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The defender is relishing the chance awaiting his club in Belgium
Having your own song as a footballer marks you out from the rest, as Hearts defender James Penrice is now discovering. A rather catchy tune was struck up by supporters recently in tribute to Penrice’s excellent displays. Since arriving at Tynecastle Park from Livingston in the summer, he has probably been the most consistent player in maroon.
Fans are responding in numbers. Those who travelled to Belgium for Thursday’s UEFA Conference League tie with Cercle Brugge are in full party mode. Penrice’s own song spread on social media in the last few days and even reached the player. He tried to play it down but is fully aware his on-field efforts are being recognised.
“I got sent the song a couple of times yesterday. It's always good,” he smiled. “It's probably the first one I've got. It's more for my family. It's stuff for them that they can look and be proud of. I said it before I signed that I can come in and make an impact here. I think I've done that. I never had a pre-season. Now I feel I'm getting up to my best game, I can keep showing people what I can do.”
Could lead to Scotland recognition if it continues? Neil Critchley, the Hearts head coach, believes Penrice would deserve an international call-up. “We had a conversation about my ambitions,” said the left-back. “For my career, I mentioned that Scotland was one of them. I don't see why not. I'm at a huge club. If I keep playing, I've got to have a chance.”
There is stiff competition in his area at international level. He would need to compete with Liverpool’s Andy Robertson and Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney among others for a Scotland shirt. “It’s no’ bad fight, isn't it?” smiled Penrice. “Playing against big teams, you need to go and perform. That's what I want to do. I want to perform every game and see where it takes me.”
His former Livingston team-mate Nicky Devlin has won two Scotland caps since joining Aberdeen in 2023 and could be viewed as inspiration for Penrice. “Absolutely. Nicky's been brilliant. It wasn't a long time ago he was with Livingston. It's hard work and that's what gets you where you need to go.”
More than 3,000 Hearts supporters will be in attendance against Cercle hoping to see the victory which would effectively secure the Edinburgh club’s place in the Conference League’s knockout play-off round. “There's no words you can put together. They're going to be here and they're going to be loud,” stated Penrice. “Even in the airport today, the airport was full of hard fans. That's what we want. We want the backing and we need to go and show that we can go and pull out a result.
“Every game should be the same. You should want to win. Whether there's 15,000 Hearts fans or 5,000 Hearts fans, you should want to go and win games. There's a belief from us and a demand from ourselves that we can go and do that. Europe has been good to be fair. Playing where I was last year and then coming here and playing on big European nights, it's been good. I've said it before, I think the big games every couple of days and then playing in Europe, it was a massive attraction and I'm just glad I'm doing it.
“Even the [Conference League] song getting played before the match, it was a bit of a weird one the first time I heard it. It's been a crazy year, but for me and my family it's been brilliant and I look forward to these games. It's just taking every game as it comes, really. It will be the same. We'll look towards Sunday after this game, but the focus is on tomorrow and going and putting three points on the board.”
The left-back’s transition from Livingston to Hearts has looked smooth, although he explained it wasn’t quite like that in reality. “If it looks like that, that's probably good. It's been difficult, I'm not going to lie,” he said. “It was a different way of playing. I've had to get used to that. I didn't really have a pre-season as well. It was difficult from January on and then when I knew this was going to happen, it's just been excitement. I just want to get on the pitch and try and perform for a win.”
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