Proud to be a Jambo by Big Al
Forget about the result, on May 18th I was proud to be a Jambo. With tears swelling in our eyes we stood shoulder to shoulder and gave the team phenomenal backing before, during and after the game. Apart from the result it was a great day out and it was not marred by any overzealous Glasgow polis arresting people for wearing maroon & white in a threatening manner. Now I know a lot has been said about the arrangements for selling cup final tickets but I think it was the the fairest way possible. The only problem was that people with loads of shares got load of tickets, which they then dished out to their mates while many loyal jambos got none. But at least everybody in the Hearts end were Hearts, if there had been a public sale how many bluenoses would have gone to Tynecastle to get tickets? (Bluenoses are thick, they sit in the wrong end and everything is fine till Rangers score and they jump up to be immediately kicked in by irate jambos around them). At least the tickets went to Jambos who had invested in thier team when times were bad and not to lets-crawl-out-of the-woodwork-coz-Hearts-are-good-again (Jambos who hadn't been to Tynecastle since 1985/86).
The game was being shown live across Scotland and we picked the right time to show the rest of Scotland that us Jambos are some of the most vociferous & most loyal (thats loyal as in supporting our team not King Billy) fans in Scotland. Lets face it, if the result had been the other way around, a 5-1 victory to Hearts, how many Rangers fans would have been cheering their team at the end for a great overall season? Buggar all, they would have gone home at quarter past four, burning their scarves and season tickets as they went. Some Hearts fans have slagged others off for staying to the end to cheer on the team after the team bottled it. The thing is, we cheered them for a greast season from November to May, a thank you for making us proud to be Jambos again. You started looking forward to the next Hearts match not dreading it. I honestly thought I was sitting opposite 17000 cradboard cut outs of Rangers fans they were so quiet. If Hearts were winning 5-1 in a cup final you'd have to scrape me off the roof of Hampden. At a rough estimate I'd be partying for the next 3 months. We were out singing the Rangers fans at the end of the match and if somebody had just turned on their TV and saw the two sets of fans they'd be convinced Hearts had won.
We started singing at 2:15pm when the Jambo Army invaded Hampden and didn't stop for the whole match. If you had asked me at 2:55pm who'd win as I was jumping up and down twirling my sarf singing "cum on feel the noise" as Gary Locke led out the magnificent men in maroon, I'd have said Hearts. I thought we'd gained an important psychological edge starting the singing early and we were going to be the 12th man for Hearts. But it wasn't to be as we trudged back along the M8, our dream over for another season.
But that wasn't the end as I was there outside the George Hotel to welcome home out fallen heros. First, a car drew up to the chants of "Who the f**king hell are you?" then everybody went a bit quiet as Gary Locke hobbled out of the car. Half a second later the chant of "One Gary Locke, there's only one Gary Locke" as our visibly gutted captain hobbled through the crowd on his crutches. A couple of minutes later the Hearts team bus arrived and the whole place went wild. Most of the players went straight into the hotel but Gary MacKay & John Robertson stopped in the middle of the fans and sang the Hearts song with the rest of us. If anyone deserves a cup winners medal then those two do. At this point everything in maroon was cheered and as Walter Kidd came of the bus, I yelled "ZICO" and everyone started chanting the silver fox's name. If a budgie had hopped of the bus it would have been hailed a hero, it was that sort of atmosphere.
The Hearts players came back out and Chris Robinson appealed for quiet. The place went quiet eventually when Robbo yelled out "ROUSSET" and the place erupted in praise of one of our best ever goalies. Chris calmed down the crowd again and with tears streaming down his face he told us that we'd be back in the next years final and that we'd win it. The thing is, I think he could be right.
Big Al
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