The first question which came from the hibs.net message board was about Tam’s signing for Hibs and the other teams that fought for his signature.  Bitter rivals Hearts were in for the young strikers signature and he was close to signing before Hibs stepped into the frame.  Boyhood team Celtic and St Johnstone were the other teams who were keen to sign McManus as a sixteen year old.  Ex youth coach Donald Park was the main reason Tam signed for Hibs.  He drove over to Glasgow in the snow one night to talk to Tam about signing for the club and that was when Tam knew Hibs were the club he wanted to play for.  Tam knew it would be easier to break into the first team at Hibs than it would be at Celtic as youngsters such as Mark Burchill were coming into the frame at Celtic at the time.  Donald Park came up many times in the interview and Tam named him as his biggest influence in the game.  He said that Donald knew when to kick you up the arse or cuddle you!

Rachel gets up close and personal with Tam McManus (hibs.net)

Tam mentioned that he was indeed a Celtic supporter and that he comes from a Celtic daft family.  How did it feel then to score two against his boyhood heroes? Tam pointed this out as one of his best career moments and the second goal that day as his personal best – although his family did not speak to him for a bit afterwards!

At this point the interview was rudely interrupted by Tam’s gaffer, Bobby Williamson from across the room.  “What’s this it’s usually only you and Stuart Crowther” he shouted.  “Are all these lassies here because it’s McManus?” This can be explained by the fact that also sitting in on the interview was the Ed’s niece and her mate so there were three women in attendance!

After that interruption the interview got underway again.  But not for long.  The battery in the mini disc player failed and the team had to send Tam searching for another one.  When he did find another battery it didn’t work either so we had to wait for Mr Crowther to return as he had the spare battery! “He’s a jinx” cried the editor in despair! Finally after a short while the interview was able to get underway with the interview team hoping there would be no more hiccups after finally managing to pin Tam down after two previous attempts.

It moved on to talking about the players who have helped Tam and who have influenced him as a player.  This was quite a long list consisting of Mixu Paatelainen, Franck Sauzee, Craig Brewster and Yogi Hughes.  From a strikers point of view the help Craig and Mixu gave to Tam was talked about in detail.  Tam felt that it was a big mistake to let Craig go as he pointed out about the amount of goals Craig has set up for Stevie Crawford at Dunfermline.  Mixu was just described as a top man up front and Tam pointed out that a few of the youngsters owed a lot to Mixu for helping them out like the experience Kenny Miller got from him and similar to the help Garry O’Connor received from Craig.  Franck was also described by Tam as a great influence because he was a great guy.  He would always make time for them and took time out to help them.  He also used to watch Franck practice his free kicks and Tam hopes that he can bang a few more free kicks in like Franck could.  Tam also pointed out when asked about his best position that he is told to play up front but likes to play on the wing too putting crosses in like he did on his debut against Hearts.

What does Tam McManus really think of Hearts and their supporters? “Hearts are a lovely team” says Tam with a smile on his face.  Then he told the truth.  He says the supporters aren’t great and as a Hibs player he doesn’t like Hearts or the supporters.  I sense controversy brewing!

Tam is very close to his family and talked about them many times.  He counts his dad as one of his football mentors as he took him to every game and to training and drove him about all over the place.  Donald Park is another of Tam’s mentors it is obvious the young striker thought a lot of his old coach and Tam feels that Donald was under-rated while he was at Hibs.  And his mum.  Well, a lot has been said in the press about Tam and one person who is very disappointed in him when these things happen is his mother.  The main object of this was that celebration at Tannadice.  He said “my mum was raging!” The celebration did get Tam into trouble with his gaffer.  As Tam put it “I got the Alex Ferguson hair dryer”.  He said that while he was getting a going over from the gaffer his team-mates were standing behind the boss pulling faces but he managed not to laugh.  Good thing too by the sounds of it.

Tam noises up the Jambo's - but he might have played for them (sns)

The reasons for that celebration popped up a few times.  Was it planned? Well yes it was according to Tam.  The subject of lap dancing came up several times usually from Tam himself who made humour out of it.  His advice to young boys in football is don’t go into lap dancing clubs but more seriously just stick in even though it’s hard.  Did you win at the casino Tam? It turns out he wasn’t even betting he’d just nipped in to go to the toilet and happened to be caught in the doorway. 

Before a competitive game Tam just relaxes on the Friday night allowing his mum to pamper him! It has been noticed during the season that stamina and strength has improved in the squad.  Tam explained that this was because they are made to run at training all the time – a pet hate of all the players.  Tam says he curses Jim Clark at times because he just runs them and runs them.  Tam admits he does feel fitter but he won’t say thanks because he hates the running!

On the subject of running Tam says that his approach has changed since his injury last year.  He said he used to run about all over the place – a bit like a headless chicken but now he doesn’t run as much but we’re not to tell the gaffer! Sorry Tam hope he doesn’t read this! Someone who Tam would like to run alongside as his strike partner is Henrik Larsson.  Tam classes Henrik as simply a legend.

Tam’s ambitions are to win a trophy with Hibs especially the Scottish Cup and to get a call up to the full international side.  Tam played no part in the Scottish Cup Final in 2001 and this is not something he needs reminding of.  He said that he was “devastated” not to play as he thought he had played well enough in the previous rounds to get a place.  When Alex McLeish told him he wasn’t playing Tam said that he had a few choice words for his gaffer one beginning with “F” and the other beginning with “O”.  I’ll leave the thoughts for yourselves as to what they were.  Tam said that he has never forgiven McLeish for that day and that while he sat at Hampden he felt tears rise in his eyes as he wanted to be on that pitch.  This was Tam’s worst career moment as well as the leg break sustained against Dundee.  But on a happier note his best moment was his debut against Hearts because he knew he hadn’t let himself down that day.

Tam’s Scotland days are here already with the u21 squad.  His best trip with the squad was to Latvia last year but not for the football – he can’t even remember the score from the game.  All he remembers was that the standard of women was unbelievable! How have things changed under Rainer Bonhof in the u21 camp? He is doing a great job according to Tam because he is laid back.  He said that it really boosts you when Bonhof pays you a compliment because the guy is a legend. Can Scotland qualify for Euro 2004? No in Tam’s opinion.  He thinks that the Lithuania result killed Scotland and that they will find it hard to beat Germany so our best hope is the next World Cup Qualifiers.

Another celebration - this time after scoring against Celtic at Parkhead, much to the disgust of his family! (sns)

Does he want rid of the Old Firm? It’s a difficult one for Tam because of the two viewpoints.  The supporters want to win the league which is nigh on impossible with the Old Firm still there while the players get a real thrill when they go to Parkhead or Ibrox.  But Tam would like to keep them in Scotland.  But he does believe that they could survive in the Premiership.  Celtic have showed it in the UEFA Cup and with their fan base they would do OK.  If the Old Firm or the Premiership came in for him where would Tam go? He said that he could never and could not see himself ever signing for Rangers – he would have to move to Mars if he did as his family would not be too pleased about it.  He said that the place to be is England but that is not in his thoughts right now.

As a young lad Tam played for two Glasgow boys clubs – Celtic North from the age of seven to fourteen and then West Park until he was sixteen when he signed for Hibs.  As a young player Tam knows how damaging abuse can be and he talked about this when asked about the abuse Garry O’Connor was receiving from so-called “fans”.  He feels it is not great for Garry’s confidence and that the fans are not helping him at all.  After all he said Garry is a young player and there is nothing worse than abuse when you’re a young player.  He hopes that the fans realise now that this will not help Garry as much as a positive shout would.

As usual the interview ended with the not so serious questions.  Who is the biggest prankster.  Simple answer- him! The funniest prank Tam has ever seen is when Yogi nailed Dirk Lehmann’s boots to the floor one day while he was on the training pitch.  And as a matter of fact Tam pulled a prank that day on Freddie Arpinon.  After having tortillas or fajitas for their lunch Tam put some tortillas under the insoles of Freddie’s shoes.  If he reads this Tam you’ve been rumbled my son!  So what did happen the last time you were meant to be interviewed for hibs.net Tam? He just forgot.  That’s his excuse and he’s sticking to it! And what do you think of all the attention you get from female fans? It’s very flattering says Tam but it can be a bit embarrassing at times.  When told of Ian Murray’s comments about the attention Tam gets namely being that a woman must be blind or drunk to fancy him he replied “Murray’s got some cheek!”

On that note a big thanks to Tam for actually turning up this time it was appreciated! And I can’t slag off his taste in music except for one.  It was all going swimmingly on the music front with a Bruce Springsteen number, Queen and David Gray but then out of the blue came Westlife! This provoked a “WHAT!” from the interview team but he did redeem himself with a Rod Stewart song – thankfully!