Interpreter left out Vlad slur after Hoops gubbing but nowt got past big Marius.. thankfully we’ve no ranters to pull rug this time
Draw at Ibrox is a far cry from 2011 days
I’VE been reminded a lot in the last week about a goal I scored against Rangers to take Hearts to within touching distance of the Old Firm midway through the season in January 2011.
That 1-0 win will live long in the memory. Unfortunately so will the events four days later when we travelled to take on Celtic in Glasgow.
Let’s call it Mad Vlad episode 40. The day a crazy, control freak chairman pulled the rug from underneath his players and destroyed what had promised to be a brilliant season.
It serves as a timely reminder of why the current stability from top to bottom at Tynecastle is crucial to the club’s ambitions of building on Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Ibrox that keeps them just a point off top spot.
A decade ago we were on an 11-game unbeaten run and had won 10 of them culminating in that 1-0 victory over Walter Smith’s Gers.
Jim Jefferies was trying to keep us level-headed as we looked to keep on the tails of Rangers and Celtic.
Four days after my goal beat Rangers we were looking to do the double and put ourselves right in title contention with a win at Celtic Park.
We were gubbed 4-0. Paddy McCourt absolutely destroyed us. I don’t think anyone would have beaten Celtic that night.
Unfortunately Romanov had come over for the game, no doubt glory hunting because we’d been on a good run.
That was on a Wednesday night and on the Thursday the Lithuanian came into the dressing room and flew into one of his rants. He told us we’d been hopeless. He threatened not to pay us our bonuses.
He was speaking through an interpreter but there was nothing lost in translation.
We had big Marius Zaliukas who was Lithuanian and understood every word Romanov was saying – including calling us “useless c **** ”. The interpreter had left that bit out!
Jim Jefferies was standing behind him shaking his head and all the senior players were sitting saying, “What the f***? We’ve taken 31 points out of 33 and you’re actually telling us we’ve not done well enough?”
We’d been bursting ourselves each day in training because we were desperate to achieve something. We knew we’d been flying. The boys were gutted.
After that the wheels didn’t just come off our season. The whole bandwagon fell to pieces and we took just nine points from the last 12 games. We still finished third, mind you.
Romanov’s outburst played a part in our collapse that term.
Thankfully those dark days are long gone and there’s no figures like that at the club any more. Everyone is going in the one direction – the players, staff, fans and those running the club.
Saturday’s draw at Ibrox was the latest marker. It would have been easy to accept a 1-0 defeat on 90 minutes and argue they’ve made a great start to the season.
But they kept pushing for an equaliser and got the reward. That says so much about this group of players.
I was critical of Hearts last term when they were stumbling over the line in the Championship. I was being honest.
But Robbie Neilson deserves massive praise for what they are producing right now. The recruitment has been crucial.
They never panic bought like before. Barrie McKay, Beni Baningime and Cammy Devlin have been huge additions.
There will be blips on the road. It’s how they react to that.
I’m certain they have the personalities in the squad – and just as importantly in the boardroom – to deal with it.
Unlike that toe-curling episode in 2011. I still expect
Rangers will win the Premiership. But Hearts needs to go week by week and see where it takes them.
Dundee are up next. Second bottom. It’s a difficult game but I expect they will build on that result at Ibrox.
The scenes at the end of the game where the whole team were celebrating with the fans after that last-minute equaliser puts a smile on your face.
To think of the heartache those supporters have gone through – they deserve this more than anyone.