A true captain on and off the field

IT WAS spoof showbiz reporter Dennis Pennis who hit Tony Curtis with the barbed appraisal that while he usually tried to make celebrities look stupid, having seen Curtis, he decided he was doing a good enough job on his own.

The comedy scene flashed to mind on Friday as Hearts again conspired to make themselves look silly. For months the media have been blamed for manufacturing unrest within the club. On Friday proof emerged that there had been no need for fabrication.

As Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley and Craig Gordon raised their heads above the parapet, any cloak of respectability was removed. Those who doubted it now know. This is a club in turmoil.

The step wasn't an easy one for the players involved to make. Anyone who doubts their altruistic motives and their commitment to the club need only think back a few months. Yes, Vladimir Romanov was the man who laid out the big wages to encourage them to sign new deals but they still turned down good offers. Hartley believed the Lithuanian when he promised success to surpass that enjoyed by the Old Firm, he believed the Romanov Revolution could deliver the resources needed to stay in the championship race for the long haul and challenge in Europe, and because he believed he turned down Celtic, withdrew his earlier transfer request and gave his all, even scoring a hat-trick in the Scottish Cup semi-final to oust rivals Hibs.

Gordon, the man proclaimed as Europe's No.1 over the Tynecastle tannoy to rapturous applause, could undoubtedly pick and choose from a host of clubs who would offer him a greater chance to achieve his bigger dreams. That's what makes the Romanov outburst claiming he would sell the players to "Kilmarnock or any other club that will take you" all the more ridiculous. It was only a matter of months ago he was describing the extension to the goalkeeper's contract as a major coup.

Hardly men who are not committed to the club or simply hanging around because there are no decent options.

Then there is Pressley. There shouldn't be the need to defend him. To the vast majority of fans he is a living legend. On top of that he is the kind of leader with integrity to spare. Anyone slamming him for his actions on Friday should be ashamed of themselves. The fact they have been able to bury their heads in the sand in blissful ignorance for so long is down to the broad shoulders and moral sensibilities of a man who cares passionately about the club. Throughout the Chris Robinson era, while the fans demonstrated, he was the man holding the squad together. He admits there were times during that period when he was a mental wreck by the time he got home to his wife and young family, done in from shielding his players and backing the manager. Yet he never condemned the fans' actions and while others described it as disruptive, publicly at least, he defended their right to speak up for their club. That is what he was doing on Friday. And rather than ask "how dare he?" true fans should thank him for exposing the unrest and finally offering some explanation for the poor on-field showings this season.

Even for a man like Pressley it has all become too much and having tried and tried and tried again to get some worthwhile answers and a sensible response from the dressing room and the owner, he felt he was left with no option. He did the honourable thing.

If he could have kept it all behind closed doors he would have but he was fighting a losing battle against the internal insanities and he has called for reinforcements. The supporters should now rally behind him. He knows that they will be anxious but the players have been brave and the fans must be too.

No-one wants to scare off Romanov and his millions, no-one wants to lose Tynecastle. But, if they are honest, the intelligent fans knew there was a good chance things would implode, they simply hoped it would be later rather than sooner. A maverick with his own way of doing things, it was his single-minded approach which earned him his millions but the commodities being dealt with were textiles, and metals, not people. Here, at a football club, it is about the fans, it is about the players, and it is about the people charged with the day to day running of the whole shebang. As such, his methods need to be modified. Even now, it is not too late.

The fact is, Romanov has again stated to his henchmen that he is in it for the long haul, he has a bank opening up in Edinburgh and as a business man, having already alienated the green half of the city, he knows it doesn't make sense to antagonise the other half. And the truth is, with his ambition and his fresh approach, if he can amend his ways slightly, find a way to compromise and stop meddling in team matters, he would be the godsend the majority of Scottish football hoped he would be when he started ruffling Old Firm feathers. But he has to accept that he is not the manager. If he insists that he is, the players won't hang around any longer than they have to. Forget selling them, they will walk as soon as the opportunity presents itself. After all, he is not the only one harbouring ambitions.

Those who defend Romanov say he didn't do too badly when it came to team selection, after all the team finished second in the league and won the Scottish Cup. But what has to be remembered was that last season he didn't always get his way, which is why guys like George Burley and Graham Rix came and went and, possibly why, having been more amenable to his boss's coercion, Valdas Ivanauskas has, statistically, been the worst manager and the form this season has dipped.

Yes, Ivanauskas is a decent guy and he took the team over the finishing line to second place but the foundation for that was the gap accumulated over Rangers in the first quarter of the season under Burley. In the semi-final, Hartley was the only pick that mattered, while Gordon has saved the club time and time again.

When blame is being apportioned and the minority of fans doubt the deeds of the three players who spoke out, they should remember those contributions and recall the picture of Pressley lifting the cup, the gap in his grin a fitting reminder of the kicks in the teeth he has taken, metaphorically and physically, for a club he cares about. Passionately.

Taken from the Scotsman