Jose leaving Gorgie with a heavy Heart

HE swaggered into the Gorgie Suite four years ago oozing confidence as a genuine marquee signing. On Sunday, Jose Goncalves exited Tynecastle a broken man, bidding farewell to Hearts with tears streaming down his face.

Such an emotional departure was quite unexpected, not least by the player, but the reality of leaving overwhelmed him after four-and-a-half years in Edinburgh. He looked disorientated wandering around the pitch following the season-ending defeat by Celtic. Supporters shook his hand as he strolled along the track, toiling to compose himself.

From the euphoria of his arrival as one of five signings paraded on transfer deadline day in January 2006, through Scottish Cup success later that year to the animosity brought by his recent contractual dispute, Goncalves' Hearts career was nothing if not eventful.

"I didn't expect that moment to be so emotional on Sunday," he said, speaking exclusively to the Evening News. "I was just happy that I spent four-and-a-half years at Hearts and had very happy memories. When the referee blew the final whistle I realised how much I will miss Hearts. I will miss the atmosphere and a lot of the people in Scotland. It was quite emotional and I didn't expect that, it just came. I was very upset.

"I have options, hopefully everything will be sorted in the next few days. I have options in Italy, Spain and Germany. I am looking forward to playing for my next club and making the best move for myself."

Goncalves didn't feature against Celtic as the Hearts hierarchy maintained their "no signature, no game time" policy right to the season's last whistle. For a man with Champions League experience who cost the club 700,000, that took its own emotional toll.

Aged 24 and seeking a fresh challenge, he refused to sign a contract extension in late December last year and was promptly frozen out of the first-team squad. Temporary redemption came during the height of an injury crisis in March. He played twice, against Dundee United and Motherwell, and found himself banished thereafter.

The sour taste lingered in Goncalves' mouth as he landed in Geneva on Monday to visit his parents. Tears from the previous day subsided, he began contemplating his future. He rejected a mammoth contract worth a basic 13,000 a week from Hearts and may find an offer of the same magnitude difficult to come by. He was already one of Tynecastle's highest earners, but feels finance is no longer a priority.

"I don't think the supporters really care about how much you earn or what car you drive. They just care that you give them respect. I gave them a lot of respect and they gave me it back and I thank them a lot for that."

Sadly, he does not feel that courtesy was returned by those in power. "I was very upset to be honest. It's just not fair," he said of the decision not to play him. "I don't think it's fair for any player at any club. If a player does not want to sign, it doesn't matter the reason, you must play him. It can just make things worse between the player, the manager and the club. I think you must play your best team, this is what football is all about.

"The negotiations were that they asked me if I wanted to sign this contract. I told them why and why not. At Hearts it is very difficult to negotiate with the owner of the club. I was told if I don't sign the contract I will not play and I was feeling very upset with the way they treated me.

"If I thought the right thing was to sign, then I would sign and be very happy. But because things were not very nice for myself I decided not to sign. I think I made the right choice.

"It's not about the offer, it's about the respect and the principles. I have principles in life. You must respect the players to achieve a lot of things and progress. If the club does not respect the player everything goes wrong. I will not sign just because they put me under pressure.

"If you don't sign you don't play, that is small criticism but the small criticism gets bigger and bigger. As a player, the only things you have is football and your family.

"If you can't play football, and this is your passion, you are very upset. That is how I was feeling during the last few months."

Adding to the frustration was the fact he believed he was fit enough to play during the most telling period of the season with Hearts pursuing a place in the Europa League qualifying phase. "I had a very little injury but it was not because of a small injury that I did not play. Everyone knows the situation. The situation was that if I don't sign, then I don't play."

Hearts' motivation for re-signing Goncalves was two-fold. Until the contract commotion, he was utterly peerless in defence this season having returned from a loan spell at Germany's FC Nuremberg looking an entirely different animal to that which had skittered around the SPL beforehand. Such progress made him a vital member of the team. Assuming the prosperity continued and he was persuaded to extend his contract, he would also have become arguably the club's most sellable asset.

Recouping a transfer fee would, to an extent, have offset Vladimir Romanov's overly ostentatious dealings four years ago. Goncalves sauntered into Tynecastle alongside Mirsad Beslija, Juho Makela, Chris Hackett and Lee Johnson on 31 January, 2006. Fees of 700,000 for the Portuguese, 800,000 for Beslija and 500,000 for Makela were supposed to indicate the strength of the majority shareholder's intent to destroy Scotland's Old Firm duopoly. The signings also offered sell-on potential, yet all five pictured in that famous photoshoot have now left Hearts for nothing.

Goncalves was the last man standing. "My biggest memory is the respect for the club. I had good a relationship with a lot of people at Hearts, I enjoyed the fans and I had a great time there."