Hearts Legend: Colin Cameron

Colin Cameron signed for Hearts at a time when spirits around Tynecastle were in sharp contrast to what we’re witnessing at the present moment.

During the ’90s Hearts had been perilously close to heading back to the bad old days of First Division football in Gorgie. For two seasons in a row the club had been fortunate to avoid the
dreaded drop and were looking anything but affluent under the new ownership of Chris Robinson and Leslie Deans, who had taken the controversial decision to replace manager Sandy Clark with
Tommy McLean when they swept into power in the summer of 1994.

We all know how that particular era turned out at Tynecastle, but in any walk of life mistakes are made and the new owners’ next appointment into the manager’s role a year later (which ended up being a long and drawn out affair not without its own controversies) would see a bright new dawn emerging.

Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown’s departure from Falkirk may have been messy, but during their first season at Tynecastle they had breathed new life into the Hearts team and their long-suffering support, giving us some new heroes to cheer (Gilles Rousset and Pasquale Bruno had been particular favourites) and a refreshing brand of football that was a far cry from some of the stuff we’d seen under the likes of McLean and Joe Jordan.

The season had had its trying times of course, and at one stage Hearts were again looking to be in for another relegation battle. But a fine run of home results saw confidence growing, and as some of Jefferies’ new signings started to really assert themselves, Hearts genuinely started to look like a top four side once again.

By the time that the spring of 1996 was upon us, Hearts were riding on the crest of a wave. The new signings had bedded in well, an exciting crop of youngsters were impressing and experienced stagers like John Colquhoun, Gary Mackay and John Robertson were given a new lease of life. All of this had helped the club to reach their first Scottish Cup final in ten years, and although that was to end up going rather pear-shaped, it was around this time that Hearts made arguably their most influential signing of the time: Colin Cameron.

Cameron had been an extremely highly rated young player in what was a very talented Raith Rovers side for some time, and the smart money was on him getting a lucrative move down south or possibly to one of the Old Firm at the end of that season. So it was therefore with a great deal of optimism and indeed surprise that this signing was greeted by the Hearts support, and Jim Jefferies was clearly delighted to have snapped up one of the country’s top prospects in a deal that was reported to have been in the region of £400,000, which included John Millar moving to Kirkcaldy. The only spanner in the works was that because he’d played for Raith in an earlier round, he was ineligible for play for Hearts in the Scottish Cup final, but he’d go onto more than make up for that in the fullness of time.

I couldn’t believe that we’d gotten a player as good as Cameron at that time. He had been an absolute stand-out in any of the games I’d seen him in against Hearts, showing the sort of pace, industry and innovation that we had been so crying out for. It’s possibly controversial to say this, but I really don’t think Hearts had had a central midfield player of his style and effectiveness in the ten years I’d been watching them, even though Gary Mackay had been an excellent attacking player in his earlier years. So it’s fair to say that levels of expectation were somewhat high as a result of this signing, and there was some genuine optimism around Tynecastle that a successful new dawn really was upon us.

Cameron couldn’t have gotten off to a better start to his Hearts career either, with his debut coming in a 2-0 win at Tynecastle over a Rangers side that included both Brian Laudrup and Paul Gascoigne. Young Allan Johnston was the star of the show that night, scoring the clinching second goal in a similar style to the one that had sealed his hat-trick at Ibrox just a few months earlier, however Cameron had played his part too, and although his performance was nowhere near as influential as he was to become, he showed enough to suggest that our optimism hadn’t been misplaced.

Despite a reasonably quiet start, during which he’d been frustratingly deployed as an auxiliary striker at times, Colin Cameron firmly established himself in the Hearts first team in the following season. This was a year in which Hearts were still in relative transition – a fair number of players came and went that year – but Jefferies was gradually getting his team closer and closer to where he wanted them to be, and it was clear that Cameron was to be a central character in the finished article.

Cameron had many high points during that season, with his goals in two hammerings of Hibs at Easter Road being particularly popular with the support (one chip from long-range over the beleaguered Jim Leighton lingers in the memory), but for me the performance that really announced his ‘arrival’ was in the League Cup final against Rangers at Parkhead. An epic encounter that Hearts eventually lost 4-3 in the rain, this is a match that is normally remembered for the electrifying wing play of Neil McCann or the sublime qualities shown by Paul Gascoigne to ultimately make the difference, But although both McCann and Gazza’s contributions were more obviously tangible to the casual viewer, for me Cameron’s display was every bit as indicative of his future worth. Like McCann he too was able to make experienced international players look very ordinary indeed, and this only boded well for the months and years ahead. The only blot on his copybook that afternoon was failing to score when right through on Andy Goram early in the second half, but he wasn’t to be the first or last player who had been denied by ‘The Goalie’ in that situation.

But if Cameron’s displays had impressed in the ’96/’97 season, they were about to pale into relative insignificance the following year, as Jefferies’ side finally started to take on the apperance of winners. As all sides looking for success should do, Hearts had once again made some additions to the squad whilst they were on the up, and both Stephane Adam and Thomas Flogel were able to add a touch of class fo the side that had perhaps been the missing ingredient.

Indeed, many fans felt that the signing of Flogel could potentially have meant a back seat for Cameron, but that notion was quickly disspelled as it transpired that although the Austrian had technical ability, he had none of the dynamic qualities and ‘impact’ play of Cameron, and ultimately could not affect football matches in the same positive manner. In fact it was probably due to Cameron’s contribution that Flogel was never fully able to hold down a position at Hearts, as he was originally brought in as an attacking central midfield player, which was of course ‘Mickey”s position. There really was no contest there though.

Despite ultimately running out of steam in the league that season, Hearts ripped through their opposition like never before. The pace of Cameron, McCann, Adam and even Fulton to a lesser degree frightened the life out of the non-Old Firm sides in the SPL, and if the squad had had just a little bit more depth to it, I’m quite sure that Hearts could have taken the title that year.

Even still though, as we all know Hearts reached the Scottish Cup final that year and it was a case of destiny coming calling at last. Hearts had failed to beat either of the Old Firm that season despite their excellent showing in the league, but for some reason everyone’s confidence seemed high going into that game. It just seemed that the time had come for Hearts to finally win something, and it was Cameron who sent them on their way before the clock had even struck 3pm!

Mickey had been assigned the role of penalty area earlier in the season and had converted every one he’d taken with considerable aplomb, but even still when he stepped up to take that kick after Stevie Fulton had been fouled by Ian Ferguson (just OUTside the box it had to be said!), the tension in the air was unbelievable. But we needn’t have worried – Cameron’s kick was probably more emphatic than any he’d taken before, nestling in the top left hand corner of the Rangers net with Goram moving in the wrong direction. Get in! Finally a player and a team who were to succeed when it really counted – had the wait been worth it? Hmm….probably, although the whole ‘it should have been in ’86 instead’ debate is a whole other argument!

So Cameron’s status as a Hearts legend was now assured courtesy of his contribution at Parkhead that gloriously sunny afternoon, but the flip side of his emergence as one of the country’s top attacking midfielders was that other clubs were now bound to be queuing up for his services. The following season sadly saw that great Hearts side being taken apart before it had truly been able to show us just how good it could have become, but Cameron was not a part of that exodus, largely because he was injured for a good percentage of the time.

It was during this period that people truly saw this little player’s worth to the Hearts side – they simply were not half the team without him, both from an attacking and defensive point of view. The one thing that Cameron did that many fans would not have fully appreciated, was that he tirelessly pressured the opposition into making mistakes, effectively providing a line of defence across the midfield area. And he was also such an energetic character that even after chasing down a player for 40 yards or so, he would still be able to then take the loose ball and start another Hearts attack. This sort of work is invaluable in the engine room of a football team, so it was little surprise that Cameron was a huge loss when he didn’t play.

Most of us realised that we wouldn’t hold onto Colin Cameron forever, but we were treated to a few vintage moments from the wee man when he eventually did return from injury later on that season. Hearts had a very disappointing season after promising so much and were languishing at the wrong end of the table once again, but Cameron’s return to fitness along with Stephane Adam helped to spark a turnaround in fortunes to ensure safety. I’ll never forget the goal he scored to seal a 3-1 win at Tannadice on his return to the side, dinking the ball between the two defenders, drawing the ‘keeper and chipping it over him on the run. Great stuff.

Cameron eventually headed off for pastures new the following season when Wolves came calling, but he went with everyone’s best wishes. He was a hell of a player for Hearts, especially for someone who probably wasn’t blessed with the sort of raw talent that someone like say Stevie Fulton or Allan Johnston had had, but the all-round package was absolutely perfect for a midfielder in the SPL.

He was certainly the most effective all-round player we’d had in that position since I started watching Hearts in the ’80s, but there are those who argue now that the subsequent exploits of Paul Hartley have managed to eclipse Mickey. I can see their point, but I wouldn’t go quite as far as that, even if their roles did end up being pretty similar. But that’s an argument for another day…….