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Antti Niemi on why leaving Rangers for Hearts was the BEST decision of his career
Antti Niemi won trophies with Rangers and starred in the English Premier League. But the Finnish goalkeeper insists moving to Hearts was the BEST decision he ever made.
After a difficult couple of seasons on the fringes at Ibrox, Niemi was given the chance to kickstart his career at Tynecastle in 1999. With Gers dominating Scottish football at the time, some may have viewed it as a backwards step. For Niemi, it gave him the platform to make his mark in our game and later earned him the opportunity to test himself against the very best down south.
"My daughter was born in Glasgow in 1999 so I always said if I had to live in another country, then Scotland would be my place", he exclusively told Football Scotland. "I love the Scottish people, the sense of humour and the football is great so very warm memories overall.
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"Rangers obviously, I had a taste of professional football going from Finland to Denmark which was a big step but when you step into the Ibrox dressing room and recognise Ally McCoist, Paul Gascogine, Andy Goram and Ian Ferguson - it's like wow.
"Brian Laudrup, even before I went to Rangers I was looking at him on the TV and thinking he's one of the best midfielders in Europe, and then suddenly you're in the same dressing room. But everybody was so friendly like Ally McCoist, Andy Goram - he was so nice to me. It was very easy to go there and settle in but obviously things did not work out for me at that time.
"So I took two steps back to get another step forward and looking back at my career, going from Hearts to Rangers was probably the best decision I've ever made."
Having slipped behind Stefan Klos and Lionel Charbonnier in the Rangers pecking order, Niemi knew it was time to move elsewhere. But his decision was made easy following a chat with the Little General, Dick Advocaat.
He recalled: "Dick Advocaat pulled me in and said when Hearts made an offer, I obviously didn't know anything about it before the clubs reached the agreement. He pulled me in and was a dead straight guy and said: 'Antti, we had an offer. I've accepted it. If you want to go to Hearts, you can go. You are a very good goalkeeper but you'll never get a chance to prove it here.' So what choice do you have? But it was brilliant, I loved my time in Edinburgh."
A peripheral figure in Govan, Niemi seized the moment to showcase his undoubted ability and feel a part of something once again at Hearts.
He said: "We had a great dressing room filled with really good guys like Steve Fulton and Colin Cameron. The team spirit was absolutely fantastic and I felt that after being at Rangers for two-and-a-half years being second or third choice, I suddenly became a very important player for the team.
"I was one of those players that was, not carrying the team, but a senior player that was expected to do well and save points. I really enjoyed the responsibility. Obviously there are one or two games where I could have done better but if I played something like 120 games, there were a lot of games where I felt I really contributed to a result.
"I felt I played a really good part, made some good saves and can feel happy with myself. It was almost like a perfect period in my football career. That's how I feel at the moment looking back in the last 20 years. It's been more than 20 years, it's scary. Just overall, I can be really proud and if I ever go to Hearts games, I can keep my head high knowing I gave something to this club. It's a great feeling."
Having experienced the Glasgow derby, Niemi insists the capital showpiece is just as intense. The shotstopper was thrown into the deep end on his Hearts debut as Hibs ran out 3-0 winners in Gorgie. Further hammerings would follow, including a forgettable 6-2 defeat at Easter Road, during a time where the Hibees largely dominated the fixture. But Niemi did get the upperhand on a few occasions, bowing out of Tynecastle with a famous 5-1 thrashing.
Comparing the two derbies, Niemi said: "Obviously the stadiums aren't as big but I'm always telling people to go. I speak to a lot of people in football in different countries and they all say they want to go to an Old Firm. I tell them to absolutely go because it's a brilliant game and the atmosphere is something special, but I tell them if they can't get a ticket then they should go to the Edinburgh derby because the atmosphere is fantastic. It's absolutely brilliant.
"I wouldn't say it's like a mini-version of the Old Firm but the atmosphere is exactly the same. The fans don't like each other. It's a good game so if you can't get a ticket for the Old Firm, then go to Edinburgh and see Hearts vs Hibs. I think my first game was against Hibs. I had only been at the club for a few days and we got beaten 3-0 at home. That was a bad feeling but thankfully we got some better memories along the way."
Niemi's heroics between the sticks inevitably led to interest elsewhere and Southampton came calling in August 2002. While most players would instantly jump at the chance to play in arguably the best league in the world, Niemi initially wasn't so enthusiastic, which underlines just how much he loved his time at Hearts.
Asked if it was difficult leaving the Jam Tarts, he said: "Yeah, it was. Obviously when the Premier League clubs come in and want to sign you - it wasn't like Manchester United, Arsenal or Chelsea - it was Southampton and I had a fantastic period there.
"But when I heard about it, it wasn't like, 'Yeah, yeah, I'm going to go there'. But I thought about it for a few hours and I spoke to my wife and I was 30 years old. So if I didn't take that chance, do I get another chance? You want to test yourself against the best players in the world.
"The way things were going at Hearts, I felt so appreciated and I was playing well. I was happy to play in the Premier League, obviously, but I felt sad leaving that team and the fans behind. It's jumping into another challenge and there are no guarantees about how things are going to go.
"Craig Levein was the manager at the time. Just before I went to Southampton and the club accepted the offer, he offered me a three-year deal and mentioned that he wanted to sign me for a long time because I was such an important player.
"So that would have been the other option. But it definitely wasn't for money, I wasn't earning massively more than I was earning at Hearts. Southampton wasn't paying stupid money for players, I wanted a football challenge and it would have been very weird for me to say when you get that chance. 20 years later, I would feel very bad that I didn't have the courage to test myself."
Since retiring in 2010, Niemi has spent the last 14 years as a goalkeeping coach with the Finland national team. And earlier this summer, he accepted the role of assistant coach of Greek Super League side Volos. But will we ever see the 52-year-old back in Scotland one day?
He added: "It's hard work at the moment. It's 10 hours a day and a new role for me as an assistant coach. I've always been a goalkeeping coach, so it's a good learning curve. A different kind of responsibility and role.
"Will you ever see me in Scotland? I'm not even joking... we have a good team here, I work with Joaquín Gómez who is the head coach here. I've known him from my time at Brighton 10 years ago. We do sometimes talk about it and what we want from the future. He asked if there are any favourite places I'd like to go to in the future and I've always said Scotland. Any chance we get to go there, I've said 'Let's do it'. But we'll see, one day."
Antti Niemi was speaking courtesy of Freebets.com the home of betting sites.
