ROBBIE HORN leans on a wall as half a dozen James Bonds wander past him for a picture opportunity and mutters almost to himself; this is unbelievable.
And it is as well. Although it's worth noting that even a sextet of Sean Connerys is not close to the most surreal experience he's been going through of late. This 007 oddity will be explained in a bit.
Horn is the manager of Bonnyrig Rose of the East Superleague. Situated just outside Edinburgh’s city limits, the junior club held a press day on Tuesday morning just four days before the biggest game in their history. It was something of a first.
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The Rose face Hibernian at Tynecastle – their home of New Dundas Park was never going to host such a match – in the Scottish Cup this Saturday. For Horn, who began his playing career at Hearts, the change of venue makes this all the more special.
Imagine this; the Scottish Cup holders being knocked out by a junior side. That could be made into a film. It's a shame that Connery, who played for Bonnyrig, which is the link, has retired and therefore unable to lend his acting skills.
“The publicity we’ve had since beating Dumbarton, it’s all been a bit surreal to be honest,” said Horn. “It’s been a bit of a distraction for games and training as well and it’s been hard to keep the players focused. I had a wee go at them last week after we got beaten by Dundonald.
“I reminded them at training how important it was to stay focused – and then the next day I got a phone call about what was happening today. I had to ask the guys to come back in and do a James Bond themed photo shoot – that put the focus thing right out of the window!
Ach, if they can’t enjoy this week then what’s the point of life.
One man who can’t take the smile off his face is star striker Wayne McIntosh, a bundle of energy who is counting the seconds until a day he will never forget no matter the outcome.
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“I’m a Hearts fan and it will be amazing to run out at Tynecastle as the home team,” said McIntish, a joiner by trade.
“I played at Tynecastle when Hearts and Hibs played a charity match last year – and I scored a hat-trick! You can actually watch the highlights on YouTube – like I have loads of times. Even just hearing your name read out: ‘Number ten, Wayne McIntosh!’ was incredible!
“That was only in front of a couple of hundred people – never mind 13,000! So to run out in front of 13,000 will be unbelievable. If I could score a goal against Hibs the boots would get nailed up in the changing room. I wouldn’t even come back to football!”
You read that right. There is going to be 13,000 people inside the stadium, many supporting the mighty Rose who have sold 4900 tickets of their own.
Manager Horn, who volunteered at the ticket office such as it is, said: “It’s a family occasion – people were coming to buy tickets as families, not just as individuals, to make sure they were sitting together, and players obviously selling tickets to their family and friends. It’s a great achievement to sell so many tickets. But I genuinely think we could have sold a lot more.”
By all accounts, Bonnyrig are a well-run club; however, there is not a single junior outfit who would not see this Saturday as a lottery win.
“Obviously the money will set us up for another couple of years, I’d imagine,” said Horn. “And they have already talked about what they might do with the money, maybe install floodlights etc, so we are looking to spend the money the right way, not just splash it out on players.
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“Hopefully I will get some money to get some players!.But the way they are doing it is right. In my opinion they deserve their day in the sun.”
Back to Connery, a decent player who had trials with Manchester United, and the Dalkeith Advertiser in 1951 reported that the future spy scored for Bonnyrigg with a 30-yards shot in a 3-1 defeat by Broxburn Athletic.
When the draw was made, the now 86-year-old Sir Sean was quoted as saying; “I wish them all the best. I was told there had been articles and some coverage about it. I follow the football from all over – I get it in my study.
“Of course I wish them well. I wish them all the best – please tell them that. It will be interesting – football has certainly become a different game now from when I was involved.”
McIntosh posed with his team-mates with Connery masks, black bow ties et al, and liked the idea that he had that other famous Edinburgh punter had something in common.
“I didn’t know I was following in his footsteps when I signed,” said McIntosh. “But it’s like that when you’re winning – everybody comes out of the closet don’t they!
“I think if we were getting beaten I don’t think he would have phoned or there wouldn’t have been any message! All jokes aside, it’s brilliant someone like him has done something like that.”
Robbie Horn and Wayne McIntish were speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is the proud sponsor of the Scottish Cup
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