Great Hearts teams

[Rab]

So there has been a lot of talk on here lately about "legends", focused entirely on individuals. I'd like to talk about great Hearts teams.

 

From a personal point of view, season 1997-1998 was by far my highlight as a Hearts supporter. It was my last year as a season ticket holder before I moved away, I was in Section D about 15 rows back.

 

I'd had a ST for many years, so I'd seen the progress JJ had made. A few years before he had begun blooding youngsters such as Ritchie, Johnston, McManus, Naysmith and Locke, and by the time 97 rolled along he'd added real quality in guys like Cameron, Weir, McCann, Salvatori, Fulton, Flogel, Hamilton, Adam and Rousset.

 

Oh, and some dude called Robertson was still kicking about too.

 

We were untouchable that year. More often than not, we'd score 3 or 4 goals every home game. Watching guys like Neil McCann, Davie Weir and Colin Cameron was incredible, it really was. We legitimately felt like we could beat anyone. For Colin Cameron, think Paul Hartley in 2006 but even better. For Neil McCann, watch the 97 League Cup Final and watch him destroy Craig Moore over and over and over again. Davie Weir was just solid. Solid as a rock. Best Hearts center half I've seen, and there's some pretty good competition - Levein, MacPherson, Maclaren, Pressley etc

 

Unfortunately our league record against the gruesome twosome was poor. These were the days when they were spending ridiculous money to have ridiculous players (Laudrup, Gascoigne, Larsson, De Boer, van Hooijdonk, Di Canio etc) , and coupled with JJ's naivety in having a go at them I don't think we won a single game against the OF.

 

Until that day in May.

 

Say what you want about 5-1. It was ******* awesome. Pumping the Hobos in the Big Cup Final was a real triumph. It was an event that we probably won't see again in our lifetime.

 

But the 16th May 1998 was better. Much better.

 

I was 22 and had seen Hearts lose 3 cup finals and win **** all at that point. We got to our seats just as Fulton went down for the penalty. I honesty don't remember much else before the 2nd goal other than at some point it was snowing. When Adam scored it was unbelievable, unlike anything I had ever experienced at a Hearts game. We were 2 goals up with 20-something minutes to go in the Scottish Cup final, people were going bananas, totally losing their shit.

 

But no one thought we'd won. There were too many disappointments to remember. Honestly, about 5 mins after Adams goal, the mood got real tense, Rangers started piling on the pressure and we all steeled ourselves awaiting the inevitable based on what we'd had to deal with so many times before.

 

The last 10 minutes of that game were ******* brutal. After Fat Sally scored, we all just sat down, puckered up and started praying. I remember talking to my mate, telling him we were going to do it, trying to convince myself as much as him and he was just staring at the pitch with his scarf covering half his face.

 

Eventually it happened. We won. We couldn't believe it. I was still young, I can't imagine how the guys in their 30s and 40s felt. Everyone was dancing , crying and hugging each other all at the same time.

 

Then Robbo picked up the trophy. I was far from the only one who lost their shit at that point.

 

I'm sure the older crowd have similar tales of previous teams, but for me, that was far and away the best Hearts team in my lifetime.