What player sale left you wounded?

[championsleaguefan]

Alan McClaren to Rangers broke my hart when he left think that was the day I realised that we would never be the best in Scotland.

[Jambo Ell]

Gary Smith.

 

That was roughly around the time that Iain Anderson went to Toulose from Dundee aswell wasn't it? Pretty sure we were linked with him at one point.

[vlad on the tyne]

mikey galloway for me

 

to see a hearts player with a ginger tache be one of the top scorers in a european competition was a sight to behold.

 

wee mccann going along with crabbo were all bad times in my life but the club goes on.

[Seymour M Hersh]

Just to amplify the case for Willie Wallace. It wasn't the first unnecessary sale at a ludicrously low value (see Dave Mackay and Alex Young, but at least those were not to the OF)) but it was the nail in the coffin of Hearts aspirations to be a contender in Scotland. We had only recently lost the league on goal average (by one goal!) to Kilmarnock. Over the previous decade our crowds, in the days when TV revenue and replica shirt sales barely existed, had been comparable with Celtic's and not that far off Rangers (certainly by comparison with today's 4 or 5 to 1 ratio). They had fallen off, particularly after the Killie defeat, but there should not have been any economic necessity to sell Wallace, particularly at the give-away price. Since then, I think every sale on this thread could be easily justified by economics.

 

As it's always appeared to have been at Tynecastle a board with more ambition to line their own pockets rather than achieve football greatness.

[Jambo1874]

QUOTE=speedbump']

 

I remember Alan MacLaren being interviewed on Reporting Scotland when he joined Rangers and you knew he didn't want to go.

 

I'm pretty sure McLaren sent a letter to all the Hearts supporters clubs after he left to say he'd gone because he knew Hearts needed the money and would always be a Jambo, and would like to play for the club again (sadly didn't due to injury). I always remember thinking that was a nice touch.

[shaun.lawson]

Just to amplify the case for Willie Wallace. It wasn't the first unnecessary sale at a ludicrously low value (see Dave Mackay and Alex Young, but at least those were not to the OF)) but it was the nail in the coffin of Hearts aspirations to be a contender in Scotland. We had only recently lost the league on goal average (by one goal!) to Kilmarnock. Over the previous decade our crowds, in the days when TV revenue and replica shirt sales barely existed, had been comparable with Celtic's and not that far off Rangers (certainly by comparison with today's 4 or 5 to 1 ratio). They had fallen off, particularly after the Killie defeat, but there should not have been any economic necessity to sell Wallace, particularly at the give-away price. Since then, I think every sale on this thread could be easily justified by economics.

 

Interesting. It's always seemed to me as though the financial fundamentals underpinning the club have been in question since the 70s, leading to continual cycles of boom and bust ever since. But in your view, what was it that changed between 1965 and a decade or so later? How did we end up in such a perilous position financially, and how did the team's results get so bad?

[Charlie-Brown]

Interesting. It's always seemed to me as though the financial fundamentals underpinning the club have been in question since the 70s, leading to continual cycles of boom and bust ever since. But in your view, what was it that changed between 1965 and a decade or so later? How did we end up in such a perilous position financially, and how did the team's results get so bad?

 

The size of the league decreased thus puting us in relegation peril (and every other big-medium size Scottish club since then.)

[shaun.lawson]

The size of the league decreased thus puting us in relegation peril (and every other big-medium size Scottish club since then.)

 

You're obsessed, man!

 

But I didn't mean that exactly. Our league fortunes even prior to the top ten being instigated had gone dramatically south; but how did we end up in such a dire position off the field?

[Charlie-Brown]

You're obsessed, man!

 

But I didn't mean that exactly. Our league fortunes even prior to the top ten being instigated had gone dramatically south; but how did we end up in such a dire position off the field?

 

We weren't in a dire position off-field until after we got relegated 3 times in 5 years (crowds & finances slumped) - we'd had a barren spell and were mid-table on average after 1965 but in an 18 team league unless you had a truly horrific season it was almost impossible to be relegated but all that changed after 1975 as everybody except the Old Firm has found out.

[Tasavallan]

Eammon Bannon to chealsea when i was a young kid but none since then, it's just a fact of football, new stars always emerge sooner or later

It was Bannon for me, too. I was also only young, but I clearly remember being so incensed by the action of the wee, drunken, greasy, Hibby that I burnt my scarf in disgust and sent him the ashes.

 

It was 1996 before I bought a replacement scarf.

 

Of course, in retrospect, Ormond obviously had no say in Bannon's sale as Hearts were going through one of its many cashflow crisis. Plus ca change...

 

[Chelski2]

Pressley

[shaun.lawson]

We weren't in a dire position off-field until after we got relegated 3 times in 5 years (crowds & finances slumped) - we'd had a barren spell and were mid-table on average after 1965 but in an 18 team league unless you had a truly horrific season it was almost impossible to be relegated but all that changed after 1975 as everybody except the Old Firm has found out.

 

Actually CB, that suggests that had the league not been restructured, we could've drifted interminably forever; but that the top ten forced things to a head. Which in retrospect, was no bad thing at all. It's all very well you arguing that mid-sized clubs and lower start out in danger of the drop - but in reality, especially now it's a 12-team league, it's nigh on impossible for any of Hearts, Aberdeen or Hibs to go down. And it would take the most stupefying off-field incompetence for any of us to ever do so.

[Bill Mc]

Actually CB, that suggests that had the league not been restructured, we could've drifted interminably forever; but that the top ten forced things to a head. Which in retrospect, was no bad thing at all. It's all very well you arguing that mid-sized clubs and lower start out in danger of the drop - but in reality, especially now it's a 12-team league, it's nigh on impossible for any of Hearts, Aberdeen or Hibs to go down. And it would take the most stupefying off-field incompetence for any of us to ever do so.

 

So we can't quite rule out the possibility then!

[Charlie-Brown]

Shaun,

 

This chart shows very demonstrably the effect that repeated relegations & failure to win promotion had on attendances (club finances) - it was that that precipitated the dire financial situation and near closure of the club - prior to 1975 although crowds had decreased from the zenith of our successful years they had remained reasonably steady despite mid-table league placings and unspectacular Hearts teams of that period but the greatly increased threat & possibility of relegation changed all that and it was the same for Hibs, Dundee, Killie, Motherwell etc.

 

http://www.londonhearts.com/charts/averagel.htm

[Charlie-Brown]

Actually CB, that suggests that had the league not been restructured, we could've drifted interminably forever; but that the top ten forced things to a head. Which in retrospect, was no bad thing at all. It's all very well you arguing that mid-sized clubs and lower start out in danger of the drop - but in reality, especially now it's a 12-team league, it's nigh on impossible for any of Hearts, Aberdeen or Hibs to go down. And it would take the most stupefying off-field incompetence for any of us to ever do so.

 

Only 1 relegation place and stricter promotion criteria does make it much harder but not completely impossible as clubs of these size have finished very close to bottom and others like Killie, Dundee, Motherwell, Aberdeen etc have all suffered relegations or would have done if there wasn't hurried SPL re-structuring.

[Charlie-Brown]

Clubs often slump after successful high periods Hearts, Dundee & Killie did in the sixties, in England Man Utd after the Busby era went from European cup winners to being relegated within a few years - but in Scotland most of our big-medium size clubs endured these slumps and barren spells without the disaster of relegations until the small league system came in.

[whodeeni]

Pressley was a bad one. Especially as we had to watch him run out for celtic at tynie only a few weeks later.

 

Sickner.

 

I find myself missing Brellier too, we just don't have a player with that bite at the moment.

[shaun.lawson]

Shaun,

 

This chart shows very demonstrably the effect that repeated relegations & failure to win promotion had on attendances (club finances) - it was that that precipitated the dire financial situation and near closure of the club - prior to 1975 although crowds had decreased from the zenith of our successful years they had remained reasonably steady despite mid-table league placings and unspectacular Hearts teams of that period but the greatly increased threat & possibility of relegation changed all that and it was the same for Hibs, Dundee, Killie, Motherwell etc.

 

http://www.londonhearts.com/charts/averagel.htm

 

Things were in decline already though. Our league finishes between 1965 and the first year of restructuring were 7th, 11th, 12th, 8th, 4th (hooray!), 11th, 6th, 10th, 6th, 8th and 5th. Frankly, WTF? The move to a top ten certainly doesn't appear to have done Aberdeen and Dundee United any harm in the decade which followed; and in the decade preceding it, with an 18-team league still in operation, the table was stretched out and the title race depressingly predictable.

 

The nadir was reached in 1967/8, in which Celtic somehow bettered our record (though not our goals scored or GD mind ) from 1958 - yet only just made it in front of their great rivals:

 

http://www.statto.com/football/stats/scotland/division-one-old/1967-1968/table

 

Under 3 points for a win, Celtic's total would be equivalent to 104 points in a 38-game season, Rangers' to 100... and the sides in 3rd and 4th to 73 and 63. That's as lopsided a league as we had in 2002/3! The problem was already with us, mate.

[Charlie-Brown]

Old Firm domination had increased and Hearts like Aberdeen in later years were in the slump after a relatively prolonged successful period but it was the small leagues that financially damaged & almost ruined many of our traditionally medium to bigger sized clubs of that period, Hearts included and it took us a decade to recover stability.

[Makween]

Chris Hackett leaving was hard to take. He was an excellent player.

[shaun.lawson]

Old Firm domination had increased and Hearts like Aberdeen in later years were in the slump after a relatively prolonged successful period but it was the small leagues that financially damaged & almost ruined many of our traditionally medium to bigger sized clubs of that period, Hearts included and it took us a decade to recover stability.

 

So why didn't it ruin Aberdeen or Dundee United? Or even St Mirren, come to think of it?

[Charlie-Brown]

Those clubs were on an upswing with fergie & mclean, there was greatly reduced margin for error & hearts, hibs, dundee, killie, dunfy, m'well were on a downswing after previous better seasons

[ford donald]

skacel,hartley,pressley...

[jamboinheaven]

looking into my crystal ball bruno going for feck is hurting

[vancouverjambo]

I was absolutely gutted when Scott Crabbe left, the way it happened was farcical, the boy was in tears throwing his shirt into the shed.

 

Robbo was a tough one to take as well.

 

For me it was Crabbe, Robbo, and John Colquhoun.

Of anyone to play for the club in the last couple of decades, I thnk it was Crabbe who wore his love for the club most on his sleeve.

[japanjambo]

It was Bannon for me, too. I was also only young, but I clearly remember being so incensed by the action of the wee, drunken, greasy, Hibby that I burnt my scarf in disgust and sent him the ashes.

 

It was 1996 before I bought a replacement scarf.

 

Of course, in retrospect, Ormond obviously had no say in Bannon's sale as Hearts were going through one of its many cashflow crisis. Plus ca change...

 

 

 

Ormond! Dinny get me started on that man! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[bigandy]

The first sore one I remember was Dave Bowman to Coventry. Bowman, Mackay and Robbo were my heroes. I still remember the shock in those pre internet days of picking up the next days paper and seeing Dave Bowman in a Coventry shirt.

[Buffalo Bill]

The first sore one I remember was Dave Bowman to Coventry. Bowman, Mackay and Robbo were my heroes. I still remember the shock in those pre internet days of picking up the next days paper and seeing Dave Bowman in a Coventry shirt.

 

Bowman was without doubt 'the one that got away'.

 

Buffalo Bill

 

.

[Mr X]

McCann to Rangers. I felt so gutted that they had nicked one of our players again, and that he was so keen to go that I didn't sleep for two nights, such was my fury. Also realised that maybe I was taking it a wee bit too seriously! Doubt I'd get that worked up again.

 

Pressley was a bad one too. How he was treated was an utter disgrace.

[Charlie-Brown]

Bowman was without doubt 'the one that got away'.

 

Buffalo Bill

 

.

 

It was sad to lose him BB but it brought the club some much needed financial stability and of course Sandy Clark.

[johnnyharvey]

McCann

[gowestjambo]

As a youngster i was really gutted at the transfer of Ralph Callachan to Newcastle.

 

The most nonsensical transfer has to be Donald Park to Partick for my all time hate figure in a maroon strip John Craig.

The transfer that most convinced me of the incompetence of the board at the time was Colin Camerons to Wolves. I know he wanted to leave but we weren't too long from getting the much over hyped SMG cash.

 

I agree entirely, to make matters even worse we got Denis McQuade as well, who apart from a stependous goal against hibs at easter road did nothing!

 

Donald Park always excelled against us as well.

 

ps Willie Wallace (who was my first favouite player) wanted to go to celtic as he was a catholic! as told to me by a friend of his.....

[IMA MAROON]

The first sore one I remember was Dave Bowman to Coventry. Bowman, Mackay and Robbo were my heroes. I still remember the shock in those pre internet days of picking up the next days paper and seeing Dave Bowman in a Coventry shirt.

 

We should have brought him back. That was the worst of it. He was a Jambo.

[Eldar Hadzimehmedovic]

Neil McCann. It was the end of that team. It was such a let-down after matching the OF for over a season to realise we were still their bitches.

[shaun.lawson]

Neil McCann. It was the end of that team. It was such a let-down after matching the OF for over a season to realise we were still their bitches.

 

Thanks to the Facebook link I posted on the other thread, I just watched a video of Rangers' famous (and infamous) 3-0 win at Parkhead in May '99 which clinched the title. Terry scored a brace less than six months after leaving us. It hurt. He was on fire around that time: sensational for Scotland at Wembley later that year.

 

Bearing in mind what so nearly happened that season, McCann was very nearly the Ralph Callachan of his time. Indeed, the famous words of the late, great John Fairgrieve seemed as appropriate on the day McCann was sold as when they were penned over two decades earlier:

 

"No doubt the board are good men and true but they are strongly lacking in imagination and are presiding over the decline of a great club".