IN THE absence of vanishingly rare tickets for the away day title decider in Glasgow, many Hearts fans have been queuing for hours this morning to secure a spot in their favourite pubs in Gorgie.
Anticipation has been building over the past few days for the game after which Hearts could be crowned champions for the first time since 1960. A victory would allow Hearts’ euphoria to reach fever pitch.
But Hearts will have to face down the crackling cauldron of Celtic Park, and 60,000 feverish Celtic fans, to claim sporting immortality.
The capital’s transport firms have already put in place extensive preparations for a possible Hearts victory, with Gorgie Road around Tynecastle to be closed off after the game finishes around 2.30pm. A title parade from the City Chambers through the city centre and on into Gorgie and Tynecastle has also been planned in the event that Hearts emerge triumphant.
The Tynecastle Arms, and The Athletic Arms (otherwise The Diggers) have reported record takings in recent weeks, as fans without tickets attempt to get as close to the action and their fellow fans as they can possibly get.
Melanie Cranston, who owns the Tynecastle Arms, said she is expecting bedlam on the final day of the season.
Speaking on Friday, she said: “I’m nervous. I’m definitely nervous for the football side of it, but I’m nervous for the pub as well.
“But we’re ready for it: we’ve got loads of staff on, we’ve moved to plastic cups. People are going to start queuing – if you want to believe it – at half past seven tomorrow.”
She added: “We don’t open until 9 o’clock, but a guy asked if he can bring his fold-up chair and sit outside from half 7.
“We’ve not had too much bother from people all season, but we get 191 people in here, and we’ve probably had that all season. Every matchday there’s a few incidents, but mostly it’s a good crowd.”
As well as watching the crowd with a beady eye, as a Hearts fan, she’ll be watching the game with interest, and says belief and hope have started to overtake pessimism and memories of failed title challenges of years gone by:
“Wednesday went a bit flat after the Celtic penalty, but, in general, it’s been an amazing atmosphere.
“I think it’s taken till now for Hearts fans to believe it could very well happen – myself included.”
A punter in her pub, Bobby, however, was there in 1986 for the final day catastrophe at Dens Park and was less confident.
He said: “It’s been a surprise because we never expected to be at this point. My heart says yes, my head says no.”
Just up the road, at Diggers, another Hearts fan, Barry, who was there for another devastating final day defeat to Kilmarnock in 1965, was also struggling to be positive:
“I just don’t think we’ll manage it in front of the 60,000 Celtic fans. It’s been a great season, and I think we deserve to win in the league, but it’s going to be very difficult, put it that way.”
Hearts kick off at 12.30pm at Celtic Park on Saturday. The bookies have Celtic as slight favourites, but Hearts hold a one-point advantage over the Hoops and only need a draw.
From the fans inside and outside the pubs in Gorgie on Saturday :
“Hearts are going to win the league. We have waited for a long time- I’ve waited since 1986 – for Hearts to put one over Celtic. I hope today is the day. Believe. Believe.”
“Hoping to win the league. I’m going to watch from the Tynecastle Arms if I can get in. The ticket situation? That’s Celtic for you. They will do anything to try and get an advantage.”
“I’m going to watch from the Tynecastle Arms. I would rather we had won the title from Tynecastle the other day.”
“We are watching it right here in the pub. We should all have tickets for Celtic Park. We could have filled the place.”
“We couldn’t get tickets for the game but we wanted to be close to Typecastle.”
“This is the ball that Shankland himself gave me. It’s the match ball against Motherwell. In the penalty Shankland scored with this ball and he handed it directly to me. Our number 22 has signed it already. Come on the Hearts!”
Jamie Williamson has come from Perth in Western Australia where he works in mining. When he came home last September he only meant to stay for a few weeks but ended up staying home for five months due to Hearts growing success. He said: “Every week we kept winning, so I couldn’t really leave. Then when the weather got bad in January/February I went back to Western Australia and then obviously we are in a good position. We never thought we would be here but I couldn’t miss it. It has cost me fortune but there’s a high chance we will never see this again. I’ve been a Hearts fan since I was a wee laddie.”
