Planet Hearts - (Page 11)

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The club saw an immediate benefit, putting an extra 1000 season tickets up for sale, as the feelgood factor around Gorgie threatened to consume all who passed through. Hearts also held their first Players’ Player of the Year Awards, in which readers of Planet Hearts were invited by the club to vote for their goal of the season – only to then try to stop the paper covering the event, despite having invited it to take part in the first place! The reason given: “You’re just a fans’ newspaper.” But it was the fans who turned out in their droves on Saturday, May 13, for the Scottish Cup final. Former vice-chairman Pilmar Smith was among those caught up in the euphoria, one of the few to have seen Hearts lift the Scottish Cup in 1956 and 1998, and on for his hat-trick. It went to penalties and Craig Gordon was a hero – but it was Robbie Neilson with a goal-saving tackle who got the credit for Hearts’ victory, Tens of thousand of fans lined the streets the next day. Planet Hearts worked through the night to produce a special cup winners edition which was on sale in the streets by 7am, while thousands headed for the homecoming at Tynecastle. The party lasted for days. The Hibs were in their beds. A BUSY month, but one remembered for one game – the 4-0 Scottish Cup semi final rout of Hibs thanks to a Paul Hartley hat-trick and Edgaras Jankauskas strike. It was the stuff of legend, a day all those there will never forget. From the journey there, to the White Stripes song of Seven Nation Army adapted for the occasion. And the sight of thousands of empty seats in the Hibs end long before the final whistle – or two red cards they suffered. It was Hearts’ greatest ever humiliation of Hibs. Mark de Vries, back in Amsterdam, lavished praise on his old team-mates and recalled the day he also fired three past Hibs to become a legend as Hearts fans across the world basked in the glory. And as Jambos looked forward to a final in May against Gretna – yes, Gretna – thoughts were turning to another kind of competition. Europe – and not just the UEFA cup, but a possible Champions League slot. But there was trouble on the horizon too, as rumours grew of star man Rudi Skacel being unhappy and the target of bids from his old boss George Burley at Southampton. Andy Webster’s contract negotiations saw him left out in the cold and it looked more and more likely that he could be off. Behind the scenes Hearts’ commercial and communications departments were quietly split from each other as a revolution of a different kind started to take shape. Talks began with Bastion Stadium Solutions, who specialise in corporate selling, as the club looked forward to work starting on a new £6million main stand, with the emphasis looking increasingly likely to be targeting blue chip clients and wellheeled fans, rather than the mainstay of the support. But fans got a chance to revisit memory lane too, with a special anniversary dinner for the 1956 Scottish Cup winning squad, reminding their young counterparts how it should be done. JUNE Hearts fans were still drunk on success, already talking about winning the league 2006/2007. Even with the departure of Andy Webster the mood in the camp was good, especially after it was revealed Julien Brellier would stay – and it was even better after Planet Hearts revealed the squad would cruise on a £500,000 yacht before a pre-season tour in Austria. There was sadness when well-known fan Rab McLean lost his battle with multiple sclerosis – but not before seeing Hearts lift the cup. Lifelong fan Ronnie Summers said goodbye as head teacher of Sighthill Primary after 27 years, while Roman Bednar dropped in on Preston Street Primary in Dalkeith to donate his cup final jersey to their charity auction. Hearts held their first family fun day at Musselburgh Racecourse – a big hit with fans. Campbell Ogilvie gave a rare interview where he told how important it was for Hearts to succeed in the Champions League. The West of Scotland Hearts Supporters Club was established and welcomed into the family. Oh aye, and England crashed out of the World Cup. MAY BELIEVE . All season the fans had been told to Believe. Believe in Romanov. Believe in the dream. And, in May, their faith was rewarded. First, a midweek match against Aberdeen, a Paul Hartley penalty – and the chance of a £10million payday as Hearts clinched second spot ahead of Rangers and, for the first time, made it to the qualifying stages of the Champions League. There have been some great nights at Tynecastle. This topped the lot. There was the sight of Vladimir Romanov joining his T-shirted players on the pitch for a jig in celebration as compere Scott wilson did his best to interview as many of them as he could. Man of the moment Paul Hartley, overjoyed, spoke of his hopes for a new contract – that the boss may even make him a Jambo for life. Planet Hearts brought out a special Euro edition to mark Warning : Unknown : The session id contains invalid characters, valid characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in Unknown on line 0 Warning : Unknown : Failed to write session data files . Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct /var/lib/php/session in Unknown on line 0

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Planet Hearts

Planet Hearts