"HEARTS' bid to reach the group stages of the Champions League for the first time deserves the backing of the whole of Edinburgh, according to Valdas Ivanauskas. A crowd of around 35,000 is expected for tonight's first leg of the third qualifying round tie against AEK Athens, and the coach called for the neutrals who attend to get behind the team as much as the hardcore fans will do.
"I don't doubt that every Hearts supporter will be there," Ivanauskas said before he took a squad training session at the rugby ground. "But this is probably a game for more than the Hearts supporters. It's a game for Edinburgh as a city - and for Scotland."
I happened to be in Gorgie Road at lunchtime last Sunday and saw the serried ranks of the Hearts supporters, wearing their uniform of maroon football shirt (and advertising a Lithuanian bank on their chests), blue jeans and trainers. They pay a small fortune to support their team and maintain an admirable devotion for it.
Unfortunately, that team seems to be mainly composed of East Europeans, leavened by the occasional Frenchman and African (although the Scottish goalkeeper is undoubtedly one of the stars). So much so that the match against Celtic might have been categorised as our East Europeans against their East Europeans. (Most of the premiership teams are in the same boat.)
Having said that, and even if I cannot share Mr Ivanauskas' belief that this is a game for the city as a whole, I wish the Hearts the best of luck this evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment