Former Hearts star Kevin Kyle: I'll pull on my old strip and cheer on Jambos in Scottish Cup Final.. from a bar in Magaluf

May 15 2012 By David McCarthy

KEVIN KYLE will pull on his Hearts shirt on Saturday afternoon – the one with Kyle 9 on its back – then he’ll hit the bar.

The former Tynecastle striker quit the club two months ago to concentrate on winning a fitness battle that has threatened his career.

But the pain of missing the Scottish Cup Final, this particular Scottish Cup Final, is hurting him more than the hip he is attempting to fix.

Which is why he’ll have to settle for sitting in a pub watching his former team-mates trying to become legends. Not just any pub, mind you. Kyle will be in Magaluf on a stag weekend – his stag weekend.

The much-travelled forward is getting married on May 25 and arranged the trip to Spain before Hearts and Hibs made the Final, So, he’ll be there in heart and mind, but not body.

He said: “I’m getting married a week on Friday and I’ve now booked my stag do for this weekend in Magaluf. I did it when the semi-final draw was made because I didn’t think there was a chance of a Hearts-Hibs final!

“If I didn’t have 18 or 19 friends booked up and going to Spain I’d have cancelled and gone to the game but I can’t let them down.

“I’ll be wearing one of my old Hearts No.9 shirts with Kyle on the back, sitting in a bar watching the game and cheering the guys on. I’ve taken to Hearts and I will look for their results forever now. I just hope they win on Saturday.”

The 30-year-old scored his last goal for the Jambos against Hibs on New Year’s Day 2011. It was a late winner and sparked incredible scenes among the maroon hordes and the memory of it has sustained the Stranraer-born Scotland international throughout some dark days of rehabilitation.

He added: “It was a late winner, about the 87th minute, and it was an incredible feeling. I grew up supporting one half of the Old Firm – it doesn’t matter which one – and it was always a dream to score a late winning goal for them against the other. I never did get to realise that dream but I got close to it that day with the late goal for Hearts.

“I remember scoring that goal and my brother Paul phoned me to say that’s the best New Year he’s ever had – and he’s not even a Hearts fan.

“He didn’t come up for the game as they like to party hard in Stranraer over the New Year so they’d all gathered round at my mum’s house to watch it. My mother said my wee brother – he’s actually 29 – jumped off the couch and ran out into the middle of the street celebrating.

“I felt really emotional after scoring it. I knew I’d put a huge smile on so many Hearts fans’ faces that day. I felt really proud to think something I had done had such a big impact on so many people.

“On Saturday, somebody is going to experience that feeling 100 times more deeply than I did.

“The other side of the coin, and I hope that it doesn’t come to this, but one player could make the mistake that costs his team the Final and he will have to live with that for the rest of his career. Someone will be a hero and someone could be a villain.

“Edinburgh will be crazy this week. Christmas is coming for every Hearts and Hibs fan but one half of the city is going to wake up on Sunday and find Santa hasn’t left any presents.”

Kyle became a huge favourite with the Hearts support and admits he would love nothing more than to be pulling on the shirt for real at the weekend.

He said: “If I was still playing for Hearts, heading for Hampden to play against Hibs in the Scottish Cup Final, I would be regarding it as the biggest game of my life. Growing up as a kid, all you ever watched in May was the Scottish Cup Final – whether it was Celtic v Rangers, Dundee United v Celtic or Rangers v Aberdeen – you were always glued to the television.

“The weather always seemed to be good, Hampden was always packed and I thought about how amazing it would be to play in one of those matches.

“I’m getting my fitness back and there’s a part of me thinking if I hadn’t left maybe I’d have had a chance of playing, even coming off the bench for the last five minutes and scoring the winner.

“There is a desire within me to do that but of course I know it is a pipedream as my fitness is improving because I took the decision to leave Hearts to
concentrate on my rehabilitation.

“I don’t regret leaving because I would have been miles away in terms of fitness if I had stayed and that is not a criticism of anyone at Tynecastle.

“If I had stayed fit I would have been starting the Final for Hearts and Craig Beattie would probably have been playing for another club. Maybe he’d have been playing for Hibs!

“It’s the way it works. I had lucky breaks when guys got injured and now my injury has given someone else a chance they may not have had but it’s not nice to miss out on something so massive.”

Taken from the Daily Record