Returning Berra already has an eye on silverware

Christophe Berra believes lifting Scottish football’s first piece of major silverware next season is a realistic first target as Hearts captain.

The Scotland defender will get his second spell at the Gorgie club underway today when Ian Cathro’s squad start preseason training.

Hearts’ opening competitive fixture of the 2017-18 campaign is at Elgin City on 18 July in a Betfred Cup group which also includes Dunfermline, East Fife and Peterhead. It’s a trophy which hasn’t graced the Tynecastle boardroom since 1962 but the ambitious Berra insists Hearts can set that record straight.

“It’s a strange one, the group stage, because it will be like pre-season as well,” he said. “But we’ll want to win those games because it’s a cup, we want to get to semi-finals and finals, that’s the reason I came back to Hearts, to get that far.

“With the right application, with the right coaching, boys working hard and support from the club, I think we’ve got a chance.

“It’s definitely possible for us to win it. Cup games are one-offs. Look at last Saturday – England on paper are a lot better than Scotland, let’s be honest, but we more than matched them.

“So yeah, it’s something that a club the size of Hearts, with the support we have got and the good management and good owner, we should be aiming for.”

Despite his involvement in Scotland’s World Cup qualifier at Hampden last weekend, Berra opted not to request any extra time off this summer as he eagerly anticipates his return to Hearts after almost nine years in English football’s top two divisions with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Ipswich Town.

“A lot of the boys who played against England had played for their clubs just two weeks before but I hadn’t played for four or five weeks,” he added.

“So I’m looking forward to going into Hearts and I can’t wait. Hopefully the way I played against England gives

0 Berra, pictured in 2009, is looking forward to facing Hibs again. me the confidence to go back there and hold my head up high, and then keep on performing week in, week out.

“I wondered if the gaffer might have given me a couple more days off because I played against England. I’m sure I could have had some extra time off if I’d wanted, but I’m going back there as captain and I want to set the right example.

“I want to go in there and see the lads and get on with it. I feel that’s important, I don’t want to go in a week later. I want to do the hard work with them on the training pitch.

“I finished on 7 May at Ipswich, so I have had a good holiday. Now I’ll prepare for a tough season, which this is going to be.

“It’s a big responsibility for me on and off the pitch, to be Hearts captain. You walk around the streets in Edinburgh and there are always Hearts fans you meet, and also Hibs fans giving you abuse. You can’t beat it! I’m really looking forward to it and I can’t wait to get started.

“I know the club are trying to get some more signings in. The manager and his ideas are really good and with the right application, they should come through.

“If he gets the backing of the players hopefully we can get Tynecastle back to what it should be, a fortress with the new stand getting built. But first and foremost, we have got to get back to winning ways.”

Like the rest of the Scotland squad, Berra has mixed emotions as he reflects on the 2-2 draw against England which saw him win his 36th cap for his country.

“It was strange to go through the highs and lows of football in those last two minutes when we led 2-1 and then England equalised,” said the 32-year-old.

“We were so disappointed. Imagine if we had won, the changing room would have been absolutely bouncing. But that’s football, it’s small margins. We still have to be proud of ourselves, we more than matched England.

“I know they had the bulk of possession at times but they are a top team and sometimes you have to surrender that. But we put tackles in, we had chances and maybe in some situations we could have slipped someone in or got a better shot off. But we limited them to very few chances as well.

“It was a good game for the neutral and we’re disappointed with the way it turned out, but we’d have taken a point before the game.

“The dressing room was just bewildered afterwards, but