Hearts' Greatest Games , livre ebook

Pitch Publishing Ltd - Mike Smith

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

225 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Hearts' Greatest Games provides an entertaining and informative description of the fifty greatest games involving Heart of Midlothian, one of Scotland's biggest football clubs. From the club's first national honour, the Scottish Cup win of 1891, through the glorious decade that was the 1950s, to the Vladimir Romanov era and challenging the Old Firm in 2011. This book includes a raft of great memories, brought to life by words and pictures, and is a must for all Hearts supporters.Key features- Features fifty of Edinburgh club Heart of Midlothian's most memorable games from across the club's history- Details the effect of the club's great managers and finest players on those games- Includes contemporary and historic images from these legendary matches- Written by veteran football author Mike Smith, who has written a number of titles on Hearts, including Follow the Hearts and The Diary of an Incredible Season

Informations

Publié par	Pitch Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	31 août 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781909178113
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0374€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2012
Pitch Publishing A2 Yeoman Gate Yeoman Way Durrington BN13 3QZ www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
© Mike Smith, 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, sold or utilised in any form or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
ISBN 978-1 90805 150 9
Typesetting and origination by Pitch Publishing.
Printed in Great Britain.
Manufacturing managed by Jellyfish Print Solutions Ltd.
CONTENTS
v Dumbarton, 1891
v Celtic, 1895
v Hibernian, 1896
v St Mirren, 1914
v Hibernian, 1935
v East Fife, 1948
v Motherwell, 1954
v Celtic, 1956
v Celtic, 1958
v Partick Thistle, 1958
v Third Lanark, 1959
v Hibernian, 1960
v Kilmarnock, 1962
v Dundee United, 1968
v Celtic, 1969
v Aberdeen, 1971
v Celtic, 1972
v Hibernian, 1973
v Lokomotive Leipzig, 1976
v Hibernian, 1978
v Hibernian, 1983
v Paris St Germain, 1984
v Rangers, 1985
v Celtic, 1987
v Dundee, 1987
v Bayern Munich, 1989
v Hibernian, 1990
v Dnieper, 1990
v Celtic, 1991
v Slavia Prague, 1992
v Hibernian, 1994
v Rangers, 1995
v Rangers, 1996
v Aberdeen, 1997
v Rangers, 1998
v Aberdeen, 1999
v Celtic, 2000
v VfB Stuttgart, 2000
v Dunfermline Athletic, 2001
v Hibernian, 2002
v Celtic, 2003
v Bordeaux, 2003
v Sporting Braga, 2004
v Basel, 2004
v Hibernian, 2005
v Hibernian, 2006
v Aberdeen, 2006
v Gretna, 2006
v Aberdeen, 2010
v Hibernian, 2012
Photographs
FOREWORD BY JOHNROBERTSN
M Y PLAYING career spanned nearly two decades and I spent the majority of it wearing the maroon and white of Heart of Midlothian. You don’t spend 17 years at a club without developing a deep affection for the club – an affection which has lasted to this day and will never leave.
When I joined Hearts as a 16-year-old in 1981, the club were lurching between the Premier and First Divisions. The club had little money to spend on players and it was partly as a result of this that the manager at the time, former Newcastle United and Scotland centre-half Bobby Moncur, gave me and other young players such as Gary Mackay and David Bowman an early chance in the first team.
Gary would make a record number of appearances in a maroon shirt, Davie went on to have a successful career with Coventry City then Dundee United and all three of us would go on to play for Scotland so I like to think we didn’t let anyone down.
I look back on my time at Hearts with great pride. While Wallace Mercer may have saved the club from oblivion in 1981, it was Alex MacDonald and Sandy Jardine who helped establish Hearts as a Premier Division side and in a remarkably short space of time turned the Maroons from First Division also-rans to a side that was eight minutes away from becoming champions of Scotland.
Those of us who were at Dens Park that fateful day in May 1986 when Hearts needed just a point against Dundee to win the league – but lost 2-0 thereby enabling Celtic to snatch the title on goal difference – will never forget the scenes of heartache at the end. However, there was immense pride at being part of a club that had taken Scottish football by storm. The Hearts team of 1985/86 of which I was a part had earned the respect of the rest of Scottish football – and returned a feeling of pride to Gorgie Road.
I was part of the Hearts team that secured some notable results in Europe. European nights at Tynecastle are very special and I was involved in memorable games against Dnieper, Slavia Prague and Bayern Munich – all covered in this book – that will live long in the memory.
Of course, one can’t spent so long at one club and not suffer disappointment. 1986 aside – there was also defeat to Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final that year – there was heartache in the Scottish Cup semi-finals of 1988 when Hearts lost two goals in the final two minutes to Celtic; 1992 when Hearts lost in the semi-finals to an Airdrieonians side managed by Alex MacDonald; and in 1996 when Hearts lost the final 5-1 to Rangers.
Six months after that 5-1 loss, Hearts played Rangers in the Scottish League Cup final and showed just how much we had learned as a team under Jim Jefferies when we lost narrowly 4-3 – when I scored Hearts’ equaliser at 2-2 I genuinely believed we were about to end our trophy drought.
However, the long wait for silverware finally ended on 16th May 1998 when Hearts gained revenge for the 1996 final by defeating Rangers 2-1 at Celtic Park to lift the Scottish Cup for the first time in 42 years – and the first major piece of silverware since 1962.
I was on the substitutes’ bench that day and when I collected my winners’ medal I clutched my heart – it was the proudest moment of my playing career and one I had waited a decade and a half to savour. It was a day Hearts fans would never forget.
This book is a look back at 50 of the greatest games by one of Scotland’s famous clubs – Heart of Midlothian. From the club’s first national trophy, the Scottish Cup in 1891 to the modern era this book will appeal to supporters of all ages who have a special place in their hearts for a truly special club.
John Robertson, August 2012
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
T HE CHALLENGE of writing about Hearts’ 50 Greatest Games – around 100,000 words – has been immense. I’ve had plenty of jibes from fans of other clubs, notably Edinburgh’s lesser team, about how I would find 50 games worth writing about. To my colleagues of the Hibernian persuasion, I merely utter the words William Hill Scottish Cup final 2012 and they quickly disappear…
Football is all about opinions and Hearts fans reading this book may argue with my list of games. Why wasn’t such a game included? Why does such a game have a mention? One of the joys of watching football – apart from regular thrashings of Hibernian – is that such topics are open to healthy debate. The 50 games in this book are what I consider to be the greatest Hearts games in the club’s long and proud history.
I could not have completed this book without the support of my family and I’m grateful for their support. I dedicate this book to my three grandchildren Jack, Hannah and Ava, and to the memory of my late father who encouraged my writing many years ago.
Thanks are due also to Davy Allan at the excellent London Hearts website www.londonhearts.com and the huge database of information that helped me research much of this book; to the good people at www.jambos.net , Gerry Cassidy at Planet Hearts and Brian McColl who runs the truly excellent Scottish Football Historical Archive www.scottish-football-historical-archive.com . I must also thank those who have encouraged me and massaged my oft-battered ego when it needed massaging the most. Namely, Gary Copland (the nicest Hibby I know), Lindsay Wright, Allan McKillop, Graham Herriot and Paul Kiddie at Hearts.
I also want to pay tribute to two people who have given me immeasurable support during what has been a difficult year for me. Namely, my mother Isabella – she’s an Aberdeen fan but we all have our cross to bear – and the lovely Marion Hunter, who is my inspiration. Thanks also to John Robertson, a Hearts legend, for writing the foreword for this book and to Eric McCowat for the use of photographs.
Finally, and without wishing to resort to cliché mode, thank you for buying this book – you’ve made an old Jambo very happy!
Mike Smith, August 2012
Hearts: Dumbarton: Fairbairn McLeod Adams Watson Goodfellow Millar Begbie McMillan McPherson Boyle Hill Leitch-Keir Taylor Taylor Mason Galbraith Russell Mair Scott McNaught Baird Bell Referee: T Park (Glasgow)
I N 17TH century Edinburgh, there stood a prison in the old city’s Royal Mile alongside a hangman’s scaffold. The prison was referred to as the Heart of Midlothian and it was demolished in 1817. The name lived on however and later that century a dance hall adopted the famous moniker. In 1874, a group of men who frequented the dance hall got together to establish a club to partake in the latest craze to sweep the country – association football. Therefore, Heart of Midlothian Football Club was formed – and a Scottish football institution was born.
A year later, Hearts became members of the Scottish Football Association as well as founder members of the Edinburgh Football Association. The club chose white with a maroon-shaped heart on the chest as its team colours and the first club captain was a gentleman called Tom Purdie.
Early games were played at East Meadows in the centre of Edinburgh, with the club based in West Crosscauseway in the city. Hearts were big enough to compete in the Scottish Cup in 1875 and their first competitive fixture in the national cup competition came against the 3rd Edinburgh Rifle Volunteers. The game ended goalless, as did the replay at East Meadows. Bizarrely, the SFA rules at the time meant both sides progressed to the next round where Hearts travelled to Coatbridge and lost 2-0 to Drumpellier.
These days, football is not played on Christmas Day but 137 years ago, it was. On Christmas Day 1875, Hearts played another Edinburgh club – Hibernians (who later dropped the letter s from their name). The game was played at East Meadows and, like so many other Edinburgh derbies since, ended in triumph for Hearts who won 1-0.
A shortage of players meant Hearts didn’t play any competitive games for a few months but, in 1877, St Andrews FC was incorporated to Heart of Midlothian. Hearts briefly adopted the colours of red, white and blue hoops and legend has it of the occasion when the strips were washed, the dye from the colours ran and red, white and blue became maroon – the colours Hearts have famously kept ever since!
In 1879, the continued growth of the club saw Hearts move their base