Sir Alex Ferguson was famous for the alleged “hairdryer treatment” of his Manchester United squad. Well, a hairdryer meant the assembled press were emptied twice from the Media Suite at Tynecastle just before the scheduled start time for the latest briefing.
Derek McInnes then strolled in and declared that it was seemingly a hairdryer triggered the alarm. How appropriate then that Sir Alex, who famously won the league in the final game of the 1985/85 season with Aberdeen at nearby Easter Road, has sent the Hearts’ head coach a message ahead of the showdown between Celtic and long-time, league pace-setters, Hearts at Parkhead on Saturday (12.30).
Hearts could be the first team out with the Old Firm to lift the coveted silverware since the mid-80s, and McInnes and his men are in good shape. The former Aberdeen and Kilmarnock boss has no real injury concerns. His squad are in a good place. A first league title since 1960 is tantalisingly, so, so, close. One solitary point will clinch the big prize, the William Hill Premiership.
Now it’s crunch time, time to make legends or be bridesmaids again.
A raucous Celtic Park, with around 60,000 fans roaring on their favourites, awaits. A nationwide, indeed, international, TV audience will be watching. Can Hearts end their 66-year wait for a league title?
McInnes remains firm in his believe that his man can hold their nerve. He told a media briefing at Tynecastle that his side need to perform well on the big stage and he added: “You have to do so many things right, and there is a consistency in messaging about what you have to do there. Tomorrow, that just gets amplified. It is the perfect ending for a season, for the league, for Scottish football, for drama, excitement, it is pure box-office.
“It’s been a long time, I think, since the two teams who could win the title go head-to-head and, to be honest, I felt when the fixtures came out, yes, there was a lot of football to be played, but I genuinely thought it would go the full way. I have been preparing for that.
“We knew we would have to get good wins and Celtic have shown improvements and consistency in results. Fair play to them, fair play to our boys for making this situation. It is important now that they have that one big performance in us to try to get us over the line and get the title win.
“The good think for me is that the confidence in the payers is so strong. They have to go there with courage, they have to go there with belief. It is all about the detail in the game and playing well. It will be bedlam, it will be an unbelievable atmosphere, just because of what is at stake.”
People, he said, may think everything is back on script, Celtic win their last home games and they win the league. That is what the Parkhead side have done over the years, but Hearts have ripped up the script up so often this season. He added: “We have one more in us and it is up to us to make it happen.”
McInnes did not wish to talk about the Celtic penalty controversy at Motherwell which has raged on, globally, since Wednesday and he said: “Today for me is not for talking about refereeing decisions. Referees have got a difficult job to do.
“From the aftermath of the last couple of games, and the comment and coondemnation of what has gone on, I think it is quite telling, to be honest, but our referees have a tough job to do and there are questions to be asked about glaring inconsistencies, a lot of confusion, but today is not the day for it.
“We all benefit, all clubs, all managers, benefit from fortuitous decisions throughout a campaign, sometimes you feel hard done by, but that is normal, but I do think that there has been huge focus on the Scottish Premier League for a wee while. Weare part of the story, a bit more interest, we feel we have, despite everything, a job to do.
“If we do our job well enough we can still get the outcome that we want so I am not going to get bogged down talking about refereeing situations.”
McInnes was asked about pre-game nerves, and he said: “Dealing with nerves is part of professional sport, particularly when it gets to this stage, whether the last few holes in a golf tournament, whether it is the last set in tennis, the last round in a boxing match, whether it is all on the line, nerves are part of that, it is how you control that situation.
“There has been a lot of pressure on our lads for a long time now, and there is an expectation there, and the players have dealt with it brilliantly throughout the campaign. I am not concerned with that side of it. Of course the game is huge, and it will be different in so many aspects. It is also exciting.
“Managers and players, we play in such tough venues and rotten conditions, but you have to sometimes enjoy playing in what it is tomorrow, 60,000 fans, live on TV, brilliant atmosphere, with it all at stake. I would rather be playing it than watching it. The fact that we are taking part in it is brilliant for us.
“We have had such a brilliant season, broken all sorts of records, 80 points. Certainly, before the split fixtures, I thought to myself that 80 would have been enough, but it is going to be 81 and we need that one more point. We are going to get it, hopefully, by playing well. It is set-up brilliantly.”
ROUND TABLE TALKS: Derek McInnes meets the written media at Tynecastle. Picture Nigel Duncan
