Pressley set to equal Scots cap record at Hearts

IF, AS expected, Steven Pressley wins his 29th cap for Scotland this afternoon, he will equal a Hearts record that has stood for 93 years. As of now, that record is held solely by one of Pressley's predecessors as Hearts captain, a man who was hailed as the greatest footballer of his generation, Bobby Walker.

Born on 10 January, 1879, Walker represented Scotland for the first time in March 1900, and made his last appearance 13 years and one month later. In those days Scotland's only opponents were England, Ireland and Wales: Walker's total of 29 caps came from 11 appearances against the English - a joint record for a Scot in the fixture - and nine against each of the other two.

If the international fixture list back then had been anything like as crowded as it is now, Walker would surely have won many more than 100 caps. As it was, his longevity as an international ensured that by the time he retired he had become Scotland's most-capped player to date - a distinction he held until 1932, two years after his death, when Alan Morton won the 30th of his 31 caps.

Lest anyone presume that Walker's claim to greatness was unjustifiably inflated by Scots parochialism, it should be noted that by the latter stages of his career his fame had spread well beyond the boundaries of his homeland. In 1912, for instance, on a Hearts tour of Scandinavia organised by the club director Elias Furst, King Haakon VII of Norway turned up to see the Edinburgh club play a side called Kristiana Kredslag. Hearts won 9-0, and so far as is known Haakon remains the only reigning monarch to have seen the team play.

Apparently the king lingered after the game in the hope of having a word with the celebrated forward, only to receive short shrift. "King Haakon," Jack Alexander reports in his book McCrae's Battalion, "was favoured with a tug of the cap and a slight breeze as Bobby rushed off for a pint with his pals."

This diffident, down-to-earth approach was characteristic of Walker throughout his career. He was at his happiest when playing football, and away from the pitch felt most at ease when in the company of his own folk. He had the self-confidence to stick unswervingly to his own unique style of play, christened "Walkerism", but is not on record as ever having thought of himself as anything special.

In 1901, for instance, Hearts won the Scottish Cup for the third time in their history, with Walker scoring one and making two goals in their 4-3 win over Celtic. As captain, he was asked to make a speech after the victory. "I would rather play than speak," he replied, and that was that. It was left to Charlie Thomson, the mainstay of the Hearts defence of the time, to voice the feelings of many in the crowd that day. "Bobby," he said, "you're the best player in Europe."

When Walker first came to Hearts' attention, at a Scottish Juniors versus English Juniors match in Birmingham in 1896, he was not even recognised as the best player in the visiting team. Two Hearts scouts had travelled south to watch a couple of other players, but they were sufficiently impressed by Walker to invite him, as well as the pair who were the objects of their mission, to a trial at Tynecastle.

Walker played for the Dalry Primrose club at the time, and some later writers, notably Albert Mackie, author of The Hearts (1959), presumed that club was based in the Dalry district of Edinburgh, just along the road from Gorgie. Other sources, however, state that Walker was born in Dalry, Ayrshire, and that the Primrose for which he played was his home-town club. Coatbridge is also mentioned as his place of birth.

Whatever the dispute over his origins, however, there are no contrasting views about his play. Though far from being the fastest player, Walker was swiftly recognised for his artistry and intelligent reading of the game.

"His start was regarded as very satisfactory," wrote Mackie of Walker's trial for Hearts in 1896. "And the critics noted his very easy-going style and the splendid centres which more than made up for the ground he tended to lose by his slowness." Initially a reserve, by the spring of the following year, with Hearts en route to the title, Walker was a regular in the first team, where he would remain for 16 years, never voicing any inclination to play his club football elsewhere. At the time the Gorgie club's form over this period was often deemed erratic: given what was to follow, it was more like a golden age. The club won the Scottish Cup for the second time in the year of Walker's arrival, beating Hibs at Logie Green in the capital. Their first triumph had come in 1891, and they kept up the five-yearly habit in 1901 and again in 1906. They would win nothing else until the 1950s.

Originally a winger, Walker later established himself with both club and country as an inside-right. But his position was of secondary importance: what mattered was his ability to bamboozle defences. "The most striking characteristic of his play was a mesmerising dribble, which left even the sharpest opponent looking foolish," according to Alexander. "He had no pace and no physical presence beyond a certain portly charm; his feet, however, were the quickest in the game.

"He would draw defenders to him like a magnet, then appear from the crush with the ball fastened firmly to his boot. He was a magician, 'the Houdini of Dalry', the only footballer in history to have a style of play named after him - Walkerism."

Spectators knew they were watching something special. "The foot to him is a sensitive instrument," wrote one anonymous admirer. "'Walkerism' is a synonym for 'footwork'." For another, "It is questionable if there was ever a more complete footballer in the game."

The first player to score 100 league goals for Hearts, Walker also notched the club's 1,000th goal in the league - against Airdrie, in November 1910. The following year, the wear and tear of the game began to tell, and leg injuries restricted his appearances.

By 1912-13, it was known Walker was on the brink of retirement. Crowds everywhere paid tribute, including at Shawfield, where, at the start of the second half of a game, a little girl ran out on to the pitch and presented him with a bouquet of flowers. For a moment, he was as flummoxed as he had so often made defenders, until eventually he persuaded his admirer to keep the gift for him until the end of the game.

Walker's last game for Scotland was a defeat by England in April 1913 at Stamford Bridge. Hearts' decline in the inter-war period meant no Tynecastle player came close to equalling his caps record then; while even the great names of the 1950s could not rival his tally.

It will therefore be a special moment for Pressley when he emulates Walker's achievement. "I am aware of the record, and I would be very honoured if I should equal it," the current Hearts captain said yesterday as he prepared for the match against the Faroe Islands.

Craig Gordon, who has 15 caps, and at 23 is nine years younger than Pressley, will also surely surpass Walker's record as Hearts' most-capped player. But while Walker's record will be erased, his place in Hearts' history is indelible.

Taken from the Scotsman