Heart of Midlothian Shareholders Association Dinner, 28th March 2024
The Association were delighted to welcome Neil McCann as our guest, Neil had two spells at Hearts from 1996 to 1998 and a second spell from 2006 to 2008. He won 26 Scotland caps and was one of the key players that won the Scottish Cup with Hearts back in 1998.
Here is a synopsis of Neil’s Q and A Session.
(Thanks to Tommy Fallon for his note taking)
Q1 – I hear that the 1998 cup final was one of your best days ever?
NM – I think you’re right, I was extremely lucky to have won 5 Scottish Cups with Hearts & Rangers but the cup I won at Hearts was the most special of them all. At Rangers you don’t get a parade where the whole city comes out and also at Hearts it had been so long since we’d won a trophy.
I wasn’t a Rangers fan until I signed a contract with them, that was the same at Hearts. JJ was the best ever manager, not because he was incredibly tactical but the football he played was aggressive and fast paced which I loved. JJ was a massive Hearts man and I became a Hearts man.
Q2 – Can you tell us if Lawrence Shankland is going to stay at Hearts?
NM – I’m not an agent, I work for a company and I can’t comment on that, but he’s 28 years old and at an age where he’s coming into his prime but it’s a great piece of business that he’s stayed past the January transfer window.
Q3 – How to think Scotland will do at the Euros?
NM – Up until 7 games ago, really good, now I’m not so sure 😊. I never got to play at a tournament, we came close twice and lost in play-offs to Holland & England. The last few games we’ve had players missing, Hanley, Tierney, Hickey, Mcgregor which hasn’t helped us plus we’re not very good at friendlies. But we’ve been good in qualifiers and I’m delighted that we’re going to Germany. Against Holland last week we were very good for over an hour but against Northern Ireland we were poor, but at the Euros we won’t play against a team that sist with 10 players behind the ball all the time so we’ll get a chance to play. I’m confident we can create history and get out of the group stage.
Q4 – It was said that VAR would be a great leveller when it came in but we just seem to talk about it all the time and it appears to work better in England.
NM – I wanted VAR as the officials needed help but we let ourselves down in Scotland. England have more cameras and angles as they’ve got more money. But a lot of decisions are still down to opinions yes or no for a penalty etc.
Everyone thinks their generation was better but I think ours was, there was more physicality and spontaneity. You can’t celebrate goals now as people are looking for reasons to disallow them and refs are avoiding making decisions and passing the buck to VAR.
The Ref against Celtic was poor and Rodgers has ended up with a one match ban (amazingly he’ll be back for the old firm game 😊). But it wasn’t a penalty for Celtic and it wasn’t a hand ball for Hearts either, I think you could use ex-players in the VAR studio to assist the refs. The refs know the rules and the laws of the game but a lot of them don’t know football, I can watch a tackle and tell you if they’re going for the ball or trying to ‘do’ a player. But refs see it as you do your job and I’ll do mine!
Goal line technology & offsides are good as it’s yes or no (although we do need more cameras for offside).
I remember when we played Real Mallorca and their player said he was going to break my leg and he did and whilst that’s bad, I should have protected myself and saw it coming.
Q4 – Tell us about you MOM performance in the 1996 League cup final.
NM – If we’d had VAR then, Robbo’s goal would have been chalked off for offside 😊, but back then we gave the attackers the benefit of the doubt whereas now we seem to be doing the opposite.
Q5 How was it when you signed for Hearts at a time when the team was aging.
NM – When I joined there were a lot of club stalwarts who’d been at the club for many years and they helped show me the club and what the club meant to the fans. Levein had a bad injury but was always working hard to get fit and I remember it was our Xmas night out and it was fancy dress and we were going to Newcastle. Well we drew 1-1 with Killie and JJ went mental and dragged us all in on Sunday for extra training and told us there’d be no “fucking night out” so Newcastle was off but we ended up going out in Edinburgh and ended up in Rose Street. Alan Rae the Physio was sent out to find us and we were hiding under tables and in cupboards. That’s how Neilson got his nickname Sick note as he was sick under a table.
By then Cup Tie (Gary McKay) wasn’t a first choice player anymore but he still set the standards at the club and made sure others followed them. Over time each of them left, JC, McKay, Levein, Robbo but they all set the standards of what was expected.
I remember Dissa’s video of the 1998 cup final and it was brilliant.
Also, Wee Robbo, have you ever spoken to him about his goals 😊. He bends your ear all the time, he was the best finisher, the biggest moaner, the biggest talker but also the biggest Hearts fan.
Q6 – What do you think of the three pre signings we’ve made?
NM – Spittal is a POTY category, he’s been that good. Motherwell have done ok, but he’s been excellent.
Dhanda – is a creative player and will hopefully kick on when he gets to Hearts
Penrice – Loads of effort and is quick going forward and I think they’re all good signings plus they know the Scottish Leagues which is great, unlike some of Romanovs clueless signings.
Q7 – What are your managerial highlights?
NM – Getting the sack 😊
I loved it, some guys look terrified as a manager but I had a cushy job at Sky but wanted to try it. I was promised a period of time at Dundee, I wasn’t happy finishing 9th and was sacked early the next season. Robbo asked me to take over at ICT when he needed to take some time off and I loved it, Doddsy was great and we just missed the play off. I could have had the job but it wasn’t the right time. It’s hard being a manager, you’re governed by a budget and can’t always get the players you want. I was gutted when I didn’t gte the Hearts job and Stendel got it as I thought I had a good chance. I’d like to get back into it and have been offered opportunities but they weren’t right for me.
Being a pundit is good as you get to watch and talk all about football.
Q8 – What would you do as Hearts Manager?
Naisy is doing a great job, third is sewn up, got to the LC Semi Final and are in the Scottish Cup semi as well. Hopefully can get Shanks signed up but the club is doing great and winning games because ultimately, you can talk about a great style and exciting football but you need to win games and he’s done that.
Once you start winning games then often it isn’t enough and you need to win with Style and I remember back to 1997-98 and the players we had, Mickey, Hammy, Baggio etc and we tried to play great football.
I think at Dundee I overcooked it as manager with the passing and I learnt at ICT that it needed to be quicker and get the ball forward faster to entertain the fans. Hopefully he can secure group stage Euro football and entertain the fans.
Q9 – Are there any rules of the game you’d like to change?
NM – No blue card that’s for sure. I wouldn’t change anything, Van Basten talked about removing offside, could you imagine a striker just standing on the 6 yard line, although wee Robbo would have loved that 😊.
I’d bring back tackles and physicality, I was born in 1974 and remember 1986 which was a bad year for Hearts but football was fast and furious and great to watch.
Q10 – Who was the hardest player you played against and what was Bruno like?
NM – Bruno called me for a chat a few days ago. He was nuts, he stayed in the Caley Hotel for years and used to get his shirts dry cleaned and one went missing, he went mental!!. He’d smash you in training and just didn’t care. I remember we played Red Star Belgrade in a pre season friendly and they had the next wonder kid playing for them and Bruno just said I’ve got this and he kicked the guy all over the place until he wanted to get subbed off.
Lillian Thuram was the hardest player I played against, Rangers played Juve and I fancied myself as being quick but he was something else, 80 mins into the game and not a bead of sweat on him. When I played against him for Scotland against France he actually remembered me which was nice.
Q11 – How do we go about beating Rangers in the semi?
NM – Have a go at them, the last game we didn’t have a go, you don’t want to come away with what ifs. Rangers are a good side but not a great side and they will let you play so you need to balance defensive solidity with having a go and taking a risk. It’s not often you win in Glasgow but you’ve got a great number 9 and a good goalie and that’s always needed.
Q12 – Can you tell us about what it was like when you signed under Romanov?
NM – I was desperate to come back to Hearts as my first time here was amazing and I loved the club. Came back and played Killie and Derek Lilley done me (JJ had told him to make sure he hit me) and I was out for 6 weeks, but it wasn’t getting better. I remember I was in the team for the semi final against Hibs where we won 4-0 but in training I had a searing pain and there was a Bulgarian Doctor and Lithuanian doctor but the With Lady with the pen. It was bat-shit mental.
There were new lads coming into the changing room all the time from Lithuania and they were good buys but the majority of them weren’t good enough for Hearts.
I remember we’d split the old firm and were in champs league qualifier and we went to Monaco onto a massive boat and we were like yes this is it. 10 days on the boat but all we did was get a smaller boat to the mainland to train then back to the boat every day. It was crazy and the Romanov era promised so much.
Following a most enjoyable Q and A enjoyed by everybody present, Neil left the stage to the warmest of applauses. He stayed to sign autographs and the usual photo selfies. The most common question was ‘that was brilliant Neil, when can you come back’. You’re welcome any time!
