The Hearts family welcomed Alexander Schwolow with open arms and made him feel right at home. But no matter how loved the German goalkeeper felt in the last 11 months he’s spent in Gorgie, he knows nothing matters more than those closest to his heart. Even the most memorable season in the 34-year-old’s career isn’t enough to tip the scales in Edinburgh’s favour. Not when his wife and two young girls struggled to settle in Scotland and longed for home.
Emotional Decision to Leave
Schwolow carried the weight of his young family’s situation on his shoulders as Hearts put up the most remarkable title challenge before agonisingly falling short in the last minutes against Celtic in May. Yet he was as impressive a figure as any in a season he described as starting on fire, finishing in agony and with “an amazing chaos in between”. Schwolow insists the pain he feels from that ending will connect him to the Gorge faithful for the rest of his days.
He will say his goodbyes to those fans in tonight’s Champions League second qualifying round second leg clash with Sturm Graz at Tynecastle. And there was clear emotion in the normally unflusterable goalie’s voice as he spoke with the media to explain his decision to accept a move back home with Bundesliga side Mainz and reveal his heart-to-heart talks with sporting director Graeme Jones.
Schwolow said: “It was very emotional because I thought about that decision to talk to Graeme for a long time, it has been a process with my family not being happy here, so it was not an easy call to make. But it just needed to be done from my side, just to protect the health of my family. It was very hard to make that decision and it took very long. I informed the club that we have problems with the family in March so it took a while and we've tried a long time, so it's not like it came up out of nowhere. I think that's why Graeme also understood my situation, so we really tried to make it work because I was enjoying it a lot, it was one of the best seasons I've had in my life, most enjoyable season I've had in my life. I was loving the different mentality here, it was so refreshing for me coming from Germany to a new environment and you had different patterns, different humour. I would have loved to continue. But I’m 34 years old now and I'm not only a football player. You feel how your family changes in a negative way and then you have to make a decision or try to get in talks with the club to find a solution because you just feel that you're harming them and they've always been there for me my whole life, travelled around with me and it has never been easy for them. But especially now abroad it has not been easy and I'm very grateful for the understanding especially from Graeme and that we could find a solution there.”
Memories and Final Match
Schwolow would love nothing more than to say goodbye with yet another magical Tynecastle occasion tonight. Checking out with a victory is important. But if Wouter Vrancken's men somehow manage to turn around the four-goal deficit it would be something more akin to a fairytale.
He said: “Yeah definitely. I'm looking very much forward to the game. I really do believe that Tynecastle can create magical nights and maybe on Tuesday that's one of those nights, but we have to arrange it on the pitch. Sturm Graz you saw it last week felt like a little bit boys versus adults so we just need to be the adults tomorrow and play ugly if it's needed, just be a good team. If we score one goal the mood can change and everything can happen, but we should just not focus on this 4-0, just focus on making a good game, getting a win at Tynecastle. I think the fans deserve that in the first place and we deserve it for the achievement over the last season that we just got into the Champions League qualification.”
Should they fall short Schwolow will still have plenty of memories to take back home. Good and bad. The big keeper laughs ruefully when asked which moments stick out. He said: “Yeah, of course, a big defeat in the end! Actually a lot of positive ones. The games against the Old Firm. My first game at Ibrox, where we won 2-0 and Christmas too with the boys in London was nice as well! So many good things but yeah, in the end, like 90 per cent positive.”
