Barry Anderson's Hearts: Inside 20 years as Tynecastle reporter from Romanov chases to a new era dawning
Our Hearts correspondent, Barry Anderson, is 20 years in the job and we turn the questions on him to dig into his time covering the club.
Over and Over by Nelly was top of the charts. The world's longest railway tunnel was completed in Japan.
Elsewhere on February 27th 2005, in a quiet office in the Scottish capital, Barry Anderson’s Evening News contract was signed, sealed and delivered. In an industry of turnover and mass change on an almost constant basis, only the best stand the test of time, and our Hearts correspondent can certainly put himself in that pantheon of Scottish football journalists.
A certain generation of Jambos supporter will not know the Tynecastle club without Barry’s coverage of Hearts. Joining in the opening throes of the Vladmir Romanov era, this would serve as a precursor for what would be a defining two decades in maroon history encapsulating some of the highest highs and crushing lows.
Within his first 18 months he had covered big money signings, Scottish Cup delight and Champions League qualifying-round football. Heading into the 2010s, he was at the heart of coverage surrounding financial woe, a battle for the team he covered and their very existence, plus the defiant movement that has set Hearts up for the future.
Throw in a couple of relegations, promotions and a certain derby win in May 2012 alongside European endeavours, few local journalists can claim to have had as frantic a time covering one club as Barry has. Even fewer can say the covered it as well with dignity, accuracy and a genuine care for the readership and people who helped him make the stories happen.
So we thought it best to turn the questions on Barry for a rare change, not about Hearts or their current push up the Premiership table, but on him and where he found the side now managed by Neil Critchley.
“I was writing for Scotland on Sunday and I was working in radio. I was working for Real Radio, which is now Heart,” Barry began. “I was sports correspondent there for the east of Scotland so I covered Hearts, Hibs and Scottish rugby, plus a wee bit of Livingston stuff. Quite enjoyed that role and enjoyed writing for Scotland on Sunday as well. A job came up at the Evening News and the editor of Scotland on Sunday had recently left to go across to the Evening News, John McLellan, and he was kind enough to give me a go.
“I have been here ever since. Purely coincidentally, that month I started at the Evening News was the month that Vladimir Romanov got control of Hearts and we all know how that panned out over subsequent years. I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing but it certainly kept me busy because there was so much stuff going on. You were firefighting every day.
“Initially at the Evening News, I covered Hibs and Hearts for a few months and then I got promoted to Hearts correspondent midway through the 2005-06 season - just when the madness was about to peak. I was thrown in right at the deep end I was only in my mid-20s. It was a good job to get. There was so much to write about, you were never short of a story, I suppose nothing orthodox. Everything was unconventional. There were daft things going on about physios with golden sticks tapping players on the knee and diagnosing problems. You honestly need about three podcasts to talk about it.”
The Romanov era was something Barry got to cover in all of its maddening entirety. Usual contractual terms in his Evening News contract did not, and by our understanding still don’t, contain demands for chasing the Hearts owner up a mountain on a bike.
“I remember chasing him on one of the pre-season trips to Austria,” Barry recounted. “Chasing him through this village in a mountain. He's in a car getting chauffeur driven, me and our photographer are on pedal bikes. So, we're chasing this car all the way through because he's going to a training session for Kaunas. He gets there, we get there puffing and panting as you can imagine after trying to chase the car. By the time we get there the training session is nearly done and he's finished speaking to whoever he's speaking to and about to get back in the car. We say, ‘oh can we have a five minutes?’ The reply was: ‘No, no, there's no time.’ so he's back in the car, we're on the bikes again chasing him back down the street, trying to see where he's going next. It was pretty crazy.”
Administration soon came as the Romanov era met a messy end, and it proved a front and back page topic for weeks on end. Barry and the Evening News team were at the heart of it, and he won’t forget some of the harrowing images of ordinary people caught up in the crisis, or the incredible efforts to save the club by the Foundation of Hearts.
“I think right away when you realise the figures that they were paying people to come to Hearts, figures like £10,000 a week, £12,000 a week, even beyond that in one or two instances, you realise that long-term this isn't sustainable,” Barry explained. “That's okay when you're getting propped up by what was at the time Romanov and his investment group. When they started to get into bother, then naturally there's a kind of knock-on effect towards Hearts. That's how it panned out in 2013 when they ended up in administration, just a year after winning the Scottish Cup.
“I'll never forget it. Although there is a lot of this job and a lot of the last 20 years that have been enjoyable, there's been a lot that's been really difficult and that was definitely one of the most difficult days standing outside Tynecastle in June 2013 when the administrators arrived. I'll never forget the three of them - Bryan Jackson, Trevor Birch and James Stephen - walking down McLeod Street and along the cobbles with their suitcases. The three of them all came in together and they were basically moving in to take over Hearts to make sure they didn't go out of business. It was really harrowing, people being laid off, told that they don't have a job anymore.
“I remember one of the young females that worked there, she just bought a house with her partner, she was pregnant and she was told, ‘that's you finished.’ People in tears, ‘that's me done.’ It was horrible. Administration at any club is terrible to watch and and you're actually standing there thankful thinking, to be selfish for a minute: ‘I'm so glad this isn't me.’
“This was happening to real people, ordinary people, who had ordinary jobs and earned ordinary salaries and needed those salaries to pay rent and mortgage and put food on the table. They're out of a job because of somebody at the top who just didn't seem to know when to rein it in; didn't seem to know when to draw the line and actually prioritise, structure and run things properly and sensibly. For that, Romanov deserves all the criticism that he gets because it was unacceptable.
“It was front and back page for weeks and so it should be. An institution of that size in financial trouble with so many jobs depending on it, apart from the emotional ties that supporters have. So that was an enormous time for us. We caught onto the fact quite early that Hearts are in trouble here and any football club that's in trouble needs a local paper: ‘We have to do our bit and we absolutely need to step up to the mark here.’ So we did. We were running campaigns to help Hearts and generate money and got right behind the Foundation of Hearts, which was acknowledged by people in charge of the Foundation at the time.
“It became evident early that Foundation of Hearts were really the only show in town in terms of getting Hearts out of administration. It was either them or it was liquidation. It was the passion of the fans that underpinned that time and I love writing that story. I'll keep writing it, I don't think I'll ever stop. There were stories of little kids turning up at Tynecastle emptying their piggy banks and taking the money along and all that sort of stuff. The people behind the Foundation deserve so much credit. It wasn't just them because all the other supporters clubs were on board with them at the time and they all contributed - the Federation of Hearts Supporters Clubs, the Hearts Shareholders Association, Hearts Youth Development Committee, Hearts Trust, etc, they all did their bit.
“That's one of the enduring thoughts that I have when I look back on 20 years covering Hearts. Without the fans they're nothing, same as any club. I know that's a cliché but you know it's literally been proven. Hearts have put the theory to the test that without the fans they simply don't survive and so it's great to see all the supporters get their rewards over the last few years with European trips, finishing third and having some good results and seeing some pretty decent players as well coming into the club. It doesn't make up for the administration and the damage that caused to people's lives and nobody should forget that but it's simply a way of moving on from it.”
Now moving into a new era - with Barry the first to break the news of Tony Bloom’s proposed investment into Hearts with Jamestown Analytics coming along for the ride - our man in the know senses a bright Gorgie future. There’s also a hearty thanks for the Evening News team who have helped get him to the this stage where he is still the main voice of Hearts within Scottish media.
“Jamestown's involvement is a potential game changer,” Barry added. “The analytics and the way it works opens up so many doors for them in terms of recruitment. Not just player recruitment but also coaches and managers. They have won a watch with that. It's much better covering a club that's thriving and doing well rather than one that's struggling all the time. It has been, I can say, a complete rollercoaster over the last 20 years just the way Hearts have gone.
“There's a whole team of people that deserve a lot of praise in the background that have helped out just in terms of production and putting the paper together during that time. Ramsay Laing, Mark Atkinson, Colin Watson, Graham Lindsay, Nigel Southworth, Fin Wilson, and not forgetting Colin Greenhill -who is sadly no longer with us. All these type of people did a terrific job in helping us produce things that are a little mark in history and that some people will cherish for a long time.”