One Club Man

August 2015

Venues for pre-season have varied over the years from the Highlands of Scotland to Europe and beyond. Here we look at Hearts’ extensive pre-season programme of 1988-89 which took in ten games at home and abroad.

The first team began preparations with a six-game trip to West Germany. However, the series produced only one programme – for the opener against TSV Battenberg on July13th.

The thin, blue-card cover advertises Hearts as ‘FC ’ although the opening welcome is more hospitable, being in English. Beneath that is a longer welcome in German which then extends into a profile of Hearts across the next few pages. Adverts dominate the issue although there are articles on the summer’s European Championships (hosted in West Germany) and the season ahead. The centre-pages onwards are all-but adverts aside from an article on a be-kilted, ex-pat supporter and a Hearts team photo. One of the adverts is for a Football Tours company and it may be that they arranged Hearts' visit. A crowd of 300 watched a 3-3 draw. Hearts completed their camp with matches against Rot-Weiss Essen (1-1), Fortuna Dusseldorf (0-1), Remscheid (2-0), ASC Schoeppingen (2-2) and finally, TUS Zuelpich (4-2).

Hearts weren’t at home long, however before setting off for two further games in the Highlands. First-up was Forres for the opening of the Mechanics’ rebuilt Mosset Park. The club’s unusual badge dominates the yellow- cover although it also records an unusual 4pm kick-off. The Elgin-based contractors that re-built Forres’ ground were also sponsoring the club and advertise on page two although Elgin City – just 12 miles down the road – might be asking why they didn’t sponsor them! Club officials are above an opening from the Club Secretary and he confirms that continual flooding had forced the work on Mosset Park. He welcomes the special guest, national Coach Andy Roxburgh as well as noting that Hearts Chairman Wallace Mercer’s support “of Highland League aspirations to Scottish Football League membership is well known.”

A History of Mosset Park then includes a Scottish Cup-tie against Celtic and more obscurely that the first dressing rooms were now a cow shed. A large-print welcome to Roxburgh then follows before a quiz. The centre-pages have a team picture above squad lists. The second-half opens with pen-pictures of Forres that include Walker and Minty who would have a joint-testimonial against Hearts in 1994 - which Hearts won 9-1. In contrast, the visitors have mere statistical information which looks to have been lifted from somewhere else. Adverts close out the issue - including another from Elgin! - and 1,500 saw Hearts win 5-1.

Meanwhile, the reserves were also in the Highlands – around 20 miles away – for the weekend-long, MacKessack Quaich at Rothes. It was the second-year of the four-team tournament and the 50p programme had moved on from the fairly basic issue for the first tournament the year before. With a cover heralding the golden jubilee of Rothes, page two had brief welcomes from Chairman and Manager and they thank the competitors which were Montrose, Aberdeen and Hearts although the latter two provided reserve sides. A history of Rothes was on page-three and extends to page-five as well as further reflective articles by Willie Grant and the Sunday Post’s Rod Clyne. The centre-pages have the schedule of matches which saw the hosts face Aberdeen and Hearts take on Montrose before the Final and third/fourth place play-off the following day. Disappointingly the second half is almost entirely adverts including several hotels as well as the Trocadero Disco which “specialised in golden oldies.” I assume this meant the music rather than some quasi grab-a-granny night. Sandwiched in- between are the Rothes squads from 1978-79 (North of Scotland Cup winners) and ten years later. Hearts beat Montrose 4-2 but lost to Aberdeen in the Final. They would return in 1989-90 before a fourth visit in 1991-92 which proved to their last. I believe the tournament continued a little longer.

The following Monday the first-team were back in action with a Monday night trip to Grant Park, Lossiemouth. On offer was a very basic programme at 30p for eight, unstapled pages. Hearts’ John Colquhoun and Wayne Foster adorn the cover before Club Officials are listed on page-two. Opposite is a welcome to Hearts above a photo of Gary Mackay, Malcolm Murray and Sandy Clark. The barefooted Clark is having his foot examined by Mackay and a pair of tweezers for reasons unknown. Murray had been signed from Highland League side, Buckie several years before. The centre-pages have the teams before lengthy pen-pictures of the visitors close the issue. Strangely, it is the back-page that has the most reading with ‘Soccer Sidelines' which had a series of news items ranging from the Highland hotels Hearts were staying in – easy ladies – to injury updates. A crowd of 900 watched the visitors win 4-0 on their only visit to date.

Yet, still Hearts weren’t finished travelling and the following Saturday turned out at Airdrie. The home club provided the best programme to date with the ‘Broomfield Bulletin’ costing 40p. ‘New faces of 1988-89’ - John Butler, Jim Duffy and Willie Thomson – adorned the cover. Manager, Gordon McQueen had a slim column on page three which looked ahead to forthcoming matches against Falkirk and Motherwell in League and Cup. The ex-Manchester United defender also states, “Unfortunately goalkeeper John Martin will be suspended for the month of August because of an incident at a boys' club match in Edinburgh.” The mind boggles but McQueen had called in his connections and United’s Gary Walsh had arrived on-loan. ‘Photo File' showed skipper, Tom Black holding aloft the Lanarkshire Cup the previous May before a lengthy quiz. The centre-pages were traditionally laid out with adverts around short team-lists and a teamshot of the Cup-winning side was above. 'Games File' then looked back at two friendlies against East Stirlingshire at Grangemouth and junior side, Dalry Thistle which both ended 1-1. Hearts were covered by a slim column which was primarily pen-pictures in very small print. ‘News File’ then promised a bigger and brighter Broomfield Bulletin in the season ahead and that the Editor of 19 years had resigned that summer. Perhaps not everyone appreciated the change. 3,500 watched Heats win 5-0.

Finally, after nine matches away Hearts turned out at Tynecastle the following Tuesday for a closing-friendly against Brazilian side, Cruzerio. It was a standard Hearts issue of the time with a close up of the badge on the cover and Chairman Wallace Mercer opening with his thoughts. ’Newsdesk’ relayed the draw for the first round of the U.E.F.A Cup which would see Hearts go to Dublin to face St Patricks Athletic. Managers' Page came from Alex MacDonald and and they reviewed pre-season. Cruzerio were profiled with two-pages before a similarly-sized feature on new signings, Iain Ferguson and Eamonn Bannon who had both joined from Dundee United. The centre-pages had statistics from 1987-88 and then an advert for corporate including the six different trips on offer to Dublin. Reviews of the West German tour then followed before the continuation of the season by season record which had now reached 1902-03. 12,403 saw Hearts win 2-1.

Scott Cockburn [email protected] www.scottcockburn.moonfruit.com

Twitter: @scottcockburn