Cathro calls for heroic last stand
IT will be an occasion for sentiment, sadness and — perhaps above all — joyous memories of titanic, tumultuous, earth-shaking scrapes and larks. A traditional wake for a dear friend whose time has come and gone.
Fittingly, then, rookie head coach Ian Cathro has chosen to go distinctly old school with his pre-match message.
For Heart of Midlothian Football Club’s final fixture in front of a main stand that has witnessed generations of triumph and torture, nothing less than a thunderous farewell will suffice.
‘We’ll either give it a final victory — or we’ll die on the pitch trying to win,’ declared the Jambos boss, his death-or-glory narrative feeling just about right for the circumstances.
For more than a century, one of the most famous structures in Scottish football — an Archibald Leitch classic circa 1914, no less — has provided a sturdy backdrop to moments ranging from the sublime to the criminally ridiculous.
All in the current first team — a side ambling around at the bottom end of the top six, maybe still in with a shout of European football but still to click under new management — will concede that they have not hit too many extremes one way or the other of late.
Still, it is to them that this honour falls. They are playing proper opposition — Aberdeen are the second best team in Scotland — on a Sunday afternoon forecast to be fine enough for football.
Cathro accepts that there is an onus on his men to raise themselves in a manner befitting the best of their predecessors.
‘I think Sunday’s game is not going to be one of the more memorable games that take place in front of this old stand,’ he conceded.
‘But it will be the last one. So it will be a part of the story. The first and the last will be remembered.
‘We’ll be doing everything that we can to make sure that it’s signed off in the right way.
‘The bigger nights will be the bigger nights. This won’t be one of the epic moments that’s remembered in front of the stand.
‘But we’ll do everything we can to make sure it’s signed off with a victory.
‘This is a stadium that everybody relates to. Away fans love it, players from other clubs too. It has an impact on people. It’s a bit iconic, in a way, isn’t it?
‘So we respect that not just as footballers and coaches, but as people who love the game and the stories that come from the game.’
At a time when so many clubs seem intent on following the out-of-town retail park model for new stadia, the fact that Tynecastle will still be Tynecastle — just a newer, better version, standing in exactly the same spot — genuinely matters to Hearts fans. And their head coach.
Cathro (below), whose work in Spain and on Tyneside has informed his views on this subject, explained: ‘There’s something… when you see everyone in Newcastle marching through the city and walking up to St James’ Park, there’s a major buzz just being where it is.
‘A lot of the more modern ones in Spain are out of town and you have to drive for 30 miles to get there; it’s four car parks and a field. It does lose something.
‘Of course there are reasons why it makes sense but there is a definite value being here — and an emotional value as well, which is important.’ When it was suggested to Cathro that he had enjoyed at least one great night at Tynecastle, in that win over Rangers right at the start of his reign, the youngest gaffer in the top flight insisted: ‘I don’t know if that counts. It would have counted if we had done it five times in a row. ‘But no, I won’t have been responsible for any of the stories that have been written and were memorable under this main stand.
‘I just have to make sure I am responsible for some of the new ones.’
Hearts yesterday secured the services of Aaron Hughes for another year, the Northern Ireland defender happy to sign a contract extension.
Cathro sees the veteran as key to what he is trying to achieve at Hearts, saying: ‘First of all, I always feel like I want to emphasise that he’s a good player.
‘Of course, on the back of that, one of the added bonuses is that he’s at a stage in his career when he can take the responsibility of being a bit of a message carrier.
‘There are a couple of guys, like Aaron and Don Cowie, who I have a little bit more of a chat with. They take an extra bit of responsibility for helping things come to life and do it very well.’
Hughes, expected to be fit for selection after recovering from a calf injury, sounded happy enough to have re-signed for a club whose fans are never slow to make their feelings known.
The former Newcastle defender said: ‘The atmosphere, at times, the fans can get a bit frustrated.
‘But people here are passionate about their football — that’s a good thing.
‘You appreciate the fact they are going to voice their opinions, good or bad.
‘You’d rather play with something like that than play for a crowd that doesn’t care.
‘Newcastle is a good example, a city where the people are just so passionate about their football.
‘It’s a good thing, that. You know you are playing for a team with a fanbase that cares.’