Kitted Out

Hearts played St Mirren on the 1st of September 2018 and ran out comfortable winners in a 4-1 victory, thanks to a first half hat-trick from on loan Norwich

City striker Steven Naismith.

Steven would also set up Olly

Lee’s 29th minute strike. Steven’s 3 goals comprised of a 4th minute penalty, a trademark headed goal in the 41st minute and then just before half time a well-placed drive into the left-hand corner of the net secured him the match ball. The game saw Austin MacPhee take temporary charge as boss Craig

Levein was in hospital recovering from a heart scare. The team talk that day didn’t take much writing. ‘Let’s do this one for the boss’.

Naismith would score 2 hat-tricks during his Tynecastle tenure, the other coming against Arbroath and again coincidentally all his goals would come in the first half. Hearts ran out 3-0 winners at Gayfield on the 29th of December 2020.

His excellent performances with his club saw him capped a further 6 times for Scotland whilst playing for Hearts and scoring 3 goals. One against Albania in the League of Nations, another in a friendly against Portugal and then his final goal against Kazakhstan in a Euro Qualifier at Hampden on Tuesday the 19th of November 2019, Scotland winning 3-1 in in what would be his last appearance. His Scotland career would see him play 51 games and score 10 goals. Steven would sign permanently for Hearts in early August 2019 after a loan spell from Norwich City in the January transfer window of 2018. He made his debut on Sunday the 21st of January 2018 against Hibs in the 4th Round of the Scottish Cup. It was a winning debut thanks to a single goal from Don Cowie. Steven’s mettle was proven from the very start of his Hearts career as he had not played for 5 months but was pitched straight into the fray and played the full 90 minutes. During his time at Hearts, he played against Hibs 6 times, winning 5 and only tasting one defeat.

He would play 90 competitive games for the club and score an impressive 29 goals. When Steven came into the team, his experience, drive and determination were immediately apparent. Even with a cameo appearance he could transform a game that looked to be heading towards a defeat or draw into a Hearts win. He decided to hang up his boots in June 2021 and is now enjoying his role as player development manager/coach with the club.

Featured is the stunning 3rd shirt which was worn in season 2019/20 on three occasions, away to Motherwell, Hamilton and St Johnstone. It was also the 3rd kit for season 2020/21, however it is worth noting that it was never worn in a competitive game during our time in the Championship. It is therefore a bit of an oddity in the weird and wonderful world of shirt collecting. This is a 2020/21 match prepared shirt belonging to Steven. Produced by Umbro the shirt has a black body with maroon collar and cuffs, as well as a broad maroon panel running across the shoulders to the top of each sleeve. The placket had two medium black buttons. Both the badge and the Umbro logo

are woven. The Umbro logo is maroon and the badge is black and maroon. This shirt was not available in long sleeves. As is tradition now, the 3rd shirt did not feature any sponsor details therefore no Pawprints sleeve badges or Save the Children logo emblazed across the front of the shirt. It does feature one vinyl Championship sleeve badge on the left-hand sleeve. On the back of the shirt the numbers and name sets are provided by Sporting ID with the name set appearing vertically above the number. Just below the collar is a subtle nod to the Foundation of Hearts with the phrase ‘Pledge for Life’ in capitals. All in all, this shirt in my opinion is a classic and match worn versions will be sought after in years to come. Grant Young is a Hearts shirt collector and is currently writing a book. He can be contacted at jambojim190512@yahoo.com or via twitter @heartsshirts

Hearts OnTour

The 50s/60s Tours

Throughout the most successful decade in the Club’s history, manager Tommy Walker forged close bonds between his talented players by taking them on six post-season tours to destinations as far apart as the USA, South Africa and Australia. This season, I’m going to take a look at the memorabilia associated with Hearts’ tours of the 1950’s and 60’s’.

With three group matches left, Hearts trailed Werder Bremen by a single point but had played a game less. A win against the Germans in Chicago would therefore leave Hearts in a really strong position in the group but the Heart players knew that it would be a tough ask. Tommy White described Werder as “the toughest and hardest-tobreak team in the section”. Nonetheless, confidence was high as the team took to the field in Chicago despite the boys not having had much sleep due to the stifling heat and the lack of air conditioning in their hotel. The heat gave way to a thunder storm and heavy rain as the match progressed.

Hearts dominated the match and had 30 shots on goal in the ninety minutes, almost twice the number of their opponents and keeper Gunther Bernard made a number of fine saves but Hearts were caught on the counter a number of times and the Germans were clinical in front of goal when they had their chances. In the thirty-eighth minute, the Werder outside right, Gerhard Zebrowski broke free and with three Hearts defenders chasing him down, angled a shot at goal from 22 yards which eluded Jim Cruickshank and hit the bottom right corner of the net. In the second half, Hearts missed some good chances to equalize. Johnny Hamilton hit the post with the rebound just eluding Willie Wallace. Wallace then went on a mazy run, beating several German defenders before firing a shot which bounced off Bernard in the Werder goal, the rebound being fired wide. Finally, Wallace turned provider but Tommy White headed over. With ten minutes to play, the Germans scored again against the run of play, Klaus Haemel scoring. And with just three minutes left, Zebrowski dribbled past Roy Barry and shot home from eighteen yards to seal a 3-0 win for the Germans which their play scarcely deserved. That put Hearts third in the

group, needing to win their two remaining games and hoping for Werder to slip up against Lanerossi Vicenza in Werder’s final game. It had been intended that Hearts would travel back to New York and that they and Lanerossi would take a bus together to Chicopee on 21 June for their return match in the small Massachusetts town. But when Hearts officials heard that Lanerossi had opted instead to travel early to Chicopee so that they were well rested, plans were altered and Hearts flew direct from Chicago to Boston so that they would be equally rested before what was seen as a crucial match at Szot Park. And what a match it turned out to be.

Once again, it was a hot day with temperatures reaching 35 degrees but the fit Hearts players started at a high tempo which made the Italians look slow and tired. The match was watched by a sell-out crowd of 5,619 (which may not sound a lot but Chicopee was a town of only 50,000) including some Scots-Americans but who were vastly outnumbered by a vociferous contingent of Italian fans.

And it was those fans which led to the match being labelled “the Battle of Chicopee” in the following day’s press. Lanerossi’s star forward was pushing forward as he was fouled by David Holt. Whether it was the heat or the beer or a combination of the two but Holt’s challenge sparked a pitch invasion by Italian fans who started to attack Holt, John Cumming and Tommy Traynor with the three Hearts players at one stage lying on the pitch being attacked by Italian fans, one of whom seemed to be brandishing a knife. The police took some time to restore order and astonishingly, the game continued with the Italian fans roped off from the side of the pitch. Despite the drama, the first half finished goalless but it didn’t take Hearts long in the second half to take the lead. Johnny Hamilton hooked the ball into the roof of the net from twelve yards. Hearts continued to dominate with the Scottish Daily Mail reporting that “Lanerossi [were] not in Hearts class when it came to slick moving and passing”. Nonetheless, the Italians equalized in the 69th minute when Lucio del Angelo tangled with Jim Cruickshank and the ball deflected off the keeper and trickled over the line.

Hearts scored a deserved winner with three minutes of the game remaining. Johnny Hamilton intercepted a pass and drove forward, evading two Italian tackles before unleashing a shot from twelve yards to win the match. Despite the earlier rioting, Hearts shared a bus back to New York with their opponents and the two sides got along well, Lanerossi vowing that they would beat Werder Bremen to allow Hearts to win the group. Although there’s a programme for the match in Chicago agsinst Werder Bremen, it’s one which has so far eluded my collection. If you have one for sale, let me know!

The programme for the match in Chicopee was, once again, the standard ISL match programme of 16 pages, this time with a red cover. Page four had an updated table for the competition as well as the results to date. Page five had articles on the two competing teams. Once again, Hearts were referred to as the “Cinderella” club of the competition, with “very few ISL followers [giving] the Hearts much of a chance as a contender in Section One play and there were those observers who flatly predicted the lads from Edinburgh Scotland would be fortunate in winning a game”. Page 12 has an article comparing Chicopee to Green Bay, the small town famous for hosting one of the great American Football franchises. The article envisages the creation of an American Soccer League within “two or three years” with a franchise from Chicopee taking part. Scoring tables on the same page made no distinction between goals and assists with Tommy White heading the table with three points from two goals and an assist. Next time, the final game and a return to Scotland.

Gary Cowen is a member of Hearts heritage group and is currently writing a book about the Hearts post-season tours