Hearts manager eager to face new-look Celtic side as he returns to happy hunting ground

JIM Jefferies returns to the scene of some famous victories with Hearts tonight and has been energised by the thought of tackling the new set of acquisitions at Celtic.

Jefferies, of course, led the Tynecastle side to Scottish Cup glory at Parkhead against Rangers in 1998, and less than two years later saw Hearts defeat Celtic 3-2 in a match which counted as the beginning of the end for manager John Barnes. He was sacked days later after Celtic lost to Inverness Caldedonian Thistle.

Like then, Celtic are looking to claw back a ten-point gap between themselves and league leaders Rangers. But a decade on, something else is familiar – Jefferies is back at Tynecastle. Ironically, his old Kilmarnock side defeated Celtic 1-0 last week. Jefferies did not taste a single win against the Parkhead side in eight years of trying when in Ayrshire.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Jefferies is still looking for his first win and goal since his return to Hearts at the end of last month, but faces a manager with perhaps less time to get it right. Tony Mowbray has reacted to Celtic's struggles in the league by investing in a raft of new players, and Jefferies is excited by the prospect of facing Robbie Keane. The loan-signing from Tottenham Hotspur is guaranteed to start tonight, and Jefferies is prepared having seen for himself what he can do in the second half of Sunday's 4-2 Scottish Cup victory over Dunfermline.

"(Tony] is trying to change something that is not easy to do," he said. "Everyone should be getting behind him and I think it will come good for him on the evidence I've seen. It's Robbie Keane's home debut and there will be a great atmosphere for that. We have gone there in the past and got a shock result.

"Having seen him (Keane] the other day, I know what he likes to do so we will set ourselves up accordingly," added Jefferies. "It's definitely good that he is here. He was out of things at Tottenham with (Jermain] Defoe and (Peter] Crouch but you see the strikers they have got down there and the choice they have got."

Jefferies recalled competing against Rangers when the Ibrox club were able to bring star names to Scotland. Hearts felt the force of this ability to pay top wages when losing 5-1 to Rangers in the Scottish Cup final in 1996.

"When Rangers started bring the Gascoignes and the Laudrups they had a fantastic team, and you saw the success they had because of that," reflected Jefferies. "I think in the last few years these clubs have not been able to spend the money that they did. So it's nice to again see quality players."

Such has been the pace of change at Celtic in the last fortnight that Jefferies could claim to be more in tune with his own players than Mowbray is with his, despite the fact he is only just settling in again at Tynecastle. Mowbray overhauled his side in the last days of the transfer window. His last deal earned the most headlines, with Keane brought in for an estimated 65,000 a week. Jefferies has been desperately trying to get to know his own players better, but managed to make a capture in the final hours before last week's deadline. Attacking midfielder Ryan Stevenson was brought in from Ayr United. The 25-year-old looks set to make his debut from the start tonight, with Jefferies' options having been restricted due to a combination of reasons.

The knowledge that there is a fit and reliable player in Jose Goncalves sitting on the sidelines will torment the Hearts fans following the injury sustained by Ismael Bouzid in last week's Co-operative Cup semi-final defeat to St Mirren. The Algerian misses out this evening, as does Andrew Driver, the winger having succumbed again to the tendonitis which has disrupted his season so severely. Goncalves would have been the ideal replacement for Bouzid, but remains in dispute with the club following his refusal to sign a new contract.

Stevenson, meanwhile, is relishing the chance to make his first Hearts appearance at Parkhead, a ground he has never previously played at. He joked about over-shadowing Keane's home debut for Celtic. His own move to Tynecastle was pushed to the fringes of newspapers due to Keane's arrival at Celtic. But Stevenson is just as delighted to be at Hearts as Keane is to be stepping out – even temporarily – for the team he supported when a boy.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"St Johnstone and St Mirren had shown interest," Stevenson explained. "On the Friday (before the end the transfer window] I just wanted to get into the SPL. I wanted to take that step up and to be honest I didn't really care who with. And then on the Saturday night I found out that Hearts had shown interest. As soon as I heard that, it was different.

"I was dying to try to get here," he added. "That's what I told Ayr. If I had woken up on Tuesday morning anywhere else than here then I would have regretted it."

Related topics: