hearts not only lost out on all the three points, they also relinquished the unbeaten run they had stretched over the previous 12 league games. It was a painful outcome.

"Straight after the game you put it to the back of your mind. I've not actually thought about it until now. But come this week it might be a different story. I've not forgotten it, no. You always remember them," he groans. "I don't know what was wrong with us that day. We didn't have anything about us. It is hard to criticise the team because until that day we had done so well but that day we looked like we were going to get beat. To do that on TV and to end a great unbeaten run, it felt terrible. We just didn't play to our strengths and being away is never easy in a derby match. Hibs had their ideas but we were poor that day, very poor."

For those who continue to harp on about mental toughness and question whether this Hearts team have the bottle to match the aspiration, he pooh-poohs the idea that the pressure of maintaining their unbeaten status simply got to them.

"That's rubbish. That's not pressure. It drives you on when you are unbeaten or have clean sheets. it gives you something to protect, something to strive for. But I think that day we lost sight of what we were trying to achieve. It's not nice getting beat, even worse in a derby match, and although it was a negative that day, it does give you a kick up the backside."

That result came a couple of weeks after George Burley had been sacked and the managerial situation was still in a state of flux. There were a few further stutters but Webster believes that matters are stabilising again after the arrival of Graham Rix.

"We started the season on fire and decisions were made and I could sit here and speculate on what happened but I don't know. It was a shock because the team was doing so well but decisions were made, people stuck by them and we just have to get on with it. The new manager now has the team playing the way he wants us to play and the way we feel comfortable playing."

Keen to set the record straight he laughs at the notion that all it took was the much talked about team tête-a-tête. "Team meetings happen every day. It wasn't a heart to heart but we did have a chat about the way we had been playing and what we had done previously that had made us successful and moved on from there. The big turning point was Boxing Day, against Falkirk."

That day signalled a return to the kind of form which rendered them genuine title contenders. No-one from the dressing room would concede as much in those early days but Webster is an honest lad.

"In football you don't want to set yourself up for a fall or set targets you can't achieve. But realistically we look at the league table and there is a chance. How much of a chance we'll just have to see. It depends on Celtic's mentality, how they perform, how we perform, it depends on Hibs and Rangers. A lot could happen but we are in there with a chance.

"There are a few boys at the club with medals but I haven't won anything and I'm desperate to win medals. I would like to think that everyone here is and that they all think, like me, that we have a chance this season of doing something. No matter how many medals you have, you want more. Just ask Elvis if he'd like another league medal."

There was a suspicion at the start of the season that the former Arbroath defender may be the latest starlet lured to Ibrox by the promise of such baubles. They, like Premiership sides, were definitely interested. He was silent on the topic at the time and is still reluctant to discuss details.

"I didn't think the less I talked about it the quicker it would go away, I thought that anything I said could be twisted and I wasn't prepared to put myself in a situation where I would then have to defend myself and people might stitch me up. I read the papers throughout that time and I spoke to people who told me what was being said and how they thought it had affected me when it actually hadn't, that was all part of it. You understand people speculate hoping they are right, but I knew that if I didn't speak there wouldn't be as much to write about. That was my decision, right or wrong. As a person you make decisions every day and you live with them. I'm comfortable with my decisions and I have grown as a person being at Hearts. I'm stronger mentally and that means that if I make a decision that turns out to be wrong I will hold my hands up and say I made the wrong decision. But I don't feel the need to explain myself to anyone but my family. They know me."

But would he have been happier to go west if Hearts hadn't signed the kind of players who underlined the new loftier intentions? "You look at Celtic and Rangers and the quality, international players they have, but now this club is exactly the same. I think we have got a good side and we have people with experience who know how to win things and I will try to play my part but I also want the older boys to maybe drag the rest of us with them to win the Premierleague or the Scottish Cup. That's what I would like and maybe that's easy for me to say, putting the responsibility on Takis, Elvis, Edgar, Neil McCann and Paul Hartley, but this is a great opportunity for us to win something."

And the Premiership? "Yes, the Premiership is a great league but if you want medals you'd need to sign for Chelsea! If not, you're joining another club in the league just to play against these guys. I would rather have medals. That's what you look back on when your career's finished."

And he is determined to give himself the best possible chance of winning them. The model professional, he is happy to make the kind of sacrifices he believes are necessary in the modern game. No sneaky drinking sessions - "I can't stand the feeling the next day!" - and an awareness of society's escalating Big Brother mentality. While others make headlines, caught on mobile phone cameras doing things they shouldn't, Webster is canny.

"As a footballer, you have to realise that wherever you go now, people are going to recognise you. It's just safer to have that mentality. Whether I'm food shopping or out with mates, I always assume that people will recognise me. I'm not saying people should know me, but, as a footballer, a lot of people do and it just makes sense to assume they do and behave accordingly. There have been situations when I have been out with my wee boy and Hibs fans have started shouting things. Normally that wouldn't bother me but it's suddenly different when your little boy is there. But there's no point in trying to reason with those kind of people because they obviously don't know how to behave and if I reacted no-one would remember the person who had instigated it, they would focus on the footballer. So you bite your tongue."

For the first few months of this season, that's exactly what he did. But whether he articulates them or not, Webster's attitudes and ambitions have always remained pretty constant.

Taken from the Scotsman