McCann salutes Hearts’ Roman enforcer Salvatori
NEIL McCANN last night paid tribute to former Hearts team-mate Stefano Salvatori after the Italian lost a short battle with illness aged just 49.
A key member of the Tynecastle side which won the 1998 Scottish Cup under Jim Jefferies, the Rome- born midfielder spent three years in Edinburgh having previously turned out for AC Milan, Fiorentina and Atalanta.
One of the unsung heroes of the squad which ended a 32-year wait for the cup to come back to Gorgie, his defensive nous was key to the 2-1 victory over Rangers at Celtic Park.
In 1999, Salvatori returned to Italy where he played for a string of lower-league clubs before calling time on his playing career in 2002.
He moved into agency work after hanging up his boots, though, and sporadically returned to Scotland to recommend players such as Manuel Pascali to Jefferies at Kilmarnock.
And McCann believes the role he played in one of Hearts’ most famous hours can’t be overstated.
‘Stefano was a brilliant player and I know a lot of Hearts fans feel he went under the radar that season,’ said the Dundee manager.
‘He did the ugly rubbish. He scored one goal at Dunfermline, a raker, and his celebration was pretty smart.
‘But, generally, he was one of those boys who had great intelligence. He was the midfield enforcer.
‘ I remember he had these massive thighs and he would just go about and knock people off the ball and give it to the wee lightweights up front to try to make something happen.
‘He never moaned about it, he was quiet and unassuming but he was vital to us that year. He will always be remembered.
‘It’s tragic news. I only learned last night and it’s a shocker. I got a shock not long ago with Stephane Paille passing away, too.’
Coming in the 20th anniversary season of that famous cup triumph, Salvatori’s passing is all the more poignant.
‘I was talking to Jim (Jefferies) the other night and he was saying the club were planning a number of events to mark t he 20 years,’ added M cC ann.
‘ There will be question and answer things and we hope to have a big reunion in the summer. ‘ If that happens, it’s going to be really sad we don’t have a member of that team there. ‘I think Stefano earned his place amongst the greats because the club went so long without a trophy and he played a huge part t hat season, not just in the cup, but also the league. I’ll forever remember him being a top team-mate who really integrated with the Scottish mentality so well.’ Reflecting on an infectious personality that marched to the beat of his own drum, McCann felt Salvatori was an essential part of a dressing room that became the first at Hearts in a generation to land silverware.
‘Stefano was a great team-mate,’ he added. ‘So often, foreigners come to your club and become cult figures. That happens when they become embroiled with the club and the history of it — and also when they bring success.
‘There were a couple of stories that sprung to mind when I was driving home thinking about him.
‘He was a character. I remember one game at Aberdeen when he was so cold he played with a cagoule, a jumper and a strip on!
‘There was one European game where he had this wee suitcase with him and it opened up as it was going round the carousel.
‘We looked in and there were three or four pairs of pants... and a hairdryer!
‘We’re all saying: “What’s this?” And he just smiled and said: “Well, you need pants and you need a hairdryer!” Everything else he needed, he already had on!
‘ I’m so sad he has passed. Remembrance Sunday is coming up and Hearts do that really well. I hope they remember Stefano.’
On more mundane matters, McCann’s Dundee side travel to Hibs on Saturday seeking to break a run of four straight defeats that has seen them drop to the foot of the table.
Already t his season, f our Premiership managers — Jim McIntyre, Lee McCulloch, Ian Cathro and Pedro Caixinha — have left their respective posts.
But McCann is unconcerned by such a pattern — believing his side have been playing better than their results suggest.
‘I don’t feel under pressure for my job, no,’ he said. ‘I took this post, which is a massive job, and I’m very proud to be in it.
‘I always put pressure on myself to do things to the best of my ability and I believe I am.
‘ What I feel pressure on is making sure I’m continuing to coach these guys to make them better, eradicate mistakes and turn it round.
‘I’m not scared of hard work and this week has been a really good week in terms of preparation.’
While the cheap manner of the three goals conceded at home to Hamilton last weekend has been a pressing matter in training this week, McCann won’t compromise his principles.
Keen to point out that individual errors and a lack of concentration, rather than playing out from the back, have been his side’s downfall, he added: ‘I know the fans get edgy and will say: “He’s brought in this style — yes, it’s attractive but look at the goals they’re conceding”.
‘We’ve maybe coughed up a few chances, but we haven’t conceded a goal, to my mind, playing out from the back.
‘I’m not going to stop playing like that. That’s not ignorance.
‘I’ve heard managers say: “We won’t change” and the results haven’t come. I understand things have got to change to stop us conceding.
‘But that comes to work on the training ground to make sure we are hard to beat out of possession.
‘ People keep saying to me: “Dundee are playing some football”, and we are, but it’s meaningless without results. I’m not ignorant to that fact.
‘We will change that with hard work. It won’t happen overnight and it won’t be a quick fix. It is l ong- term i n order to get to where we want to be.’