Scottish Cup final: Ian Black aims to sign off with final flourish

Perhaps surprisingly, the successful union between Black and the club he has supported since boyhood will come to an end today after three seasons. During this time he has firmly established himself as a Gorgie favourite, daubing his name into derby legend with a cheeky tee-shirt message which he exposed after the 3-1 win over Hibernian in January.

“I’ll paint this place maroon” he promised, having starred in the victory. This was a reference to a story in a newspaper detailing his apparent decision to work as a painter and decorator in order to supplement his wages, which at the time were being paid late into the players’ accounts by the financially-troubled Tynecastle club. The story was accurate to the extent that Black had had a brush in his hand, but only as a favour for a friend who owns a painting and decorating firm. “It was blown out of proportion,” he shrugs now. “It was a good story for you guys. One of my mates has his own company. I went along and gave him a hand and he seen me right. People got wind of it and it was as if I was looking for a new trade. It might be something I look at after my career.”

However, Black won’t ever dismiss his tee-shirt antics, and is rather proud of the reaction it kicked up. Hibs club skipper Ian Murray, who himself once had the year ‘1973’ shorn into his head in tribute to the Easter Road side’s famous 7-0 derby victory, branded it “cringeworthy”, and said the player would regret it in years to come. After the passing of only a few months, Black is adamant that he won’t. “I certainly don’t regret it,” he says. “It’s posted everywhere now, so I’ve made a name for myself!

“Nobody remembers his daft haircut but they remember my T-shirt,” he adds. “It was a bit of banter, friendly banter. If you can’t take banter, you are a very boring guy.” Black may once have felt he couldn’t better this as a way of getting one over his rivals. However, he could not have imagined that just a few short months later he would be handed the chance to leave the Hibs supporters in an even more agitated state, having helped inspire Hearts to victory in a Scottish Cup final against their city rivals. “I don’t think I’ll better the T-shirt, so I’ll stick to my Hearts uniform for this one,” he smiles.

“Do I like winding them up? I wouldn’t say that. But everybody loves it – it’s banter, egging each other on. No doubt the Hibs fans will have messages for us. But hopefully we can go and wipe the smiles off their faces by walking away with the trophy.”

Perhaps inevitably, Black, who grew up in Tranent, could once have signed for Hibs. He trained with the club as a boy and was even offered a full-time contract by then manager Alex McLeish. “I had the opportunity to go in there but I took other options,” he says. “I chose to go south of the border and give it a bash there. The guys who were there [at Hibs] at the time were the likes of Scott Brown and Derek Riordan. Garry O’Connor was in full-time, Kevin Thomson was there. I don’t regret not staying,.”

Instead, he went south to Blackburn Rovers, before, as he describes it, “starting again” at Inverness Caledonian Thistle. “It was strange but I was a kid,” he continues, with reference to his brief spell in enemy territory. “It didn’t mean as much as it does when you are a professional football player. I never hid my feelings for Hearts, not at all. I used to get a bit of stick for it, mind, with the other boys knowing I was a supporter of Hearts. But that was as far as it went.”

Although his stint at Blackburn did not work out as planned, most expect Black to move south again in the summer. However, the player himself has not thought too deeply about it. The phone, he says, has not yet rung. In any event, not only does he have the biggest game of his career to negotiate first, he also has a hernia operation scheduled for the end of this month. “It’s disappointing,” he said, with reference to the lack of offers. “I’ll hopefully have options either side of the border.”

That, however, is for another day, and after what he hopes will be the most perfect sign-off enjoyed by any Hearts player.

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