Pressure of captaining Hearts was too much, reveals former skipper Christophe Berra

Feb 10 2009 By Craig Swan

CHRISTOPHE BERRA last night admitted the weight of his worries at Hearts almost crushed him and that moving to Wolves will finally get his mind fully focused on playing football.

The Scotland star opened his heart on the pressures he endured at Tynecastle after arriving to join George Burley's squad for their international get-together at St Andrews.

Berra, 24, left Gorgie last week in a £2.3million move to Molineux that cleared his head of the turmoils, meetings and mayhem that littered his time in the capital.

The central defender was made skipper when Craig Gordon quit for Sunderland 18 months ago but the responsibility of being club leader and spokesman at times weighed heavily on his young shoulders.

With Hearts always in the news, Berra spent plenty of time in the spotlight and there were occasions when he wondered if it was all worth it. He said: "I'd a lot of ups and downs to deal with but I feel I have come through it a stronger person.

"I think it will do me a lot of good in terms of my character. There are not many people who will have dealt with the things I've dealt with at Hearts and you learn from mistakes.

"I was 22 when they made me captain and the situation at the club got a lot worse after the likes of Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley and Craig left. There were times I thought, 'Should I have taken this on?' But I had the armband at a big club and that helpedme take a lot of responsibility. It made me a stronger person.

"Last season, the off-field stuff damaged us as a team. There was uncertainty over the management and coaching and it all had an effect.

"Csaba Laszlo has come in and organised the boys and look how much better Hearts have done. I hope they get a European place but sometimes it does feel like a weight off my shoulders.

"I amnot captain atWolves, so I can focus on my own job. I don't have to go to the manager's office after training to sort stuff out.

Things always needed arranging for the Hearts players.

"There were all the normal things a captain does and at Hearts it was maybe more difficult than it should have been. The media and public knew there was a lot of uncertainty at the club."

Berra's honest comments are not meant as a dig at Hearts because the club is still very dear to him.

He added: "I have a lot of feelings for Hearts. Wolves are my priority now but after every game I will be checking to see how Hearts got on.

"Laszlo's done a great job. I don't think Vladimir Romanov could have picked a better manager.

"If he keeps doing the job he's doing other clubs will look at him."

Hearts are missing him already - they've lost to Hamilton Accies and Falkirk since his departure - and life hasn't started too well for him at Wolves because his debut for the Championship leaders ended in defeat at Coventry at the weekend.

Berra, signed by Mick McCarthywith a recommendation from Celtic's European Cup-winning skipper Billy McNeill, said: "I'm staying in a Wolverhampton hotel and wasn't 100 per cent against Coventry because I'd had a stomach bug. But it was a good experience and I look forward to the challenges ahead.

"Wolves are a massive club with great training facilities and a good stadium. There are some young guys there who are all driven to try to get to the Premiership.

"There are internationalists from Wales and Ireland and a couple of England Under-21 guys, so there's a lot of promise. The future is bright.

"I could have stayed at Hearts until the summer but there was a good chance to leave now. Wolves are going through a sticky spell but are still top of the table and we have to think positively.

"With Mick McCarthy having been a centre-half I'm sure he can improve me. He said he'd spoken to Billy McNeill about me and that his recommendation had been good so that was a great compliment. I have been at Hearts my whole life and Edinburgh is my hometown. It's a great city and obviously it was hard leaving but I had always told my mum and dad I fancied a move to England.

"I want to play at the highest level and to do that you have to make sacrifices. I've left home but if I do well it will pay off and Birmingham is only a 50-minute flight away."

The move can only enhance his chances of Scotland starts but he knows current first-choice duo Gary Caldwell and Stephen McManus will take a bit of shifting.

Berra said: "It will be hard for me to get a game with Gary and Stephen doing well for Celtic - they've been champions for three years.

"Going to England may improve my chances a bit but I still expect Gary and Stephen to be first choices.

"Burley will rate Championship football because he worked in it and we've a number of players in the Scotland squad from that league.

"It's a competitive division and I think the standard overall might be better than the SPL.

"No disrespect to the SPL because it has improved in the past couple of years but there are 24 teams in the Championship and I expect it to be pretty tough.

"I know I may need to travel and sit in the stand with Scotland.

"Caldwell and McManus have done that for the international side and I just have to bide my time as they did and see what happens."

Taken from the Scotsman