My low

[weemarky]

I know for lots of you tonight is another night of derby defeat. Painful yes but not the end of the world. Those of much greater years than I have no doubt experienced more disappointment at the hands of our football club but for me, tonight was probably my low point as hearts fan.

 

For well over 20 years now I have supported the famous through thick and thin. I remember crying my eyes out at Hampden as an 8 year old boy after the 5-1 cup final defeat against Rangers and, although I now have a son coming up on that age I can't remember feeling as disappointed, as angry, as let down by a hearts team on the pitch as I do tonight.

 

I have been there when fighting relegation, needing results to avoid playoffs and just the general losing games we shouldn't be losing. The latter is part and parcel of being a Hearts fan. We have always lost games against teams that we "should" be beating. If that didn't happen we would have been much more successful! I was there through the off field turmoil of the Pieman and Romanov years but tonight, on the pitch, we as fans were massively let down.

 

One aspect of why tonight was such a let down is because, for once, our off-field affairs have never been better! We are in a good place financially, new stand, FOH, well run, respectable institution etc. Because of this success off the park we, as fans then expect to see parallel improvement on the park! This is difficult to achieve obviously as football is not an exact science and we as fans understand that.

 

Another aspect of why tonight was such a let down is the manner of the defeat. Hearts teams as long as I have known them have always had fight, passion and balls. Tonight was a team completely devoid of all 3. 2nd to every ball, I lost count of the amount of times I heard the words "out muscled" on the radio tonight. That is in such stark contrast to any Hearts team I have known. By all means if we want to shake the "big fisicul team" image thats fine but it needs to be replaced by something. An identity that means we "never give up" or "play attractive football" or are "difficult to beat" or even "do nothing all game but come up with the goods when it matters". We need an identity in this "New" Hearts that inspires fans and players alike to have some pride.

 

Finally, and some will probably call me silly or immature (my wife certainly does) for this but the lowest point about tonight is that it was against THEM. Even when we were languishing at the bottom of the table, no money, relegation all but a certainty we still beat them, we still out fought, out sung and out scored THEM. We have all seen Hearts teams with less talent, less ability and less resources but they always still manage to maintain the upper hand over our city rivals. Tonight was the crescendo of too many insipid, uninspiring and downright wet Hearts displays in derbies. I do not lay the blame with IC or the players tonight although all have a major part to play in my disappointment. As far as I'm concerned there are very few constants in the footballing side of Hearts other than the untouchable DOF that could possibly explain our derby form, or lack of it. I suppose one of the reasons tonight is a low for me is because I cannot see where it will end. Lennon has them so fired up for derbies to the point where nothing else matters that season as long as they beat us in the cup. There are few people in football I dislike more than NL but he has Hearts number and it kills me to say it!

 

I trust in IC to build a team capable of coming top 3 in the SPFL over time and that is great. But how can I support a manager that cannot build a team with the physical and mental attributes required to win an Edinburgh derby?

 

I hope things change and quickly. This season will end and next will be the big test for IC to 1. Have a team that competes at the top end of the table and 2. Perform and ultimately beat our city rivals. Hearts fans want both and no manager will be accepted fully until they are achieved.