'You get sick of it' - how the new year brought welcome relief from Hearts negativity
How quickly moods can swing in football. Hearts fans appeared ready to storm the gates of Tynecastle Park with pitchforks after the concession of two stoppage time goals at Ross County in the final match of 2024.
The failure to see out what had looked a comfortable away victory - on the back of a home Edinburgh derby defeat to Hibs on Boxing Day - sparked social media outrage and calls for fans to join a protest outside the Gorgie ground prior to the Motherwell match on January 2. Neil Critchley, Ann Budge, Andrew McKinlay, the Foundation of Hearts - all appeared targets for the demonstration orchestrated by a section of fans associated with the This is My Story podcast.
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Hide Ad"Enough is enough" read the statement calling for action. "Meet on the plaza at 2pm," was the instruction to the account's 9,000 followers. 2pm came and went, however, but for a small gathering of around 150 people, and a brief chant of "sack the board" which lasted all of three seconds, it was barely noticeable that a protest was taking place at all.


There is no doubting the unrest among the fanbase over the way the season has unravelled following the high of a third-place finish last term. The Tynecastle toxicity was particularly evident after the 2-2 draw with Moldovan minnows Petrocub last month which saw Hearts fail to take a glorious chance to secure European football beyond Christmas for the first time in 35 years.
Reservations undoubtedly exist. But Thursday's protest - or lack of one - suggested little appetite for anarchy with the majority of Hearts fans perhaps clinging to hope of a brighter future following the recent link-up with Tony Bloom and his Jamestown Analytics recruitment company, the fruits of which will not be seen for at least another two or three transfer windows.
The atmosphere inside the ground during the 1-0 win over Motherwell was a largely positive one - helped by a dominant performance and the full-time result - although a hatful of missed chances meant two two heroic interventions from goalkeeper Craig Gordon were required in stoppage time to prevent things from turning sour once again.
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Hide AdFor midfielder Cammy Devlin, who missed the ill-fated trip to Dingwall due to suspension, the return to winning ways brought welcome relief from the negativity and dressing room inquests that have followed one too many failures this term.
“It's horrible to be honest because you see the boys day in and day out," the Australian international said. "They become your brothers and you want to win games, then everyone's happy and everything feels good.
“When things don't go well and we concede two goals in two minutes like Ross County, it's not good enough. There's expectation on you and you have expectations of yourself. If you see out that game and win 2-0 or 2-1, then we come to Tynecastle and we win again, you start to get that feel-good factor and you build confidence. We’ve got some young players and that confidence to do something maybe you wouldn't if you weren't as confident is massive.
“But, yeah, you get sick of it. If we draw that Motherwell game, you go in there and the gaffer would have gone mental, the players too. It's horrible because you don't want to do that. You don't want to be angry. I don't like being upset. Craig Gordon, like he does, steps up and does his job. We know we've got to be better in both boxes. We can't be giving away cheap opportunities like that when we've had total control of the game. In the first half, and maybe the first 20 to 30 minutes of the second half, we know we've got to score a couple more goals and then the game becomes a lot easier. We know we've got to do that but, nonetheless, we've started the new year with a win, so it's positive.”
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Devlin watched the late horror show at the Global Energy Stadium unfold in front of a TV screen at home. "I was really happy until the last two minutes and then I don't think I spoke for about 24 hours because I was so upset.
"I was so gutted for the boys because I said to them when they got back, I think, since I've been here, the conditions, the weather, the pitch, the way the game went, it was probably the most professional and well-organised... we played the game perfectly, probably the best away performance I've seen us play since I've been here.
"It's horrible because you're still going into the Motherwell game thinking, how did that happen? I went to sleep that night thinking of that boy tapping the ball in. I honestly couldn't believe it. But you've just got to turn it around and stand up. And I feel like we did that against Motherwell."
Hearts now travel to Tannadice to face an in-form Dundee United side with a spring in their step. The mood would have been a lot different, however, if goalkeeper Gordon, three days after turning 42, hadn't bailed his side out against Motherwell with a wonder save from Jack Vale's point-blank header, having also denied Moses Ebiye moments earlier.
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Hide Ad"I think the atmosphere in the changing room would have been pretty bad as well, to be honest," Devlin confessed. "I think I would have lost my head. But you have tough moments when you come here and I can understand the noise around the place at the moment. Obviously, I don't read any of that stuff, but the people aren't happy with how we are.
"We're not [happy] as players. I'm in my fourth season here and I've been sitting in third for the majority of the time. So to be where we are is not good enough. As a player, you're going to come under scrutiny and you're going to feel a bit of pressure but you've got to be a man and stand up. We've found it hard and you can feel anxious and everything but you've got to just be a man and stand up and take it on board and put on performances like that."
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