DEL HAS TITLE IN SIGHTS
JIM JEFFERIES was the man who finally led Hearts’ perennial bridesmaids to the altar.
After 36 long years in which the Tynecastle outfit and their trophy efforts had been jilted time and time again, it was the former club captain who ensured his beloved Jambos at last made it to the church on time.
By lifting the Scottish Cup in 1998, Jefferies helped heal the club’s broken ticker, one that hadn’t fluttered since their last taste of silverware back in the early 60s.
But that famous win over Rangers at Celtic Park came only after his team had enjoyed a flirtation with league success too.
Today’s Hearts side sit top of the Premiership table with a narrow lead over both Old Firm sides.
It’s the first time since Jefferies’ men were battling it out with the Glasgow giants in 98 that the Old Firm stranglehold on the league crown has been seriously threatened.
As like now, they made it to match day 30 with only three points separating the top three.
But crashing out of that race stung like a boot to the wedding tackle for Jefferies.
Thankfully for the Gorgie faithful, their team went on to have their big day in May as the bridesmaids finally became the bride.
And it’s those memories that Jefferies is hoping to see replayed this year – only on an even bigger scale.
“In 1998, obviously, winning the Scottish Cup was fantastic for the club after so many years of heartache and disapespecially in 1986 when they lost out on the league,” the former Hearts gaffer told Record Sport.
“If you check back the records, I’m sure 1998 would be the last time a team outwith the Old Firm were really challenging at this stage of the season. I remember a weekend where Rangers had drawn against Dunfermline and we had to play Celtic on the Sunday.
“We felt if we could win that game, we were right in there with a chance of the title.
“Celtic led 1-0 at half-time, so we went for it. We went gung-ho and got our rewards at the death.
“It was the 93rd minute when wee Jose Quitongo fired a mis-hit shot that bounced all over the place before sneaking past Jonathan Gould.
“Tynecastle erupted because it kept us in the hunt. But we’d also done well to reach the Cup final and maybe we had a wee bit of an eye on that the longer the season went.
“We played Motherwell in a midweek game just after the semi-final and I felt if we won, we were right in the hunt.
“We had chances to finish the game at 1-0 up.
“But Stephane Adam had a pass cut out and Motherwell went up and scored. We pounded their box but couldn’t get the result we needed.
“After that, we were on a bit of a downer and went to Easter Road the following Saturday and lost 2-1.”
In the end, it was Celtic and not Hearts who would smash Rangers’ run of nine straight titles.
But in fairness to Jefferies, the value of the Old Firm’s big-money line-ups was on a different level to the opposipointment, tion in Glasgow that Derek McInnes is currently dealing with.
He said: “No disrespect to the Rangers and Celtic sides today but there’s not many that would get a game for those teams back then.
“Walter Smith had the likes of Brian Laudrup, Paul Gascoigne and Jorg Albertz. Celtic had Henrik Larsson at that time too.
“OK, I’d definitely say Callum McGregor would have been a first choice pick for Celtic but how many others?
“These were tough teams to beat, tougher than the ones we see now.
“But that’s no fault of Hearts today. Hearts can only beat the teams in front of them and they’ve been doing that all year.
“We had three goes at beating Rangers in cup finals. They were too strong for us
the first time in the 1996 Scottish Cup Final.
“The second in the League Cup Final in 1997 at Parkhead, I thought we had them after coming back from two down to level it. It looked like there would be only one winner.
“But then Gascoigne produced 15 minutes of absolute brilliance and snatched victory away from us.
“However, we got there in the end by winning the Cup in ’98. That Rangers squad was coming to an end. I remember telling the players, ‘you’ll never get a better chance’.
“At that time, most Hearts supporters thought they would never see their team win another trophy after all that had happened to them in previous years.
“But we knew that if you keep knocking on the door, you’ll get in eventually.”
From winning the league in 1960 and a League Cup Final two years later, Hearts then found themselves crushed by repeated final disappointments and that infamous final-day league collapse in 1986.
Jefferies continued: “I still have fans who come up to me now and say May 17, 1998 is the greatest day of their life.
“Yes the club’s won the Scottish Cup twice since then but first time is always the sweetest!
“Gary Locke was involved in the coaching staff when we beat Hibs in the 2012 final but even he says nothing will ever surpass 1998.
“But winning the league might be the nearest they get!
“Seeing that same atmosphere and elation for all the fans, if they were to win it, well maybe it would be even better!”
More than 100,000 fans flocked the streets of the capital to see Jefferies side parade the trophy, won thanks to goals from Colin Cameron and Adam. The 75-year-old retired boss added: ”I don’t know if you’d get away with the open top bus these days – just because it went so slowly. A journey that would normally take 10 minutes took us about an hour and a half because there were so many fans along the route.
“It was a fantastic day and I have so many memories – wee things like the police picking us up at Livingston with flags attached to their Range Rovers and going past the fire station at Wester Hails. The firemen were on top of the fire engine, dancing away.”