It was worth wait for goal king to mine Gorgie gems

WHAT'S new with Jimmy Murray? Jambo diehards will remember him well. Many's the time he was the toast of Tynecastle in his 11 mostly illustrious years with Hearts.

A nippy inside-forward, he was to endear himself to the fans in grabbing goals galore, many of them classics. They treasured him because he was one of those players - you don't see too many of them now - who truly played for the jersey.

What's new with him now are his knees. They're not the ones he was born with, though you'd never know it. There's still a fair spring in his step.

"I've had both of them replaced," he said, quaffing a midday lager in Harry's Bar, a West End watering hole of a maroon hue.

"You might say wonky knees went with the territory. Footballers have kept surgeons in employment over the years and I'm typical, I suppose. My knees went later, the result of season after season of wear and tear."

For his troubles he garnered two League Championship medals, two League Cup medals (1958/59, when he grabbed two goals in a 5-1 thrashing of Partick in the final, and 1959/60) and five caps.

"I've never been a guy to sit at home of a dark winter's evening, dig five caps out the drawer and reminisce over them - I only got one! The rules in those days were that when you played for Scotland you got one cap and in subsequent appearances for your country you got none. It was a sore point with a lot of players. It got to me at first, I must say, but that was a long time ago and in time I learned to live with it. I understand, though, that the matter's been up for debate recently."

Jimmy's claim to fame - he's a modest sort and not given to claiming fame - is that he was the first Scot to score in the World Cup finals in Sweden in 1958 - against Yugoslavia in a 1-1 draw. The Slavs had thrashed England 5-0 a month earlier.

As it happened, it was a feat he wouldn't have accomplished without Eddie Turnbull's help. "Ten yards out I was fortunate to get on the end of Eddie's free kick and find the net with a header."

Again, it turned out, he wasn't fortunate when Davie McLean signed him for Hearts in 1950.

"The much-documented Conn, Bauld and Wardhaugh were going great guns - at the same time as the Famous Five were turning it on for Hibs - and I had to wait a helluva long time, four years, to secure a regular place.

"Mind you, two of those years I spent doing National Service in the RAF. I was stationed at Reading and had seven games with them.

"Also, I played for the Royal Air Force and we had some talented lads in that team, National Servicemen like myself... Eddie Firmani of Charlton, Ron Flowers of Wolves and Man U keeper Ray Wood."

Jimmy was at ease with his lager in this environment. He often lunched in Harry's, talking football with another of yesteryear's star inside forwards, the late Johnny Haynes. And the landlord then, Roy West, was a Jambo season ticket holder.

How does Jimmy rate these turbulent times at Tynie? "Will you settle for 'no comment'? I'm sometimes invited into the Gorgie Suite on match days, after all," he says.

"Certainly you wouldn't have imagined ten or 15 years ago that Hearts would be in the financial position they're in today.

"You've set me thinking about the Wallace Mercer era. I liked Wallace. When we played Standard Liege in Belgium he invited me over for the game. I thought that was a nice gesture. I found him great company and he loved being around football people.

"He always saw the fans as his 'customers,' not just supporters, if you know what I mean. Yes, Wallace was some machine."

Something of a goal machine himself, Jimmy was to play under Tommy Walker's management. Walker was himself a class performer at Chelsea before arriving at Tynecastle as assistant to Davie McLean.

However, Jimmy is sceptical about today's game. "Inevitably it has changed pretty well beyond all recognition. I mean, we're talking half a century ago. In my day I feel the fans got more out of their football, they got value for money.

"There wasn't then such emphasis on defensive stuff. We weren't plagued with all this man-marking, so there were more opportunities to get goals.

"Some refereeing decisions today are dodgy and they often prove costly. I'm seeing today so much mayhem in the box at corner kicks, the blatant pulling of jerseys. That's become part and parcel of the game unfortunately. I'd like to see a lot more yellow cards for jersey-pulling."

Jimmy had a stab at management when he left Hearts in 1962 but a brief stint at Falkirk (he also played at Brockville for a season) convinced him that a managerial role "just wasn't me."

He has managed his golf clubs relatively well, however. A 14-handicap man ("and proud of it"), he is a life member at Baberton. "I've golfed a lot since my footballing days, even when the knees began to go, and I love it for the camaraderie and the banter."

Outside the game he earned a living for 30 years selling washing machines and cookers etc, for a city centre firm. He has been married to June for 46 years (they met at the Palais de Danse) and their only offspring, Stephen, is a station officer in the fire brigade.

While Jimmy never made fortunes from football, he'll tell you that, by a long shot (his 20-yard shots frequently thrilled Jambo fans), it was a good time almost all the way. "I was lucky, privileged to play alongside so many brilliant players."

Ever a bloke with a ready smile, he still produced one when, for devilment, I asked if a certain 7-0 scoreline meant anything to him at all.

"I don't want to know about that but I can rattle off my service number. Just don't ask me to provide my mother's Co-op number. Nearly every Edinburgher of my age can do that but I've forgotten."

Nobody's perfect.

Taken from the Scotsman