Marc Leonard says 'high pressure situation' drew him to Hearts as Birmingham City loanee up for title fight
The former Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder is looking forward to facing first club Rangers at Ibrox this weekend.
Marc Leonard says that fighting for the league title with Hearts was one of the main things that attracted him to Tynecastle in the January transfer window.
The midfielder signed on loan from EFL Championship side Birmingham City with a view to getting more regular game time in the Scottish Premiership. It marked his return north of the border, having been in both the Jambos and Rangers youth systems, since leaving as a teenager to sign for Brighton & Hove Albion.
The next big fixture at the top of the table comes from Ibrox this weekend as Hearts take on Rangers. A win for the visitors would see them go eight points clear of Danny Rohl’s team while a home victory would cut the gap to just two.
‘One of the main reasons I wanted to come back’ - Birmingham City loanee Marc Leonard on motivation behind Hearts return
Speaking ahead of the match, Leonard said: “It was probably one of the main reasons that I wanted to come back up at the time because there was that high-pressure situation where, obviously, it was a Celtic game at the time and then you've got big games coming thick and fast after.
“ I mean, none more so than the weekend. I'm sure we've all watched the games, watched the results midweek. One we're looking forward to and we're in a good place.
“I've got a lot of friends that play up here and my family and all that are up here, so I've always took an interest. A lot of our games, I've said this before, we're three o'clock Saturday, Tuesday, so it was always, if there was Sunday games, I was always watching or stuff like that.
“There was boys down there, there was Alex Cochrane who used to always talk about the Hearts games and whatnot, so it was good. So I actually have watched more this season than I ever have before.”
Leonard was part of the Birmignham City team that won English Football League One last season but his game times has been limited after there promotion. Getting more regular football was another big reason behind him leaving but his long term future is still very much at St Andrew’s.
He said: “I’m still contracted to Birmingham, but I think, bigger picture, I wanted to play more football and I think the opportunity that came up, I don't think anyone would have turned that down to come here and play and to be part of this team that's sitting top of the league right now.
“The standards there are extremely high, and obviously it's a huge club with great facilities and we achieved a lot last year because of how high we drove the standards. We had six games to go and we'd already won the league, and we never lost any of them.
“I think that cements how high the standard was. But the standards here are extremely high and that's driven through the manager, to the assistants, to even every staff that takes part in the training sessions, not to let it dip because, obviously, as we all know, Celtic Rangers are great teams, huge clubs and if they smell blood, then that's going to be the problem.
“So we need to stay on top of it, even if it's not actually a game day. It's every single day getting ready for it.”
Similarities between ‘motivational’ Derek McInnes and Tom Brady
Leonard had the chance to meet minority Birmingham City owner and NFL legend Tom Brady last season. He compared his interactions with the seven time Superbowl winner and current coach Derek McInes.
“He (Brady) came to a couple of the games. Aye, quite surreal, just weird seeing him up close, to be honest. He was a really good speaker.
“He was really motivational, the other sort of co-owner with him was Tom Wagner. Also the two of them were quite heavily involved, and they were like I said, good motivational speakers, and they would speak before big games, and after losses sometimes they'd maybe call in during the week and sort of speak to you, gee you up, or give you a wee up there if you needed it, you know.”
Then asked about McInnes, he added: “ He's very motivational. I understood that from when I spoke to him on the phone straight away. I realised that he was someone that instils a lot of faith and a lot of trust in the players straight away. I mean, I hadn't even trained here, and he was already instilling that sort of faith and trust in me, so it was great.”