Tale of Two Seasons

Steve Weddell

Description

There & Back Again provides a fan's eye view of two of the most momentous seasons in Hearts' 140-year history, covering unthinkable calamity and ultimate salvation. Perilously close to extinction after their Lithuanian owners became insolvent, the book relives Heart of Midlothian's year in administration, starting out on minus 15 points with a team composed of under-20s and a few seasoned pros on half-wages. First-hand, game-by-game experience of the season traces media perception of events on and off the pitch, and the attitudes of opposing supporters. After the bittersweet denouement of relegation comes the club's return from the brink as fans' group the Foundation of Hearts and businesswoman Ann Budge pave the way for fan ownership. And so to the following season's promotion campaign, the newly remodelled club finding itself locked in a three-way promotion battle with Rangers and Hibernian, breaking records along the way to winning the title.

Sujets

• Central Scotland

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 22 août 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785311048
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2015
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Steve Weddell, 2015
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 978-1-78531-069-0
eBook ISBN: 978-1-78531-104-8
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Foreword
Part 1: Though We Sometimes Go Down
St Johnstone, away
Hibernian, home
Partick Thistle, away
Aberdeen, home
Inverness Caledonian Thistle, away
Celtic, home
Ross County, away
Queen of the South, home, League Cup third round,
Dundee United, home
St Mirren, home
Motherwell, away
Kilmarnock, away
Hibernian, away, League Cup quarter-final
St Johnstone, home
Aberdeen, away
Wolfsburg, home
Ross County, home
Celtic, home, Scottish Cup fourth round
Dundee United, away
Inverness Caledonian Thistle, home
Celtic, away
Kilmarnock, home
St Mirren, away
Hibernian, away
Partick Thistle, home
Motherwell, home
St Johnstone, away
Ross County, away
St Mirren, home
Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Easter Road, League Cup semi-final
Inverness Caledonian Thistle, away
Celtic, home
Motherwell, away
Kilmarnock, away
Dundee United, home
Hibernian, home
Aberdeen, home
Partick Thistle, away
Ross County, home
Hibernian, away
Kilmarnock, home
Partick, home
St Mirren, away
Locke, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels
Part 2: We Can Aye Go Back Up
Annan Athletic, home, Petrofac Cup first round,
Rangers, away
Hibernian, home
Livingston, away, Petrofac Cup second round
Raith Rovers, away
Stenhousemuir, away, League Cup second round
Falkirk, home
Dumbarton, away
Cowdenbeath, home
Celtic, away, League Cup third round
Livingston, home
Queen of the South, away
Alloa, away
Dumbarton, home
Hibernian, away
Raith Rovers, home
Falkirk, away
Rangers, home
Celtic, home
Queen of the South, home
Alloa, home
Cowdenbeath, away
Livingston, away
Hibernian, home
Dumbarton, away
Rangers, away, match abandoned
Falkirk, home
Alloa, away
Livingston, away
Livingston, home
Queen of the South, away
Cowdenbeath, home
Dumbarton, home
Raith Rovers, away
Falkirk, away
Queen of the South, home
Rangers, away
Alloa, home
Hibernian, away
Raith Rovers, home
Cowdenbeath, away
Rangers, home
Epilogue
Dedicated to the memory of Brian J Alps
Acknowledgements
F IRSTLY, I should thank my granddad, Alf, for setting me on the road to becoming a Jambo. He took me to my first game when I was ten - a 1-0 home defeat by Partick Thistle back in November 1978. Each botched attempt at goal was lamented with a forlorn Willie Bauld would ve scored that , setting me on the road to years of wistful disappointment and tailored expectations.
Next, I have to say that without Ross Millar there wouldn t have been a book to speak of. In 1995 I left Edinburgh to spend nine years as a student in Liverpool and, as a closet Red, found the lure of Anfield irresistible. Ross made sure my links to Tynecastle stayed intact, always sorting me out with tickets and a place to stay. So for that, for your generosity and for taking the time to read my drafts - offering great feedback, plus a line about Ryan Stevenson and tattoos that still makes me laugh. Thanks Ross!
Thanks also to Grant Young and his wife Carolyn for being full of kindness and positivity about my project and for being there with me when we lost those 89th- and 92nd-minute goals up at Ross County. I m not kidding guys, I seriously could not have faced making that journey back on my own. Thanks too to Jack Millar for reminding me always to bring my notebook to games and for never peeking.
I flagged a bit (after the League Cup semi-final defeat to Inverness), so thanks to George Kinnear for suggesting I kept at it since, as he puts it, I dae fuck all anyway . Thanks also to the Old Team for always taking an interest in my progress: Alec Young, Jim Ollason, Tam Jones and Bill Young.
Thanks to all the people down through the years who have had the misfortune to attend Hearts games with me as I go pink-cheeked, talk gibberish and shout myself hoarse by half-time: Ian Millar, Stephen Shearman, Keith Smith, Stu Millar, Shawn Millar, Andy Ewing, Alan McDermaid, Ian Cadogan, Graeme Kay, Ryan Simpson, Paul Millar, Colin Andrew, Scott Hutchison, Alex W. Neill and many others.
Special thanks to Neil Fraser with whom I went to my first away game, up at Tannadice on 18 February 1984. The two of us had a blast back in the day, dodging all manner of projectiles from Vienna to Montrose and I look back at those days with genuine fondness.
Big thanks to Scott Wilson for kindly agreeing to write the foreword and for looking over my early chapters - it really was greatly appreciated.
Also, thanks to Pitch Publishing for agreeing to publish this, to Bob Swan for coming up with the title and to London Hearts for their statistical expertise.
And, finally, thanks to my long-suffering wife, Janey. Eighty-three games in two seasons can t have been easy for her but I m struggling to remember a cross word. She certainly never used the term football widow to describe herself. Pretty sure I d have remembered something like that.
Introduction
T HE origins of this book can be traced back to drunk talk, sweet beautiful drunk talk, at a Hearts fundraiser in the Gorgie Suite at Tynecastle in early July 2013. Our beloved team had been declared financially insolvent with debts of around 30m, triggering a 15-point penalty, so Ross Millar, Grant Young and I swore an allegiance to attend every game until we reached zero points. Ross even went further and suggested I wrote a book about it. Alas, Bravo til Zero outgrew its title as the tale that ultimately emerged stretched to two crazy, unforgettable seasons.
Like every other Hearts fan we d spent the 2013 close-season on tenterhooks, squirming in painful anticipation of how low we would need to stoop before bottoming out and beginning the slow pull back to the level we perceived ourselves to belong.
Jambos flocked in their droves to be at the bedside of their cherished, ailing patient, pledging thousands in season ticket sales to keep that big heart beating. The prospect of losing so precious an institution, an establishment that played such a crucial part in so many people s daily lives had a rousing, galvanising effect.
Secretly, I suppose, we d all been preparing for the day we would get this call to arms. We d had a rehearsal of sorts back in November 2012 with a flurry of fundraising activity and the share issue. For my part, I attended a bash at the Gorgie Suite and bought a signed photo of Gary Mackay scoring versus Clydebank in 1986 and a signed, match-worn Steven Pressley away shirt. My wife got the top framed for my Christmas and I re-donated it for the July fundraiser. It felt nice to give something back and, besides, Pressley s a big unit: that framed XXXL shirt would ve brought the wall down.
An indication of how mobilised and motivated the Hearts support was came at East End Park exactly a week later, with a joint fundraiser against Dunfermline Athletic. Like many others, arriving at the ground in good time, I found the stand behind the goal locked, packed to the rafters with a swirling mass of maroon. By the time the teams emerged I had found a seat across from the tunnel in the north east stand and it was immediately apparent how utterly overwhelmed the players were with this stirring show of support. It felt truly momentous. It felt like we were all in this together and you just wanted to applaud everything the players did on the pitch, even the passes that never came off.
The sense of shared spirit and camaraderie was resounding: you had the crop of youngsters, rightfully being lauded for bearing the club s immediate future on the pitch on their young shoulders and you had the older, more experienced pros who d volunteered to take a wage cut.
It felt poignant and, in the sweltering Fife sunshine, The Hearts Song caught in my throat. The club I loved seemed to be skirting around the very edge of oblivion. I was so glad I d come through. I d been avoiding the truth. It suddenly occurred to me there may not always be a Hearts to follow and I cursed myself for all the times I d freewheeled as a supporter. All the times I d lazily kept half an eye on Final Score or Soccer Saturday from afar. For years I d coasted, I d taken my team for granted and, who knows, they might now be playing out their final few games. Ever.
Forgetting zero points and whether or not I d always have company in the car, I pledged that day to support my team the best way I could - by following them home and away, the length and breadth of the country. I d reacquaint myself with all the away grounds I hadn t been to in years, plus a fair few newies. I d stick with it until the club were back where they belonged and on an even keel again: and, if this were to be Hearts swansong, their last season as a going concern, I wouldn t miss a kick. The following account was written, game-by-game, as seasons 2013/14 and 2014/15 unfolded.
Foreword
A T the end of November 2013 I received an e-mail from a Hearts fan who said he was writing a book about the club and would I oblige him by letting him know what I thought about the first f