Fulton’s caring, sharing captaincy

FULL-TIME couldn’t come soon enough. From the moment Colin Cameron converted the second-minute penalty against Rangers in the 1998 Scottish Cup final, the men from the capital would have welcomed the final whistle with open arms, writes Moira Gordon.

After all, this was the chance to stop the rot. It had been 42 years since the club had lifted the trophy and, while the players had come close to honours in the previous couple of years, Rangers had denied them.

“We had been there before, in a final, against Rangers, and they had trounced us in one of the finals [5-1 in the 1995-96 Scottish Cup] and then it had been a bit closer the next time [4-3 in the 1996-97 League Cup],” said Stevie Fulton, who captained Hearts in the ’98 game. “If we had lost to them again it would have been heartbreaking. But we had a good team spirit and believed that we had a good chance of winning, we just needed to get a good start and get a foothold in the game.

“The first goal was a big one but it was only when Stephane [Adam] got the second early in the second half that I think we all really started believing it might be our day. But they battered us. Ally McCoist pulled one back but we hung on and big Gilles Rousset was man of the match.” While others would have been too busy focusing on getting their hands on the trophy, Fulton still had thoughts for someone else. Club captain and lifelong Hearts fan Gary Locke had missed the final with cruciate ligament damage but one of the enduring images of that day is the pair walking up to get the trophy together.

“I used to share a car to training with Davie Weir and I talked about it with him. I didn’t want to tempt fate by saying anything to Gary before the game because we still had to win the thing but I always knew that if we won I was going to ask him to come up and lift the trophy with me. In the end, if you look at the photos, I hardly get a hand on it! But I’m glad I did that. I don’t know what anyone else would have done but I thought it was right. I knew that if he had been fit he would have been there instead of me so it seemed right to share that moment.

“After that I just remember the bus drive back to Edinburgh. All the way through there were people waving and car horns going and we could see how much it meant to everyone. It was like that all the way back through. Then there was the crowds as we were driving through Gorgie, back to Tynecastle, and I remember every single one of us climbing up through the skylight and sitting on the roof of the single decker bus.”

That was just the trailer for the primetime show the next day as the streets of Edinburgh were crammed for the open-top bus parade.

“The memories are a bit duller now but they are still there. I will always remember those celebrations and what it meant to win that cup. Not just to the players but the fans.”