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Welcome
to the Shareholders' Association photo gallery! Our monthly dinner meetings provide the opportunity for our members to meet a glittering array of names and faces from the world of football, from old friends with a very direct association with Hearts to those who are simply 'football people' and understand the appeal of the Beautiful Game. Detailed below is a list of the many successful dinner meetings we have had in recent years, embellished where possible with some ..er, eye-catching photography. If you have
any images
from meetings you have attended, or indeed even if you have photographs
of Association Members 'out and about' with the Hearts, please don't
hesitate
to forward them to us and we will endeavour to place them in this
gallery
for posterity. You can e-mail electronic images to us here.
27th March 2008 : The Shareholders' Association Player of the Year 2008 : Christophe Berra. Full details of the award and the dinner, including photos, can be found here.
27th March 2008 : John Rowbotham. John Rowbotham Blows the Whistle. Our original guest speaker, SFA referee John Underhill had to call off from the 27 March 2008 meeting due to work commitments but arranged for a substitute, former FIFA and SFA whistler John Rowbotham who very kindly stepped in at short notice. (It must be one of the few occasions Hearts supporters can claim that a referee has done them a favour!). One-hundred and fifty members and guests were present in the Gorgie Suite to hear John as he opened by pointing to the area of the stadium where there is a rear door through which he often used to leave discreetly after a match if he had displeased the crowd although he always enjoyed the great match atmosphere at Tynecastle and was at pains to emphasise that when Austin McCann scored a last minute winner against Celtic at the Gorgie end to deprive them of the championship, it was he who was the referee that day, and when Hearts came back from 2-0 down at Parkhead to win 3-2 it was he who awarded the penalty that won them the game, adding with a smile “giving a penalty against Celtic at Parkhead? What was I thinking of?” John
said his biggest fan was Jim Jefferies. When Hearts won Jim would say,
“John, you are a superstar” but when Hearts lost he was his fiercest
critic “John, you were a disaster.” Jim also earned a ticking off for
having a blast at John from the touchline that was picked up by the
two-way communication between John and his assistant.
John
spoke of his friendship with another well-known referee, the
now-retired Italian Pierre-Luigi Collina whom he met in 1995 when they
both joined the FIFA list. Although Collina failed the fitness test
first time around he went on to earn a reputation throughout the world
as a first-class referee, he could speak seven different languages, and
the Fife dialect. Collina was grateful to John for everything he taught
him about refereeing (?). John
stressed that he had thoroughly enjoyed his career and that however
much the crowds would shout at him, he “didn’t give a monkey’s.” He had
been all over the world staying at the best hotels and been paid for
it. He had refereed some great matches and attended a World Cup draw in
Switzerland where Pele was a guest. (“What an honour it was for the boy
from Brazil to meet the boy from Kirkcaldy.”) All
referees were football fans who had their own teams but they were
honest when they go out on the park and do their best. John said he was
always reluctant to issue cards but there was one occasion when Hearts
played Aberdeen at Tynecastle. An Aberdeen player committed a bad foul
worthy of a yellow card and then kicked the ball away at the whistle.
When John reached him he produced a yellow card to which the player
responded “you must be joking?” John showed him another yellow and then
a red card and said “laugh at this.” Everyone present in the Gorgie
suite thought it was funny. John
ended by thanking the audience for giving him the best reception he had
ever had at Tynecastle and the round of applause he received showed how
much he was very much appreciated.
28th February 2008 : Roddy Forsyth. One-hundred and fifty members and guests were present at our 28th February meeting, hoping for a more entertaining evening than the previous night’s match at Tynecastle against Rangers! Our
guest speaker was Roddy Forsyth,
Secretary of the Scottish Football Writers Association and BBC Radio
Sport and The Telegraph
newspaper Scottish football correspondent.
Roddy looked back over his career and the changes in journalism
during that time In the days before the internet and satellite
communication if you wanted to find out your team’s score you
either had to buy a newspaper or tune in to the radio or wait for BBC
Sportscene hosted by Archie MacPherson or STV Scotsport with Arthur
Montford. There were only two divisions then and no premier league.  Roddy Forsyth (left) and, Chairman Alex Gowans Roddy told of how his big break into radio nearly ended before it had even begun after nervously asking a blind interviewee a question about cycling and bird-watching! As a young reporter covering a Dundee United European match in Belgium, he fumed as he overheard veteran Jimmy Sanderson telephone Radio Clyde and claim an exclusive while lying in bed in the next room nursing a hangover after Roddy had been up early and got the story before innocently relaying it to Jimmy when he got back to the hotel. As improvements in communication make the world a smaller place, Roddy said he felt there would always be a demand for newspapers as reporters have a news sense that other mediums lack. He spoke of how he broke the news of Alex Ferguson leaving Aberdeen to manage Manchester United after arriving in Aberdeen, making a call and discovering that Fergie was in a restaurant nearby having a meal with United’s chairman Martin Edwards. He respected Fergie’s request to leave them in peace while they discussed matters and afterwards Fergie gave Roddy a lift in his car to Union Street and told him the whole story. Roddy said Vladimir Romanov was a popular figure with the press because he made headlines and sold newspapers although he felt that it was severe culture shock for Mr Romanov to discover that the methods of the Scottish media were so different to their more strictly controlled counterparts in Lithuania. A question from a member regarding the truth behind a BBC tape of ‘Radio Bloopers’ reminded Roddy of the time he was doing a round-up of football news from Tynecastle in the open air and the pigeons inhabiting the Main Stand decided to use him for target practice. Despite this, Tynecastle was one of his favourite grounds because of the great atmosphere and the tightness of the stands surrounding the pitch. Roddy touched briefly on the 1985-86 season and how there was a popular misconception that Hearts lost the championship in the last seven minutes of their final game at Dens Park. He suggested that the title was instead lost forty seconds from time in the first home match of the season when Paul McStay scored to salvage a point for Celtic. If Hearts had held out that day they would in all probability have gone into their last match already crowned champions! Paul Gascoigne had been in the news recently and Roddy recalled one of his favourite stories when Gazza was in the shower at Ibrox singing Christmas carols which could be heard upstairs in the trophy room where an important meeting was taking place. Donald Findlay asked Gazza to keep the noise down but instead he went away and gathered everyone he could find including office staff, reserves, cleaners, and ground staff and lead them all through a catalogue of carol-singing outside the trophy room. Donald Findlay eventually gave up and took the meeting elsewhere. Roddy recalled he did Jock Stein’s last interview on the afternoon he died and told some interesting anecdotes of his larger than life character Finally Roddy confirmed that Kilmarnock’s Rugby Park has the best pie and Bovril in Scotland, and he should know given all the grounds he has visited in his career. The Association is very grateful to Roddy for providing such an interesting and entertaining evening. Having heard him mimic the voices of many football personalities if he ever decides to gives up journalism Jonathan Watson is sure to find a place for him on ‘Only an Excuse’. It should also be said that Roddy declined a fee for giving up his personal time and instead very generously asked for an equivalent sum to be donated to one of Hearts good causes chosen by the Committee. Thank you very much Roddy.
27th January 2008 : AGM. 29th November 2007 : Darren Murray, Hearts under-19 coach with guest U-19 players Jonathan Stewart and Haraldur Bjornsson, plus Ryan McGowan. The emphasis was very much on Hearts’ youth policy at the 29 November meeting attended by one-hundred and twenty members and guests. Our four guests were: Darren Murray, Under-19 coach accompanied by two Under-19 players Haraldur (Harry) Bjornsson and Jonathan Stewart with former Under-19 team captain until his recent elevation to the first team squad, Ryan McGowan. Our other invited guest John Murray, Director of the Youth Academy was unfortunately caught up in a traffic situation on the M8 and was unable to attend. Darren
spoke with enthusiasm about the
youth set up at the club, the quality of young players he was working
with at Hearts, the number of different nationalities and his
personal delight at the international recognition at different levels
some had received. The three guest players had all been capped:
goalkeeper Harry had been called up to Iceland Under-21 while still
playing at Under-19, holding mid-fielder Jonathan from Loanhead who
has been at the club since age thirteen and is the Under-19 team
captain represents Scotland at Under-17 and centre-back Ryan recently
returned from Vietnam after helping Australia Under-19s qualify for
the 2008 Asian Football Confederation Cup.
(left to right)
Haraldur Bjornsson, Jonathan Stewart,
Chairman Alex Gowans, Ryan McGowan and Darren Murray' Darren
praised John Murray’s skills
and knowledge and his wealth of contacts around the world who
regularly tip him off about talented young players. The boys were
asked a variety of questions: their most memorable match to date, how
they coped with being so far from their home and families, the superb
facilities at Riccarton and the relationship and communication
difficulties with so many team mates of different nationalities. Ryan
said it was easier for him to settle coming from an English-speaking
country but confirmed that everyone got on very well, playing for
each other and the foreign lads were receiving lessons in English.
There was a raised eyebrow or two in the audience when they heard
that John Murray was among those giving the lessons as John has such
a strong Irish accent that even native English speakers have
difficulty understanding him. Darren emphasised that the boys were
also made aware of the great history of Heart of Midlothian Football
Club and he had personally taken the Under-19 squad to the recent
annual Remembrance Service at The Haymarket Memorial to let them see
what the club means to people and how privileged they were to be a
part of it now as well as the future of the club.
Under-19 goalkeeper Haraldur Bjornsson
displays the Sunderland goalkeeper
jersey signed and donated by Craig Gordon for the special raffle Harry
was asked if he would be passing
on any tips to the Iceland international coach ahead of the World Cup
qualifiers against Scotland to which he replied that Scotland may be
in for a surprise! Being a goalkeeper, following in the footsteps of
Craig Gordon, it was felt appropriate Harry should make the draw for
the signed Sunderland goalkeeper jersey, provided by Craig himself
and picked out the winning ticket belonging to member Ronald Hughes
of Cellardyke in Fife. (Ronald unfortunately was not present at the
meeting however Secretary Frank Gray met up with him after the match
against Celtic at Tynecastle on 1 December and handed over his
prize.) The Association has sent a letter of appreciation to Craig
Gordon for his magnanimous gesture which raised £520 for the
Hearts Education & Community Trust.
At the end of the evening the boys chatted with members and guests and posed for photographs. Faced with a large roomful of strangers they had shown a maturity beyond their tender years and were a credit to the club. The Association is very grateful to Darren and John Murray for allowing the boys out late and hopefully they will all be back again in the not too distant future as regular members of the first team.
25th October 2007 : Alan White, Karen McKendrick and Brooks Mileson. One hundred and eighty members and guests attended our dinner on 25 October to hear guest speakers Alan White, Community Development Manager of the Heart of Midlothian Education and Community Trust, Karen McKendrick, AEGON Breakfast Club Development Coordinator and Brooks Mileson, owner and Managing Director of Gretna Football Club.  Alan White with Brooks
Mileson
Alan
White was first up to talk about the aims and objectives of the
Education and Community Trust, a partnership between Hearts, the City
of Edinburgh Council, Heriot-Watt University, Sport Scotland, the
Health Education Board Scotland, and the Police who together have
embarked on one of the most exciting and innovative projects that
Scotland's capital city has ever seen. The aim is to utilise the "Power
of Sport" to motivate, educate and inspire tens of thousands of
children and adults within the community, through a range of innovative
and progressive programmes and events. Alan explained the structure of
the various programmes and what the participants would get out of it.
(For more information see the website
or contact Alan on
0131 200 7265).Karen followed Alan to explain about the AEGON Breakfast Club, an exciting new initiative which aims to give Edinburgh schoolchildren a healthy start to their day. It is a three-way partnership between the Heart of Midlothian Education and Community Trust, the City of Edinburgh Council and AEGON. The aim is to have a funded breakfast club operating in every primary school in the city by 2010. (For more information see the website www.aegonbreakfastclub.org or contact Karen on 0131 200 7265). These are two very commendable social initiatives for which Heart of Midlothian FC deserves the highest praise.  Chairman
Alex Gowans with Brooks Mileson
Our main speaker was Brooks
Mileson who joked that there were more people in the Gorgie Suite than
Gretna’s average home attendance this season. Brooks thanked The
Association for inviting him and harked back to the day of the Scottish
Cup Final in 2006 when Gretna and Hearts supporters showed, through
their sporting behaviour toward each other, how football should be
enjoyed. It was a day he said he would never forget, especially the
sight of many Gretna and Hearts supporters making their way to Hampden
Park, singing and with their arms around each other. The press coverage
leading up to the match had tried to portray an air of rivalry between
himself and Hearts’ owner Vladimir Romanov because they were both such
strong-willed characters but he and Mr Romanov had got on very well
together and had become friends. During Brooks’ illness last year, Mr
Romanov had kept in touch regularly and sent him flowers and he had
received over two-hundred ‘get well soon’ cards, many of them from
Hearts fans.Brooks recalled some of his own brushes with authority and the SFA in particular came in for pelters for having criticised him for selling Cup Final tickets to so many ‘Gretna fans’ with Edinburgh post codes as his actions “could have led to a riot”. The SFA had also emphasised the importance of colour coding and strict segregation of supporters’ buses but they parked side-by-side at the stadium anyway. The SPL were not missed for their unrealistic stadium criteria which penalised smaller clubs and had forced Gretna to play all their home matches at Fir Park Motherwell, which was the least expensive of all the options available to them. Every match is an away game and their form was suffering because of this. Brooks praised the Hearts Education and Community Trust and Breakfast Club projects, having started up and personally financed similar schemes himself in the Gretna area three years ago without any assistance from public or private funds although the local council want to make use of his facilities without any cost to themselves! Brooks confirmed his devotion to non-League football as that was the grass roots of the game and he sponsored the Unibond League in England as well as several of the member clubs. He responded as openly as possible to a range of questions including how he first became involved with Gretna, his hopes for their future, the managerial changes at Raydale, the future of Kenny ‘Doctor’ Deuchar, the bias of referees toward the Old Firm, and no, he does not have any influence on team selection. Brooks was thanked by a member of the audience, on behalf of all Hearts supporters, for placing the notice in the Evening News, applauding Hearts supporters for their sporting behaviour at the Cup Final. Brooks drew the raffle and presented the prizes, including a signed copy of the book ‘Heartfelt’ to his son Craig who had accompanied him to the dinner and very kindly purchased twenty raffle tickets on their arrival. Craig said he would let his dad read the book after him. Brooks was a hugely popular guest speaker and he received a standing ovation at the end of the evening as he was presented with a Shareholders Association tie by Chairman Alex Gowans. A queue quickly formed to request his autograph and he posed for photographs. There cannot be many other members of football club boardrooms who could claim to be so appealing. Thank you Brooks (or was it Miles?) for a wonderfully entertaining evening and cementing further the special relationship between Gretna and Hearts supporters. 27th September 2007 : Deividas Česnauskis, Andy Driver, Larry Kingston and Michael Stewart. There was an international theme to the 27 September meeting attended by one-hundred and seventy members and guests. Our four main guests were: The Association’s two sponsored players this season Deividas Česnauskis (Lithuania) and Andy Driver (England) and special guests Larry Kingston (Ghana) and Michael Stewart (Scotland). Having arrived early the boys were good enough to pose for pictures and sign autographs before sitting down to their meal. Initial fears before the meeting of a language barrier soon disappeared when it became clear that everyone was able to understand Andy Driver!  Deividas Česnauskis, Laryea Kingston, Chairman Alex Gowans, Michael Stewart and Andy Driver After the meal, a couple of automated announcements that “an emergency situation had occurred in the building” were not a reference to The Gorgie Suite’s infamous public address system but were in fact false alarms and an evacuation was fortunately unnecessary although it may have proved difficult to get people to leave before they had had their meal if the alarm had been genuine. The usual stage that accommodated the top table was unavailable and was replaced by a much smaller platform. The players had to squeeze up into a very tight 0-4-0 formation with Chairman Alex Gowans relegated to the sidelines. The players were quizzed about the changes made to the team that took the field against Inverness CT. Michael explained a slight injury was the reason why he did not start and Andy confirmed that he had aggravated a minor existing injury which caused his withdrawal at half-time as a precaution. The boys were united in expressing their disappointment with the result after the magnificent victory over Rangers the previous week. The controversy over the penalty awarded to Lithuania against Scotland was raised. Michael said that the Hearts players had rallied round Miko and would support him against any backlash on or off the field. Chesney caused much laughter among the audience when he claimed that it was “one-hundred per cent a penalty”. The non-Scots boys were asked what the extent of their knowledge of Hearts was before they joined the club and Larry drew the loudest cheer of the evening when he said he had been “a Hearts fan since he was born”. Chesney said he knew nothing about Hearts when he was playing in Moscow but like Andy, he had been learning about the club’s history and the wonderful support since he arrived at Tynecastle. Michael gave an account of his limited involvement in the player unrest at Easter Road last season, what it was like to play under Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and his delight at being back at Tynecastle. Among the other topics discussed during the evening were: Larry’s forthcoming participation in the African Nations’ Cup with Ghana, which young players coming through the Academy were the ones to watch out for, the camaraderie in the dressing room, the management team and tactics. The players took turns to draw the raffle, which included season 2006/07 signed shirts from Steven Pressley and Andy Driver and raised £400. Thank you very much to everyone who bought tickets and also those who kindly donated additional prizes. The Association is very grateful to Andy, Chesney, Larry and Michael for coming along and for staying beyond the expected finishing time to sign more autographs and pose for pictures. 7th August 2007 : John Murray and Steve Frail. At our first dinner of the new season almost two-hundred members and guests were present to welcome our special guests Assistant Head Coach Steve Frail and Director of the Youth Academy, John Murray. Straight away Steve was asked by a member of the audience to explain the coaching structure at the club. Steve replied that he took the coaching during the week; overseen by Sporting Director Anatoly Korobochka who decides the formation in consultation with Coach Angel Cerenkov. Anatoly and Angel select the team and forward it to Vladimir Romanov who may ask them to justify the inclusion of some players as well as having an input himself. Steve confirmed that it was not unusual for the chairman of a football club to express a preference for the selection of certain players. On match days, the amount and frequency of communication between the three of them from the dug out to the stand is such, others joke that Manchester City have got Sven Goran Eriksson while Hearts have got Sony Ericsson!
He acknowledged that the team spirit had gone downhill since last season and the staff and the players were working hard to rebuild it. The following day they were all going out to an Italian restaurant for a meal, the first time they had done so. Ironically, Italian was one nationality not represented in the dressing room. Steve also answered questions on the size of the squad, spying on forthcoming opponents, potential transfer window moves (no names were mentioned), negative press reporting of Hearts, player indiscipline on the field, certain players being constantly injured and the performance of referees. With refreshing honesty, Steve stated that he believed Hearts needed a Head Coach, there were too many people with opinions but not making decisions. John Murray had handed out copies of the ‘Player Planner’, a comprehensive information booklet and diary issued to all players who join the Academy. John expressed his appreciation to the members of The Shareholders Association for funding the production costs of the planner and the accompanying DVD. Hearts are believed to be the only club in Scotland to have undertaken such an initiative. John said he was disappointed that not more young Scots players were up to the standard required by the Academy. It was his experience that young foreign players were fitter, they ate better, lived better and looked after themselves better. The Academy had benefited from the considerable additional resources provided by Vladimir Romanov since he came to the club including better facilities and an increase in the number of specialist staff. Asked which young players were considered to be bright prospects for the future, John spoke of Gary Glen who has already played in the first team, Ryan McGowan and Rocky Visconte as among those whom he had high hopes for if they kept working hard and their feet on the ground. A big “thank you” to Steve and John for kicking off our season of meetings with such an interesting and informative evening.
18th May 2007 : Race Night at the Prison Officers’ Club, Longstone Road, Edinburgh. And They're Off....! The Association’s last social event of the season was the Race Night on Friday 18 May 2007. It took place at The Prison Officers’ Club, Longstone Road, Edinburgh and was a runaway success. All one-hundred-and-twenty tickets were sold and there was a great atmosphere inside the function room. Special guests of The Association were Magne Winther, a shareholder from Norway and his sister Anna who were over for the weekend to visit Edinburgh and to take in the match at Kilmarnock.  Anna and Magne Winther all the way from Norway with Chairman Alex Gowans Each of the eight races, compered by Paul Hunter, generated a lot of excitement as the punters cheered on their favourites, especially in the last race after each of the horses had been auctioned for serious money. You would have thought Hearts had scored a goal at Tynecastle from the celebrations of the winning syndicate as their horse crossed the finishing line.  The syndicate owners of the winning horse in the last race celebrate their win. Secretary Frank Gray’s better half, Janet scooped the majority of the prizes in the various raffles held during the evening prompting a few cries of “fix”, however a stewards’ enquiry quickly confirmed that while Frank had printed the admission tickets, he had nothing to do with the raffle. The top raffle prize of a signed Hearts shirt, (very kindly donated by Hearts Operations Director Campbell Ogilvie) was won by a delighted John McLeod.
There was a buffet beautifully prepared by Linda Aitken who also printed the race cards through StageQuest and later there was a disco with ‘Disco Dad’ Ian Riddle for those who still had some energy left after the races. The Race Night raised the magnificent sum of £1,250 which will be added to the amount to be donated to good causes associated with Hearts to be decided at The Association’s next Annual General Meeting in January 2008. The Association would like to thank everyone who took part in the Race Night, particularly the individual race sponsors: Ace Mobile Valeting, Dickens Lounge Bar (two races), Julian Weir, StageQuest and Union Motor Company (The Association also sponsored a race), members and guests who dug deep into their purses and wallets to support the event and those too numerous to mention who very generously donated the prizes for the various raffles organised by Brian Hunt. A special vote of thanks is due to Liz Riddle and the bar staff Amy, Ali, Claire, Liz and Sandra who made sure that no ones glass stayed empty for long. That’s all folks…..see you next season at our first meeting on 30 August 2007.
26th April 2007 : Player of the Year Dinner. For an account of the 2007 Player of the Year Dinner please click the "Player of the Year" button on the menu bar (left). 29th March 2007 - Donald Ford: A Legend Returns to Tynecastle.  Donald Ford and Chairman Alex Gowans One-hundred and eighty members and guests attended the dinner in The Gorgie Suite on Thursday 29 March 2007 to welcome our guest speaker, a Hearts legend from the sixties and seventies, Donald Ford. Donald opened with a brief history of his life and full and varied careers; chartered accountant, amateur then professional footballer, Scotland international at both football and cricket and currently professional photographer and author of several collections of photographs of Scotland’s golf courses. Quite a CV! Donald spoke of the feeling of immense pride that is still with him today at being given the opportunity of playing for the team he supported as a boy yet felt humble when, for the first time in 1964, he pulled on the maroon number ‘9’ shirt previously worn by the legendary Willie Bauld and Alex Young. Sadly the club was in decline, both on and off the field for much of Donald’s time at Hearts. He watched from the stand as the 1965 First Division Championship was snatched away on the final day by Kilmarnock with a 2-0 victory at Tynecastle. A body blow to the club that was felt for many years after. Two months later the two teams met again at Tynecastle in an experimental match with restricted off-side at the behest of FIFA. Donald scored five goals in an 8-2 win for Hearts and wished “if only” one of those goals had been scored in the previous meeting. Whatever the findings of that experimental game were they were left to gather dust on a shelf somewhere as nothing came of it. He recalled fantastic nights in the Texaco Cup including a magnificent team performance to beat Burnley 4-1 after losing the first leg 3-1 although it was soured by the board’s refusal to pay the promised £120 bonus per man, despite Texaco putting up the money. Amazingly this led to a threatened strike by the players before the matter was resolved. There were fond memories of the old Broomfield, a tight, old-fashioned stadium where he scored four goals in a 5-0 victory in the same competition. He highlighted a 1-0 win over Rangers at Ibrox in 1968, the only goal coming from a header by Donald himself. Donald joked that it still rankled that few people seem to remember his glorious winner because that was the day Tommy Murray sat on the ball in the centre-circle, to the intense annoyance of the Rangers support. The Scottish Cup win over the same opponents in 1968 with Donald grabbing an eighty-seventh minute winner before 43,000 at Tynecastle was also remembered. There were high hopes when Hearts reached the Final only to lose 3-1 to a strong Dunfermline Athletic. Donald gave his views on the modern game; the changes in diet and fitness levels, the disappearance of skill, players diving, the free-for-all in the penalty area each time a corner or free-kick was taken, and suggested that an instruction from FIFA to referees to award penalty kicks would go a long way toward stopping it, the disappearance of the ‘one-club man’ as so many players now look to move on every two or three seasons. He also contrasted how Wallace Mercer would have handled the press today compared to the present board. He mentioned great characters from his playing days including Drew Busby – a battering ram on the pitch but quiet as a mouse off it – and Denis Law. He roomed with Denis when Donald made his Scotland debut in Czechoslovakia and had the privilege of carrying Denis’ suit case up to the room! He was disappointed not to play in the 1974 World Cup in Germany when, with hindsight, more goals against Zaire would have helped Scotland to qualify for the next stage. As modest as ever, Donald thanked the members for giving him the opportunity to return to Tynecastle and re-live some great memories. The Association are very grateful to Donald for giving up his time, sharing a fascinating look back at his career and for very generously donating calendars and two of his beautiful books for the monthly raffle.
22nd February 2007 - Aidan Smith.  Chairman Alex Gowans and Aidan Smith Aidan warned the Committee members beforehand that his wife was due to give birth at any time so if his mobile phone rang he may have to leave suddenly. Aidan gave a brief resume of his journalistic career over the last thirty years which has seen him working for some reputable newspapers such as The Dalkeith Advertiser, The Leith Gazette (a step down), Edinburgh Evening News and The Daily Record in Glasgow (another step down) before returning to Edinburgh and The Scotsman in 1998 and moving on to the Scotland on Sunday in 2000. At the Evening News Aidan had shadowed Hearts manager Alex MacDonald for a day-in-the-life feature leading up to that fateful day at Dens Park in 1986, but assured us that the piece was written sympathetically. He admitted to not being a sports writer, and preferred to have a sports column and write it from the point of view of a paying punter. In 2004, his editor thought it would be a good idea for Aidan, a well-known Hibby, to don maroon for a season, go undercover and follow Hearts then write a book about his experiences. Rather than attend matches alone and feel even more conspicuous, Aidan rang around a few former school friends who he knew to be Hearts fans and persuaded them to let him join them without blowing his cover. He confessed to developing a small affinity to Hearts during his spell as a Jambo although he did find it easy to criticise the team, along with other supporters, when they were not playing well but reluctantly had to get to his feet to join in the choruses of “stand up if you hate Hi-bees” and other disparaging songs about Edinburgh’s wee team. He spoke of several occasions when he felt uncomfortable amongst the Jambo support, none more so than the occasion when in Robertson’s Bar but he survived the season following Edinburgh’s top team and said how he wished he had chosen the following season when George Burley’s team were playing such exciting football. There was a fair amount of Hibs/Hearts banter exchanged with the audience but it was all in good fun. Aidan’s most recent assignment was to follow England during the 2006 World Cup in Germany. He was made very welcome by the England fans he met over there although many thought it strange that a Scot should want to support England, even on a temporary basis just to write a book. Although he did not get to all the England matches, he soaked up the wonderful atmosphere in the fan parks where games where shown on the big screens. Aidan’s experiences of that summer are recorded in the soon-to-be-published ‘Union Jock’ which seems destined to become another best-seller. Aidan picked the winners of our Super Draw 2007 and made it through the meeting without having to dash away to the maternity ward. The Association is very grateful to Aidan for giving up his evening and for being such a good sport, and to Mrs Smith of course for allowing him out under the circumstances.
27th January 2007 : AGM.
30th November 2006.  Chairman
Alex Gowans and Valdas Ivanauskas
Our meeting in The Gorgie Suite on 30th November was very well attended with almost three hundred members and guests. However due to circumstances beyond our control various changes to the order of events had to be made at fairly short notice. We were pleased to welcome as our main speakers Head Coach Valdas Ivanauskas, General Secretary and Operations Director Campbell Ogilvie and Director of Infrastructure Pedro Lopez. Two of our original guests, Edgaras Jankauskas and Robbie Neilson were able to attend for a short time. Unfortunately Steven Pressley and Takis Fyssas were unable to attend.  Chairman Alex Gowans presents Robbie Neilsen with his award Edgaras and Robbie chatted with members and guests, signed autographs and posed for pictures before Robbie was presented with an engraved pewter quaich by Chairman Alex Gowans, on behalf of The Association, to commemorate his ten years service to Hearts. Alex’s reference to “the tackle” Robbie made in the Scottish Cup Final last season and the actual presentation of the quaich both drew huge rounds of applause from the audience. Many congratulations to Robbie for what is a remarkable achievement in professional football when these days’ players are often ‘advised’ to change clubs as frequently as their agents change their Armani designer socks. Edgaras, one of The Association’s sponsored players, later drew the raffle for his signed shirt and personally presented it to the lucky winner. Our other sponsored player, Steven Pressley’s signed shirt was also raffled later in the evening. The raffle for the two shirts along with other prizes on offer raised a magnificent sum of £600 net for The Association’s funds.  Edgaras Jankauskis with the winner of his shirt Valdas, Campbell and Pedro took to the dais and responded to a variety of questions from the audience. Valdas said how glad he was to be back at Tynecastle. He was looking to bring stability to the club after a period of turmoil and a return to winning ways would go some way towards achieving this. When asked about his plans during the transfer window, he confirmed that some players would be brought in, but not as many as last season. Calum Elliot would be returning to Tynecastle in the New Year after his loan spell at Motherwell. Valdas agreed that the squad of players was exceptionally large but many players had been unavailable for lengthy periods due to injury, the latest being Mirsad Beslija. Mauricio Pinilla had also been injured again while training with the Chilean national team the day before a friendly against Paraguay. The club had advised him not to play as he was not fully fit but could not prevent him travelling as the match had been designated as an international fixture. Campbell confirmed that Hearts would continue to pay Pinilla’s salary as Chile was one of the countries that do not provide insurance cover for players whilst on international duty.  Chairman Alex Gowans (centre) flanked by Edgaras Jankauskas and Robbie Neilsen Pedro stated that the proposal to develop a new main stand at Tynecastle with seats for 12,500 was progressing through the planning stages. The rebuilt stand would increase the capacity of the stadium to 25,000. The intention is that the application will be submitted to Edinburgh District Council by February 2007 although final planning permission could still be some time away. Pedro stressed that the Council are being very supportive of Hearts throughout the complex process. Valdas was asked if he favoured the squad rotation system or a consistent selection with Julien Brellier in his team. He replied that every team needed stability. He preferred to work with a regular group of sixteen to eighteen players and Julien would be a member of that squad! Campbell stated that he was very impressed with the youth development set-up at Hearts. This boded well for the future when UEFA introduce a regulation in 2008 that requires teams competing in Europe to have eight players in their squad of twenty-five who have come through their youth system and Hearts were well-placed to meet this challenge. The Association is very grateful to all of our guests for giving up their time to come along to the meeting. 26th October 2006 - Mark Donaldson.  Chairman
Alex Gowans and Mark Donaldson
It was back to the refurbished Gorgie Suite resplendent with its new maroon carpet and new seating for our October meeting and our guest speaker was Mark Donaldson, Radio Forth Sports Editor and commentator on Hearts’ matches on the radio and ‘Hearts World’. Almost one-hundred and seventy members and guests were present to hear Mark describe his role at Radio Forth and how he had previously been allocated such demanding assignments like commentating on tennis in Palm Springs and cricket in Bermuda (no pie and Bovril at half-time at these stadiums). Mark went on to give a fascinating summary of the book he has recently written together with Hearts legend Gary Mackay called ‘Believe’ which lifts the lid off the major events that took place at Tynecastle both on and off the field during the 2005/06 roller-coaster season and features some very interesting quotes and opinions. Mark explained that he felt the supporters had never been told the full story behind the significant decisions that impacted on the club and he felt that they had a right to know. Mark also revealed that part of the book was written surreptitiously during a journey to Latvia for Radio Forth Sport with a bus-full of Hibs supporters when he had to come up with various excuses to explain why he was tapping away at his laptop instead of joining in with the activities of the other passengers. ‘Believe’ will be in the bookshops by mid-November, so do not forget to ask for a copy in your letter to Santa. Mark answered a variety of questions from the audience and was refreshingly open and forthright in his responses. He also recalled some of the more memorable matches he has commentated on, not surprisingly all involving the Jam Tarts. None more so than the 4-4 draw with Hibs on 2 January 2003. Hibs were leading 4-2 on eighty-eight minutes, there weren’t any of them on the pitch, but Hibs fans definitely thought it was all over. Graham Weir came off the bench to make it 4-3 and Mark, struggling in vain to keep his emotions in check, screamed into the microphone “wait a minute, there’s a minute left!” and the rest, as they say, is Jambo history. The Committee are very grateful to Mark for agreeing to be our guest and giving us such an entertaining and enjoyable evening. It was a pleasure to meet the man behind the voice behind the microphone.
31st August 2006 - Ian Crawford, Freddie Glidden, Dave Mackay and Jimmy Murray.  L
to R : Ian Crawford, Freddie Glidden, Alex Gowans, Dave Mackay, Jimmy
Murray.
At our first dinner of the new season, our special guests in this, the fiftieth anniversary year of the 1956 Scottish Cup Final victory were three members of that Cup winning team, Hearts legends Ian Crawford – a two-goal hero that day, captain Freddie Glidden and Dave Mackay. They were joined by another star of the all-conquering fifties team, Jimmy Murray. Unfortunately Bobby Kirk was unable to attend. Despite the late change of venue to The Thistle Suite, Murrayfield Stadium due to the refurbishment of The Gorgie Suite, there were almost 250 members and guests present. The players recalled incidents from that special day when Hearts lifted the trophy for the first time in fifty years in front of a crowd of 134,000. In particular they remembered the bravery of wing-half John Cumming who played for almost half the match with a deep gash on his forehead yet continued to head the ball. There were no substitutes allowed then and Freddie stressed that the ball was made of solid leather, not the “plastic balloon” that is used today, and a good kick-out by a goalkeeper would just reach the half-way line and not the opposing penalty box.  Ian Crawford and Freddie Glidden The Hearts “goalden” days of the fifties when the Old Firm were beaten on a regular basis as well as Hibernian (no change there then) were recalled and personal duels such as Freddie’s early tussles with Don Kitchenbrand during Hearts’ tour of South Africa which continued when “The Rhino” later joined Rangers. The players answered questions on a variety of issues including the Scottish Football Association’s previous policy, that was recently in the news and has subsequently been changed, of only awarding Scotland players an international cap if they played against one of the Home Countries. Jimmy Murray recalled the occasion when he played against England at Hampden Park and at the end of the game he exchanged shirts with his direct opponent Bill Slater of Wolverhampton Wanderers. When he returned to the dressing room, the trainer asked where his shirt was. Jimmy explained he had swapped it to which the trainer responded “Well you will have to go and get it back, the SFA want all the shirts handed in.” So Jimmy had to go into the England dressing room and ask Bill Slater for his shirt back! Previous managers and their different styles of management were remembered. Dave Mackay spoke of playing under the gentlemanly Tommy Walker and the sometimes aggressive Brian Clough (“he always called me ‘David’ and never criticised me”). However both managers achieved great success in their own unique way. Ian Crawford had words of praise for Ron Greenwood at West Ham United whom he joined from Hearts in 1961; Ian said the West Ham academy of football was way ahead of its time.  Chairman
Alex Gowans with Dave Mackay
The standard of refereeing inevitably cropped up. Freddie said there were no yellow and red cards in those days, and players respected the officials and knew where they stood. One referee, Tom ‘Tiny’ Wharton so-called because he stood well over six feet officiated in a quiet, effective way. A private word from him as he passed by was enough to make a player realise he had to be on his best behaviour for the remainder of the match or he would head for an early bath. Jimmy chipped in to say that none of the players wore ear rings either! It was another very enjoyable and entertaining evening spent in the company of Hearts legends and gentlemen. We are very grateful to Freddie, Jimmy, Ian and Dave for agreeing to be our guests, particularly Ian and Dave who travelled from their homes in England to be with us on the night. 25th May 2006 - Gary Mackay To celebrate Hearts success in winning the Scottish Cup, an additional meeting was arranged for 25th May. Our guest speaker Gary Mackay coupled with the presence of the Scottish Cup, decorated with maroon and white ribbons, drew a huge attendance of approximately 400 members and guests to The Gorgie Suite. Throughout the evening there was a constant stream of people having their photograph taken with the Cup which was displayed on a table directly beneath one of the large club crests on the wall at the front of the Suite.  Gary
Mackay spoke of his delight at seeing the Cup back at Tynecastle and
his hopes for even greater success in the future. Gary was forthright
in his response to the various questions asked including: his grave
concerns about the financial position of the club before the
intervention of Mr Romanov and his involvement with Save Our Hearts. He
felt that the sale of Tynecastle and the proposed move to Murrayfield
would have been disastrous for Hearts. He also gave his views on the
personnel changes during the season just ended and the attitude of one
or two players whose priorities appear to lie away from Hearts. On the
lighter side, he described the magnificent spirit in the dressing room
during the 1986 season engendered by manager Alex MacDonald using some
unorthodox but effective methods, and his screamer against Clydebank at
Tynecastle in the same season.Gary was asked about the goal he scored for Scotland against Bulgaria that ensured the Republic of Ireland qualified for their first ever European Championship Finals in 1988. He recalled how the ROI Football Association showed their gratitude to him by sending over a case of champagne care of the SFA which they promptly returned! However Gary is still assured of a warm welcome whenever he visits Ireland. Gary also announced that he will be a trustee of a new charity shortly to be launched by Hearts. It will be known as the Heart of Midlothian Education and Community Trust and will aim to provide funding for youth development in and around the Lothians. Gary is delighted to have been asked to be involved in the project and if anyone would like more information or would like to make a donation he can be contacted via secretary@hmsa.org.uk. A memorable evening and season of meetings was brought to a close with Gary leading the way with a passionate rendition of ‘The Hearts Song’ which everyone joined in. The Committee are very grateful to Gary for agreeing to be our guest and to Heart of Midlothian for loaning the Scottish Cup for what must have been one of the first public viewings of the trophy since the Final. Finally, the Committee would like to express our grateful thanks to the membership for their marvellous support of the Association throughout the year. By attending the dinners in large numbers, bringing along guests and buying raffle tickets all helped to increase the finances of the Association which in turn results in a larger annual donation to Hearts Youth Development.
27th April 2006 - Hearts Assistant Coach John McGlynn, Youth Academy Director John Murray, and players Craig Gordon and Julien Brellier. There was a magnificent turn out with almost 300 members and guests packed into The Gorgie Suite to see Chairman Alex Gowans present the Shareholders Association’s Player of the Year award for 2005/06 – a beautiful crystal football on a base – into the very safe hands of Scotland’s Number One, Craig Gordon. The Evening News sent along a photographer to capture the occasion. It was quite a week for Craig as just a few days earlier he received the Scottish Football Writers’ Player of the Year award – a silver salver – and we were delighted that he brought it with him to the dinner.  John McGlynn, Julien Brellier, Alex Gowan, Craig Gordon and John Murray Julien Brellier, runner-up for the award is one of the most popular players at Tynecastle, judging by the reception he received as he stepped up to be presented with a set of champagne flute glasses. It was quite a productive evening for Julien as he also won a pair of Hearts crested whiskey glasses in the raffle. Treasurer Bill Alves handed over the Association’s annual donation to Hearts Youth Development in the form of cheque for £5,000 to Academy Director John Murray to fund the cost of producing a promotional brochure highlighting the facilities available to young players at Hearts Youth Academy at Riccarton, just outside Edinburgh. Craig Gordon is a product of the youth system and both John McGlynn and John Murray spoke of their pride in seeing how well he had progressed and developed into one of the finest goalkeepers in the game although Craig admitted he only became a goalkeeper because he could not run – and still cannot! The guests answered questions from the audience on a variety of subjects: the alternative physiotherapy and fitness methods employed at the club, the contribution made by Vladimir Romanov in restoring Hearts to the forefront of Scottish football, the standard of refereeing in games involving Hearts, how the team would prepare for the Cup Final and why Andy Webster and Julien had been omitted from the line-up to the inevitable “who picks the team?” question. At the end of the evening’s formal proceedings, lengthy queues formed at the top table as Craig and Julien stayed behind to sign autographs and pose for photographs. A big thank you to Craig, Julien and the two Johns for coming along and giving members such a memorable evening.
30th March 2006 - Hearts' Question Time - Richard Baker MSP (Lab), David McLetchie MSP (Con), Mike Pringle MSP (Lib Dem) and John Swinney MSP (Scot Nat) : Our guest speakers in March were four politicians with Hearts allegiances, Members of the Scottish Parliament, strictly in alphabetical order, Richard Baker (Labour), David McLetchie (Conservative), Mike Pringle (Liberal Democrat) and John Swinney (Scottish National Party). The Green Party was not invited to send a representative. (A claim that all four arrived in the same taxi but each asked for a separate receipt could not be confirmed.)Each guest MSP introduced themselves in turn, with a great deal of humour, relating their earliest experiences of watching Hearts and there were exclusive revelations that two were the products of mixed marriages: Edinburgh/Leith and Hearts/Hibs supporting parents. John Swinney was proud to recall that as a youngster he picked up his daily paper from a newsagent in Corstorphine run by a ‘Mrs Jean Walker’, then one morning Jean’s husband looked in, none other than the legendary Tommy Walker. John remembered them as a lovely couple with Tommy the perfect gentleman. Richard echoed John’s opinion as he too knew Tommy and Jean.  L to R
: Richard Baker, Mike Pringle, Alex Gowans, David McLetchie and John
Swinney
Memorable matches were recalled: the 6-5 victory at Tannadice, the 1998 Cup Final victory over Rangers and the 4-4 draw with Hibs courtesy of two injury time goals by Graham Weir. Unfortunately for John his first Hearts match was the 1973 New Years Day match at Tynecastle but he realised that things could only get better and remained a Jambo. All four guests were of the opinion that the Scottish Cup semi-final against Hibs should have been played at Murrayfield. It was also revealed that the Taylor Report was being reviewed with the possibility that the rule on no standing at matches may be relaxed as stadiums have become much safer with the passage of time. Other issues discussed ranged from the comings and goings during the season at Tynecastle to UEFA’s concern at the behaviour of Rangers supporters. It was a very entertaining evening and probably unique in political history as we witnessed MSPs from different parties exchanging banter and all agreeing on the same issues, even if they were Hearts-related. The audience voted our guests a big success and we are very grateful to Richard, David, Mike and John for giving up their time, and for waiving any expenses! . 23rd February 2006 - Sandy Jardine : Sandy Jardine, former co-manager and captain of Hearts, and captain of Rangers and Scotland was our guest speaker this month. It was simply a coincidence
that Sandy agreed to attend our meeting in
the same month as the media were recalling that this year was the
twentieth anniversary of Hearts’ memorable 1985-86 season when they
came so close to achieving the double.Sandy answered questions from the floor; talking about his memories of THAT season, the perilous financial state of the club when he arrived from Rangers, for example there was no physiotherapist on the books at Tynecastle and anyone requiring treatment had to go to the Royal Infirmary. There was one hi-tech item of medical equipment, an ultra-sound machine, however this was unavailable as one of the players was using it at home to treat his injured greyhound. Sandy also recalled his relationship with the then chairman, the late Wallace Mercer. Knowing Wallace’s fondness for calling a press conference for Hearts’ benefit as well as his own, Sandy and co-manager Alex MacDonald would tell him they were interested in a certain player which Wallace would duly announce to the press a few days later when in fact the co-managers were looking to sign someone else. This threw the press off the scent and allowed negotiations with their real target to proceed without interruption. Sandy also spoke of his career in a Scotland jersey covering the memorable participation in Germany 1974 and not-so memorable campaign in Argentina 1978. He also told the meeting, he assured us “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” of Jimmy Johnstone’s infamous rowing boat trip (minus the oars) at Largs in 1974 before Scotland met England at Hampden Park. It was a very entertaining evening and we are grateful to Sandy for agreeing to be our guest. 23rd November 2005 - Roman Romanov : Guest speaker at the November dinner was club chairman and interim Chief Executive Roman Romanov, son of Hearts’ major shareholder Mr Vladimir Romanov.  photo courtesy SNSIt was revealed to the audience that Roman was a former judo champion of his home town in Lithuania, just in case anyone thought about picking an argument. Roman answered questions as candidly as possible on various issues affecting the club including boardroom and managerial changes that have taken place this season, the quality of players being brought to Tynecastle, the board’s ambitions for the future, plans for the stadium and his father’s command of English. He also said that Hearts already had someone in place working ‘incognito’ in the role of director of football (although at the subsequent club AGM in January he admitted that this was a joke). It was a very interesting and informative evening, so much so that the proceedings were reported almost word-for-word in The Scotsman the following day by a journalist whom it is assumed was working incognito at the meeting! 27th October 2005 - Scott Wilson and Stuart Bathgate : The Association welcomed two media luminaries with slightly different angles on Hearts: Stuart Bathgate, Chief Sports Writer with the Scotsman, and Forth Radio (and Tynecastle's) very own Scott Wilson. It proved to be a
night to
remember: from Stuart's incisive and disarmingly honest insight into
recent
events at Hearts, to Scott's totally unbroadcast-able opinion of Chick
Young (you had to be there...) the audience were both entertained and
informed
by two of the most articulate individuals it has been our pleasure to
welcome
to the HMSA.
The event was
embellished
by the attendance of a delegation from Lombardia Hearts SC in Northern
Italy, and in traditional style the sound system played up again: last
month's completely dead roving microphone decided this time to provide
us with nothing but howling feedback: even stand-in sound engineer
Scott
Wilson could only deem it dysfunctional (not quite the word he used
though)
and laid it to rest.
Those of you that were not in attendance at this dinner: you missed a treat! 29th September 2005 - Player of the Year dinner : Yet another near-capacity turnout for our Player of the Year dinner at the end of September saw Paul Hartley receive his trophy from Association Secretary Frank Gray. Such was the interest in the award, even the Evening News sent along a papparazzo to record the event!
During the ensuing question and answer session, Paul was joined on the stage by Association sponsored player and club captain Steven Pressley, and up-and-coming midfielder Lee Wallace....
Questions ranged from a discussion of what impact George Burley has had upon the club and it's training methods, to what of the team's eight straight league wins (at the time of the dinner) had given the members of our player's panel the most satisfaction, to (inevitably, after his Real Radio revelations) what colour thong Paul Hartley was wearing that evening. Questions were answered honestly and frankly (apart, possibly, from the thong one...) and players, members and guests all appeared to have a great night.
Thanks to Jennifer Bisset, Philip Tang and Tom Dodd for the photos.
25th August 2005 - George Burley :
If anyone took
any photographs
of the night and would be happy to have us put them on the website,
please
send them via email to: ray@hmsa.org.uk. 28th April 2005 - John Murray and John McGlynn : Our final dinner
of the 2004/05
season welcomed Academy Director John Murray and U-19 Coach John
McGlynn.
The emphasis of the evening's discussions was on youth, and how the
club's
highly-respected youth programme works, and what benefits it, and the
Academy
in general, brings to the club. 31st March 2005 - Dave Mackay, Freddie Glidden and Alex Young : Our dinner on March 31st was one of those truly memorable occasions when more than 260 members and guests were joined by Alex Young, Freddie Glidden and Dave Mackay for an evening of reminiscence, banter and warm humour. We were also delighted to have Hearts' new Chief Executive, Phil Anderton, and non-executive Director Sergejus Fedotovas along to share in this fantastic night. On the night, the three veterans of the 1956 Cup Final victory were joined by a fourth participant in that historic game: the match ball (!) thanks to John McAnna who, after quizzing our three guests about the fate of that ball (the first laceless ball used in a Scottish Cup final, by the way) produced the very same leather sphere for the inspection of Messrs Mackay, Young and Glidden. A bit old and wrinkly, but in remarkably good shape considering. The ball looked pretty good too...
There was, of
course, much
discussion of the state of the game then and now, and how standards of
discipline have changed through the years. Dave Mackay's unique account
of how he avoided being sent off by a simple but ..erm, direct
remonstration
to the referee (that we can't repeat on a family website...) raised a
hearty
laugh indeed!
The size of the attendance, the queue for autographs and the rousing standing ovation that our guests received at the end of the evening amply illustrated the genuine affection and admiration that supporters and shareholders have for these true legends of a great Tynecastle era. You're welcome back anytime, boys!
The hard work didn't stop with the end of the Q&A - the Hearts greats signed autographs and chatted with members and guests long after the final whistle blew on the formal proceedings.
24th February 2005 - John Robertson : In February '05
we welcomed
a hero home. Hearts' John Robertson, so long an irrepressible striker
for
the club, joined over 240 members and guests for his first appearance
at
an Association dinner since he hung his boots up. Robbo answered
questions
on team selection, the future under the new Board, the prospective new
blood coming through the youth ranks, and he even offered us the
Lithuanian
for "if you can't beat them, join them.."
2005 27th January -
AGM 2004 29th January -
AGM. 2003 30th January -
AGM |
Our
August dinner witnessed an enormous turn-out to welcome George Burley
as
our guest speaker. Brushing aside your Chairman's fopar that
placed
George at left back during his playing career, our new Manager went on
to field questions from the audience that covered team selection, paper
talk (signings, transfers and his relations with Mr Romanov) youth
development,
and how long before Hearts would win the league (by Christmas? as one
questioner
asked...). The 'keeping our feet firmly onthe ground' message had to be
repeated on a number of occasions to an audience clearly enjoying the
club's
current top of the pile status in the SPL. 
