Planet Hearts - (Page 9)

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In 1975, goalkeeper Jim Cruickshank had been at the Club for 15 years without a hint of a testimonial season. So the Federation of Hearts Supporters Clubs took it upon themselves to organise their own, and while there couldn’t be a match without the co-operation of the Club, they could organise events which didn’t involve playing football. Here is the programme produced for the Grand Gala Night for Cruickshank held at the Odeon Cinema on December 14, 1975. The front cover shows Cruicky in full flight tipping a shot over the bar. Inside, Jock Mitchell, chairman of the Federation, described the evening as “an unusual event in football. We suspect it may even be unprecedented. A night of entertainment organised by supporters to show their appreciation of just one man”. There was nothing said about the club’s apparent snub of Cruickshank though a full page of the programme is taken up with a Gilzean cartoon showing two Hearts directors drinking whisky in the boardroom. One is saying to the other: “He’s been a grand servant to the Club.” And sure enough, there is Cruicky, walking into the boardroom in full kit brandishing a silver tray with glasses, a bottle and a soda siphon and a napkin draped over the other arm. A satirical snipe at the club’s treatment of their “grand servant”. Another hint of the ill feeling comes when Cruickshank lists those he would like to thank. After thanking the whole of the organising committee, the programme says Jim “would also like to thank Mr Parker and his Board of Directors for their co-operation in promoting this event”. Not help in organising it, mind. Just co-operation in promoting it. Jim still hasn’t been back to Tynecastle since he left. Let’s hope Elvis’ return is somewhat swifter. This programme isn’t that rare and you should be able to get hold of a copy for less than £5. The good just about outweighs the bad no longer with the club and that is the low point of the last year for me. The fact that the captain who held the Scottish Cup aloft last May won’t be here to help us defend the trophy and try to lead us back to Hampden again is regrettable. We’re told it’s part of the evolution of the football club and in the long term if it proves beneficial to Hearts then people may say it was the right move. If it doesn’t then someone will well and truly get it in the ear! My hopes for 2007 are simple. I hope that Heart of Midlothian football club is featured in the sports pages purely for generating good news. We’ve already had one glimmer of positive news in that Mr Romanov has in principle agreed to buy the land next to Tynecastle, which would allow the club to build a new Main Stand. For the people who were involved in the Save Our Hearts campaign that is a massive boost and a huge step in the right direction. It’s always been my belief that the club should remain at its traditional home and I hope that this vision starts to become a reality over the next 12 months. But I would have to add that the only way we will ever be able to fill a stadium with the sort of increased capacity that they are talking about is with a football team playing to the level that they achieved at the start of last season. It’s the only way they’ll get the supporters they need through the turnstiles on a regular basis. All we can hope for in the meantime is a good festive run, a happy start to the New Year and some sort of stability at the club in 2007. Best wishes to you all. transferboost from players being released. It will be also be a nervy time for Jambos as there’s bound to be speculation over Craig Gordon. We all know that eventually Craig will go. But hopefully this window will pass with him still our No1. One thing’s certain – when Craig does goes he’ll be the most expensive player to ever leave Tynecastle. Next four ties are crucial THE festive ties will be make or break – but if we play our best team we’re perfectly capable of winning them all. Tannadice is huge. United are on their best run for five years and there will be a bit of extra spice with Levein and Houston in the dugout. As for Boxing Day, I’m more optimistic than I would have been a few weeks ago. Hibs were on a great run just after John Collins arrived but they’ve hit a sticky patch and I reckon we can do it. Kilmarnock and Dunfermline are both difficult for different reasons, so there won’t be any seasonal goodwill at Rugby Park or over in Fife. But if we have 12 points in the bag by the evening of Jan 2 it would help our position dramatically. GARY COWEN G Hearts memorabilia for sale? Contact Gary: cowen@falcon-chambers.com 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