Most underappreciated Hearts players

[Locky]

We've had the negative 'shite player' thread which has brought back some less than happy memories, so thought I'd simultaneously run a more positive thread.

 

A 'best Hearts player' thread has been done many times and ends up with the same names (rightly so) so here's my thread in honour of those more unsung heroes. Not necessarily great players, but guys who did a solid number for us who you'd struggle to say a bad thing about.

 

Adrian Mrowiec - 69 Hearts appearances according to Wikipedia. Never scored a goal though. Can't remember an awful lot about him in his first loan spell, but under JJ and Paulo, he was a mainstay in the midfield. Solid, no thrills defensive mid. Nothing of note in a Hearts jersey, but was solid every week.

 

Ruben Palazuelos similarly too. Well over 100 appearances and I don't think he had a bad game.

[MCW1976]

Of the top of my head, I always thought Neil McFarlane put in a good shift, totally unappreciated or even seen by some.

[The Goalscoring Knee]

Kenny Black

[tian447]

I always thought Audrius Kšanavičius was underappreciated.  Made 30+ appearances for us, scoring 2 league goals.  For someone who was only 5ft 7, he didn't seem to hide on the pitch.

[The Maroon Jacket]

Scott Severin 150 Hearts appearances, versatile, 100% player, a grafter thought we should have held onto him for much longer 

Edited March 18, 2021 by The Maroon Pound

[Locky]

8 minutes ago, tian447 said:

I always thought Audrius Kšanavičius was underappreciated.  Made 30+ appearances for us, scoring 2 league goals.  For someone who was only 5ft 7, he didn't seem to hide on the pitch.

Good shout. Always someone handy to chuck on late in a game. As you say never hid, used to run himself into the ground. I liked wee Audrey.

[Renoir]

Darren Barr.....scored the opening goal in the biggest game in living memory...hardly talked about!

[pointon]

John millar 

[Bill Sikes]

Willie Gibson.

 

Arnaud Djoum.

 

 

[neilnunb]

Just now, pointon said:

John millar 

 

👍

[The Old Tolbooth]

Chuck Berry, a total unsung hero for us 

[John Findlay]

44 minutes ago, MCW1976 said:

Of the top of my head, I always thought Neil McFarlane put in a good shift, totally unappreciated or even seen by some.

His performance away to Braga was superb, just by putting his foot in legitimately he stopped them from getting any rhythm into their play.

[GinRummy]

Djoum definitely from the more modern ones. Always felt a bit sorry for Jimmy Sandison back in the day, was a decent player but too much competition to nail down a regular start.

[John Findlay]

Kevin McHattie. Not the most skilful, but I thought he always gave 100% in a Hearts jersey and could whip a mean ball into the box off his left foot.

[Abiola Dauda]

Isma - Scored quite a few goals in a rubbish team.  

 

Djoum - one of the best midfielders we have had since Hartley. We have never replaced him with similar quality and that has been a large part of the problem. 

 

Hamill - a very limited footballer who gave his absolute all and acted as a leader on the pitch. Scored two great goals v Inverness in a game we should never have lost.  Performed above his natural ability even when getting abuse from his own fans. 

 

Elliott - a very important foil with a brilliant work rate. 

 

Aguir - what a player. Rarely gets spoken about these days. 

 

 

[Mr Brightside]

Don Cowie, had a great work rate and was composed on the ball. A lot of people just didn’t take to him for some reason.

[Cruyff]

Stephen Boyack 

Alan Maybury

Paddy Kisnorbo

Kev McKenna

[davemclaren]

17 minutes ago, Bull's-eye said:

Willie Gibson.

 

Arnaud Djoum.

 

 

Good shout. 

[Worthing Jambo]

Robbie Neilson.

He covered for Steven Pressley many a time.

 

[Hearts1975]

Robert Tomaschek - 49 appearances only - thought it would have been more 

[davemclaren]

Tommy Gronlund

 

[Craig_]

Always liked Karipidis. Funny how so many of these players tend to be DMs.

[stevie1874]

5 minutes ago, Craig_ said:

Always liked Karipidis. Funny how so many of these players tend to be DMs.

Agreed, Karapidis was a centre half when he turned up at Hearts but was a classy DM when moved there. 

[meister]

I always thought Eggert Johnson never got the praise he merited. He was used in almost every position for us during his time and never once hid.

Tremendously versatile but that might have been the thing that held him back !!

[a11ank]

Julien Brellier.  Le Juge!

 

Solid.  Liked to mix it.  Made me smile many times!

[luckydug]

43 minutes ago, pointon said:

John millar 

Vastly under rated. 

We could really do with his kind now. 

[iantjambo]

Prince Buaben

[Spellczech]

28 minutes ago, Abiola Dauda said:

Isma - Scored quite a few goals in a rubbish team.  

 

Djoum - one of the best midfielders we have had since Hartley. We have never replaced him with similar quality and that has been a large part of the problem. 

 

Hamill - a very limited footballer who gave his absolute all and acted as a leader on the pitch. Scored two great goals v Inverness in a game we should never have lost.  Performed above his natural ability even when getting abuse from his own fans. 

 

Elliott - a very important foil with a brilliant work rate. 

 

Aguir - what a player. Rarely gets spoken about these days. 

 

 

Bruno Aguiar - How I wish we'd had him from the start of 05-06 and he'd been fit that whole season...Just think what balls he could've been playing through for Rudi and the strikers we started that season with...As it was we had to wait a year and rather than Bednar and Jani it was Mole and Elliot...

 

Having said that I don't think he was under-rated.

 

Plenty of DMs to choose from as the "water carrier" position is always the under-rated player...

 

I'd go with wee Audrey though. Excellent super-sub

 

 

[iantjambo]

22 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

Tommy Gronlund

 

Great shout

[Spellczech]

1 minute ago, a11ank said:

Julien Brellier.  Le Juge!

 

Solid.  Liked to mix it.  Made me smile many times!

Not much of a footballer but his positional awareness was top class. Smelled danger and cut it down like a scythe! Was very good at slotting into LB when Takis was rampaging up the field and we got caught out.

[Ominous]

I always liked Kevin Thomas and Stephane Mahe. It was a shame that injury more or less finished Thomas's career.

[Cheile]

Going back a good few years I would nominate Willie Polland, Billy Higgins and Danny Ferguson.

[iantjambo]

Salvatori was definitely the unsung hero of the ‘98 cup winning side.

[Mundaydog]

50 minutes ago, pointon said:

John millar 

Did the job he was asked to do and chipped in with a few goals, grafter

[The Gorgie]

Ruben Palazuelos.

[TyphoonJambo]

For his efforts in a crap period for Hearts, Willie Gibson.

For his workrate and brilliant undercover efforts after he moved to Hubz, Alan Marbury.

[Carl Fredrickson]

Three players always spring to mind when asked this question.

 

Kenny Black - mentioned above. Never hid and would often come looking for a pass to get others out of trouble. Great left footer.

 

Jim Hamilton - wasnt the quickest but another who got stuck in. Scored a number of goals and made an impact as a sub in the cup final. 

 

Derek Ferguson - split opinions of Hearts fans but I thought he was great at retaining possession and could do defence splitting passes with ease. Would love to have seen him in either our 98 or 06 teams

[stevie1874]

Going further back John Colquhoun was taken for granted a bit. Cant ever remember him having a bad game, as a winger in those days he’d get kicked up and down the pitch. Great player who never hid. 

[John Findlay]

41 minutes ago, Worthing Jambo said:

Robbie Neilson.

He covered for Steven Pressley many a time.

 

No more than the cup final against Gretna. He covered so many times in games against Hibs too.

To score the winning goal in Basle with the last kick of the game.

No more to be said.

[jr ewing]

Neil Berry.

[Berra than you]

1 hour ago, Mr Brightside said:

Don Cowie, had a great work rate and was composed on the ball. A lot of people just didn’t take to him for some reason.

I would go with him. Was a solid player for us, wish we could have had him earlier in his career cause he was a grafter even at his age. Scored a last minute screamer in the Derby too 👀. Honourable mention for Prince Buaben. Another undervalued player who was asked to play a number of positions for us and did most of them well.

[lou]

Igor Rossi, I was gutted when he moved on

[Geddyalexneil]

Andy Thorn? For most of his Heart's career he was bloody brilliant😄.

[hisnameis]

Jim Hamilton was lauded by Robbo as his best strike partner. 
 

[RoiK]

Slightly off-topic, but I had high hopes for Denis Prychynenko back in 2012, but, disappointingly, he never really grabbed his opportunity when it came.

 

Had a premonition of him coming off the bench in the 2012 Cup Final to win it for us with one his 25 yard thunderbolts, but we were cruising that day and so he never got pitch-time.

 

Currently playing in the Belgian First Division and so he's carved out a career for himself at a decent level.

[iantjambo]

51 minutes ago, Ominous said:

I always liked Kevin Thomas and Stephane Mahe. It was a shame that injury more or less finished Thomas's career.

If I remember correctly, it was his arrest and subsequent sacking from St Johnstone for possession of cocaine that ultimately ended Thomas.

He had left us and done well at Morton. He then signed for St Johnstone and looked good at rebuilding his career until the above incident.

[BASIL_HEARTS]

Rob mackinnon put in a shift for us at left back and Roddie Mckenzie was fairly a steady keeper, Gary Wales another 

[j1964m]

Robbie Neilson for his cup final saving tackle and this 

 

[Big Moysey]

From someone who knows a bit more about football than us kickbackers, Sir Alex Fergus on talking about Aberdeen and he raved about Andy Watson. His quote was along the lines of ' ask any of the players Andy was always there covering for them, he put in the hard, unnoticed graft. Every successful team needs an Andy Watson ' 

[Big Moysey]

6 minutes ago, Big Moysey said:

From someone who knows a bit more about football than us kickbackers, Sir Alex Ferguson talking about Aberdeen and he raved about Andy Watson. His quote was along the lines of ' ask any of the players Andy was always there covering for them, he put in the hard, unnoticed graft. Every successful team needs an Andy Watson ' 

Should have added - never saw it myself