Jambos can exorcise ghosts of cup finals past

I DID many strange things during my 17 years as a professional footballer. Dressing as Dracula for the Hearts Christmas party at the age of 26, sporting a dodgy moustache at the age of 21 and attempting to cross the ball with my left foot at any age were all questionable. However, my decision to agree to the request from the then-editor of Scotland on Sunday that I knock out a column in the dressing room immediately after the 1996 Scottish Cup final against Rangers was truly certifiable!

A large part of the attraction of penning 800 words after one of the biggest games of my life was that it had not been done before and also, I suspect, to see if I could express the sense of defeat or victory to a deadline of less than 90 minutes after the final whistle had blown.

In reading my copy for that game this week, as Hearts prepare for their first Scottish Cup final at Hampden since that debacle, I realised that I failed to fulfil my objective in that task almost as miserably as I did in the final itself.

For anyone who is not a Hearts or Rangers fan (or a sad anorak) we got battered 5-1 a decade ago by a very good Rangers team that included Gascoigne, Laudrup, Gough and Goram. I dared not mention, at the time, that about three quarters of an hour after the final whistle, as I was trying to think and write coherently, the only other people in our dressing room were Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown, our management team. Jim was pacing around , repeating only two words: "f****** embarrassment".

I could almost taste the fury emanating from him as I tried to blend in with the walls. I did not manage to convey the feeling of deep despair that sickened me to my stomach at having let down our fans who had travelled so far so often with us. As we walked around to thank our supporters after the final whistle, I recognised many fans that we all knew so well through the many functions and events we attended together. Knowing them personally just made it feel a hundred times worse. In my post-match piece I said we had been part of another false dawn for the club for which I had grown so fond. Well, perhaps now that dawn is finally going to break.

Jim Jefferies in that dressing room, when he stopped chanting his two-word mantra, said one more thing before slamming the door on his way to his press conference: "It'll no' happen again."

To his credit, it did not. He made a lot of changes in the club after that game and Hearts picked up the trophy two years later at Celtic Park, beating Rangers 2-1. Saturday's occasion against Gretna is the chance to win the Scottish Cup at the national stadium and to do it in a stylish blaze of glory.

I have seen Hearts playing often this season and followed the off-field shenanigans as avidly as anyone.

I feel that enough has been written about what has gone on there and not nearly enough credit has gone to those whose jobs have been restricted to inside the white lines.

I am believer in the old cliché that the league table does not lie. I do, however, consider that points totals, like football agents, sometimes tell the truth but just as often are bit misleading. The SPL tallies are not a true reflection of the closeness of the teams at the top.

The Hearts players can feel aggrieved that their achievements have not been sufficiently recognised. Digging out results in important games as often as they have - through all the distractions - is a testament to their characters as much as their footballing ability.

The weekend final is an opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labours. Hearts have the opportunity to show they are the real deal, that with some quality additions they can make progress and make it an even closer contest for the league next year.

To continue the adventure into a European dreamland will require even more significant money to be spent by Mr Romanov. I refrain from calling it investment as there is more chance of getting a return on your money if you invest with BCCI than with a football club.

So far, there is no evidence to suggest this will not be the case. A Champions League group place is the biggest challenge so far but by no means a mission impossible. Why Artmedia Bratislava, FC Thun and Rosenberg but not Heart of Midlothian?

The more immediate job is to win the Scottish Cup on Saturday. It is a hugely different task to the one that we faced ten years ago. Against Rangers in 1996, we travelled more in hope than expectation. Next weekend at Hampden, Hearts and their fans know that nothing less than a comfortable victory will be satisfactory.

There are certain parallels between Gretna and Hearts right now. Both can look forward to European exploits next season and have brought a great deal of colour to the Scottish game this year. Hearts will win, though. When the big questions have been asked of this team, they have answered professionally and with a flair that I hope is on show once again on Saturday.

I am glad I am not doing a column on Saturday after the game. I will get to see a lot of the faces I got to know so well in my 11 years at the Tynecastle club.

This time I am sure that their expressions will be a lot different from the ones that I saw after the cup finals in which I was proud to represent them.

Taken from the Scotsman