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I'm a diehard Hibs fan who played for Hearts but 2 awkward jokes ended my Tynecastle career
Danny Swanson grew up as a diehard Hibs fan. But his journey to Easter Road took a sharp turn as he did the unthinkable by joining Hearts.
The Dundee United Scottish Cup-winning hero returned north of the border in 2015 after spending three years in England with Peterborough United and Coventry City. After a brief loan stint at St Johnstone, the midfielder had no option but to move home after his contract with Sky Blues was ripped up early, meaning he couldn't sign for another English side.
Yet despite his impressive CV, Swanson was short of options as he attempted to find himself a new club in the SPFL. Determined to fulfil his dream of playing for his boyhood club, Swanson called Alan Stubbs to offer his services, only to be knocked back.
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That left city rivals Hearts as the only other option and Swanson decided to cross the divide and pledge his future to the men in maroon. It didn't take long, though, for Swanson to work out that his time at Tynecastle wasn't going to last long after a couple of awkward moments with Jambos boss Robbie Neilson.
"I was at Coventry and I got released during the season but I couldn’t sign for another English team", he told Open Goal. "Basically what had happened was I was meant to be getting paid up and I was to stay at the training ground to get paid up before the deadline shut.
"A young boy asked for a lift home so I took him home, but I ended up missing the deadline and they were like, ‘well, you’ve missed it basically.’ They said, ‘the only way we can do it is give you your money but you can’t sign for another team from England.’ So I said that’s fine and then Hearts came in.
"I actually contacted Stubbsy [Alan Stubbs, former Hibs manager] at Hibs first and said, ‘Hearts have contacted me, would Hibs take me?’ But at the time they’d just signed Fraser Fyvie so they can’t do it. So I signed for Hearts and listen, I was delighted, it’s a massive club.
"But obviously being a mad Hibs fan and everybody knew it, there were people phoning my dad’s pubs saying, ‘your laddie’s not signing for Hearts or we’ll do this and that’. So right away, I found it so difficult at Hearts. The pressure I just couldn’t deal with it. It wasn’t like the fans were terrible (to me) but I always felt at the back of my head that they were – and it was just hard.
"I never really played. I had a good debut actually. Yogi’s maybe mentioned this before but I made my debut against Inverness Caley for Hearts and we ended up getting beat, but I played really well. So I’m coming in the tunnel and somebody’s picked me up from the back saying, ‘aw your dad will be buzzing with that result’. And I’m laughing and just joking but I turn around and Robbie Neilson’s just standing there watching us and that was it for me."
Despite letting the mask clip, Swanson went on to play nine games for Hearts that season. But ahead of the infamous Edinburgh derby Scottish Cup fourth round tie at Tynecastle in 2016, Swanson soon discovered that the writing was on the wall for him.
He added: "And then the final straw was when we were playing Hibs in the Scottish Cup, the year Hibs won the Scottish Cup (in 2016) and we had a big meeting. Robbie was going over tickets asking, ‘who wants tickets for the game?’ And I was just joking and said, ‘I’ll take 15 tickets for the Hibs end’.
"I was just joking and all the boys were laughing. But that was it because Robbie just wasn’t pleased and I think that was it, that was it done. It was never going to work there."
Unsurprisingly, Swanson lasted just five months at Hearts before securing an escape route to McDiarmid Park as he returned to his former club on an 18-month deal. His impressive form earned him a dream move to Easter Road in 2017, although it proved to be an ill-fated spell. He re-signed for St Johnstone a year later before hanging up his boots after brief stints at East Fife and Cowdenbeath.
