Now Hearts are in the big-time, they must lose a small-minded approach

Pressley went beyond simply wearing an armband for 90 minutes every weekend. Indeed, when John Robertson was sacked a year ago, he helped John McGlynn in the role of assistant caretaker manager. Such has been his eloquence this term, amid the departures of George Burley and Graham Rix, playing the role of mediator with Vladimir Romanov after the owner began selecting Rix’s team, that a future in diplomatic circles was teasingly mentioned.

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That diplomacy went out of the window on Wednesday when Pressley chose to comment on the alleged spitting incident involving Rudi Skacel and Neil Lennon. Pressley would have been on firm ground had he simply defended his team-mate — who denied spitting — but the moment he strayed into condemning his Celtic counterpart, was where Pressley undid two years of good work. If this was diplomacy, it was of the gunboat variety.

You see, Pressley’s remarks on the feud between Skacel and Lennon were not part of a general forum. They came in his own newspaper column. Had they been made at a post-match press conference, they would carry some sort of genuine weight but when the Hearts captain is merely involved in a tabloid circulation war, then like any other newspaper writer or columnist, you leave yourself open to criticism.

For those of you who are unaware, Pressley writes each week for the Daily Record, whose rival, The Sun, found themselves banned from Tynecastle on Tuesday. The crime? Publishing photographs of the alleged spitting incident. Those pictures showed Skacel spitting in the Celtic player’s direction. A Hearts spokesman insisted that “no one is saying your pictures are doctored or mocked-up but we do not believe they show Rudi spitting at Lennon. We believe our player.”

So far, so tabloid. However, Pressley entered the fray a day later — with his Daily Record hat on — insisting that he had spoken to Skacel several times about the incident to obtain the truth. Skacel denied spitting and Pressley backed him in print. It was after this that Pressley, in football parlance, lost his shape. Instead of keeping his eye on the ball, he went after Lennon.

“The one thing I will say is, poor Neil Lennon,” Pressley wrote, presumably with a hint of irony. “He always seems to be the one involved in the middle of any controversy. He always seems so innocent but in a lot of the highlighted incidents, the one common denominator is Neil Lennon.”

The fact that the Hearts’ website had also taken a similar line on Lennon’s “controversial” character seemed to suggest some in-house collusion about the affair. After the photographs were published, Skacel, via his agent, admitted that he spat to clear blood from his mouth after he was allegedly hit by an elbow from the Celtic captain. If that was the case, then surely Skacel and Hearts should demand that the SFA review television footage of the incident? That would establish the truth.

Skacel was accused of a similar act by Stuart Duff, of Dundee United, in February, which he also denied. Valdas Ivanauskas, the caretaker coach, said this week that the skilful Czech was being “victimised” — he was criticised by Falkirk players last month for diving — but it seems like an awful lot of effort is now being spent on a player, who, in the words of Vladimir Romanov, is now on his way to England and admitted he has been softpedalling recently because he feared he would break his leg and jeopardise a move.

Indeed, there is a remarkable parallel between Skacel and another man once accused of spitting, Mark Viduka. The Australia forward was given a two-game suspension and a fine by Celtic for his disgraceful act in 1999 against Dunfermline Athletic. Viduka also kissed the badge and ran away. To Leeds United, then Middlesbrough.

No one can doubt the sincerity of Pressley’s desire to protect a colleague but perhaps a newspaper column is too vulnerable an environment for a club captain to take pot-shots. The Old Firm do not lend their captains out for circulation wars and, perhaps, neither should Hearts, now that they are officially genuine contenders for Scottish football’s throne.

Indeed, there is an air of mistrust at Tynecastle that needs to be dispelled. Consistently referring to a media campaign against Hearts is nonsense. On the pitch, they have turned this season into a compelling campaign that has refreshed our business and theirs. Yet, even in the hour of victory on Wednesday night, Roman Romanov spoke of “systematic sabotage” towards Hearts from the media.

Hearts are now in the big-time — and, hopefully, will be in the Champions League group stage in September surrounded by glamorous names — but surely it is time to lose the small-minded approach.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk