Heart of Midlothian Football Club is today saddened to learn of the death of former defender Willie Polland, who has passed away aged 75.

Willie was a solid and very consistent defender who gave Heart of Midlothian outstanding and dependable service during the 60s, playing 254 matches, mainly at right-back or centre-half. Of these, 221 were senior competitive games.

He came from Armadale in West Lothian, where he was born on 28 July 1934. It was there that Willie became a promising juvenile footballer with Wallhouse Rose from which he was recruited by Raith Rovers in June 1955. The burly 5'10" stopper quickly became a stalwart in a fine Rovers team that finished fourth in the League in 1956-57.

In around 200 appearances, Willie helped the Kirkcaldy club to remain at the top level in the Scottish game but in April 1961 he was signed by Hearts together with Willie Wallace for a joint fee of £15,500. This was a dream move for the tough defender who was a life-long Hearts supporter.

Willie made his debut on 29 April 1961 at Tynecastle, when Hearts beat Dundee by 2-1 in the League. He then enjoyed an eventful career in maroon, the highlight of which came in October 1962 when he was at right-back in the League Cup Final victory over Kilmarnock. He also played in the League Cup Final in 1961-62 but Hearts went down 3-1 to Rangers after a replay.

The hard-tackling ball winner subsequently made nine appearances for Hearts in the European Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (now the Europa League), playing against Union Royale St.Gilloise, Internazionale Milan, Lausanne-Sports, Valerengens and Real Zaragoza. In addition, he was rock-solid when Hearts took part in the New York Soccer League in 1964 and also on the club's Norwegian Tour in the summer of 1965.

On that trip to Norway, against Valerengens on 10 June 1965, Willie scored a rare goal in the Maroons' 4-1 victory. His only other goal for Hearts came in September 1965 in the 1-1 draw away to Dunfermline Athletic in the League.

In 1964-65, Willie was a regular in the squad that tragically lost the Scottish Championship, on goal average, on the final day of the season. However, he recovered from that huge disappointment and remained an important cover man, being well into his 30s before he returned to Raith Rovers in March 1967.

The Fife club was promoted to the First Division that season but unfortunately in the first game of 1967-68, Willie suffered a broken leg and was out for an extended period. He then helped Rovers to survive at the top level but when the Kirkcaldy club was eventually relegated in 1969-70, Willie decided to hang up his boots as injuries were starting to affect his game.

He later ran a family building firm and was a publican in his home-town of Armadale.

Our condolences go to his family at this sad time.