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Heart of Midlothian F.C. (almost always referred to as Hearts) is a football club from Edinburgh, Scotland which plays in the Scottish Premier League. It is one of the two principal clubs in the city, the other being Hibernian. The club is currently managed by Valdas Ivanauskas. Vladimir Romanov recently became the major shareholder of Hearts when he took over Chris Robinson's stake.

History

Hearts were founded in 1874 and are named after a dance hall, which in turn took its name from the novel The Heart of Midlothian by Sir Walter Scott. The first Hearts Captain, Tom Purdie, stated that they may have played in 1873. They initially played at the Meadows, Powburn and Powderhall before moving to the Gorgie area in 1881. They moved to their current Tynecastle site in 1886. Their badge is based on the Heart of Midlothian mosaic on the Royal Mile.

Hearts' major rivals in the city of Edinburgh are Hibernian F.C. In response to Hibernian's largely Irish-Catholic fan base in East Edinburgh, Hearts assumed a default alliance with Protestant interests in the capital, although sectarian ties have nowhere near the influence that they do in Glasgow with the rivalry between Rangers and Celtic football clubs (see also Old Firm). Hearts' first match was on Christmas Day 1875, when they beat Hibernians 1–0. It wasn't until their titanic five game struggle for the EFA Cup in 1878, that the two clubs became the dominant ones in Edinburgh. Hearts won the fifth match tussle 3–2 after 0–0, 1–1, 1–1 and 1–1 draws.

Hearts had considerable success in the early years of the Scottish Football League winning the league championship in 1894-5 and 1895-6. They also won four Scottish Cups in a 15 year period from 1891 to 1906.

The Cup Final of 1896 is the only one to have been played outside Glasgow. Hearts beat their local rivals Hibs 3–1 on 14th March 1896 at Logie Green.

The club then went from 1906 to 1954 without winning a major trophy. They then had their most successful years winning the 1958 League title with a record 62 points, with 132 goals scored in 34 matches. They also won the League in 1960 and during this period won the Scottish League Cup four times in 1955, 1959, 1960 and 1963. This successful period for the club contained many top, now legendary, names such as Alfie Conn, Willie Bauld, Jimmy Wardhaugh, Dave Mackay and Alex Young.

From the mid 1960s Hearts went into decline and with the advent of the ten team Premier Division in 1975 spent several seasons outside the top flight. However, the arrival of chairman Wallace Mercer led to a revival in the club's fortunes, with the team narrowly failing to win the league in 1986 and finishing runners up in 1988. Since then the changing economics of football have made it almost impossible for Hearts, like other Scottish clubs, to compete with the dominant Old Firm clubs (Celtic and Rangers). Hearts recently beat Gretna on penalties to win the Scottish Cup on the 13th May 2006 under interim coach Valdas Ivanauskas, following from their cup success in 1998 under the management of Jim Jefferies.

In recent seasons Hearts have usually been the third best side in Scottish Football. Since the Scottish Premier League introduced an end of season split into two groups of six, Hearts have been the only team other than Rangers and Celtic to have been in the top six each season. They finished third in 2002-3 and 2003-4 and have acquitted themselves well in the UEFA Cup, having reached the inaugural group stages in 2004-5, which they finished bottom of. During the 2004-5 season, they finished fifth in the league which led to the resignation of former manager, and playing legend, John Robertson.

2005/2006 and the Romanov Era

A combination of the financial backing of Lithuanian banker Vladimir Romanov and their distinguished new manager George Burley had lead many Hearts fans to believe that they could win the SPL championship in 2005/06. Signings such as Edgaras Jankauskas, Rudolf Skácel and Takis Fyssas, allied to current stars Andy Webster, Steven Pressley, Craig Gordon, and Paul Hartley saw Hearts make an outstanding start to the season winning their first eight games, including a 1-0 win over Rangers BBC. As of October 2005 Romanov has indicated a desire to buy all the shares in the club. As of 6 January 2006 he owns a total of over 80% of the shares. He has also arranged for the £4,500,000 Hearts were due to the Scottish Media Group to be paid off by his investment bank. It appears, however, that Hearts are spending considerably more on player wages than their own income, which means that Romanov will have to finance this spending personally. Romanov has said that his ultimate aim is for Hearts to win the Champions League.

For the start of the 2005/06 season, they were managed by former Ipswich Town and Derby County manager George Burley. After leading the Jambos through ten undefeated SPL appearances, Hearts and Burley parted ways on Saturday October 22 (BBC), just hours before their Premier League match with Dunfermline Athletic. A club statement after the game declared that the departure of Burley had been mutually agreed and that there were "irreconcilable differences" between him and the Hearts board. Throughout his short spell in charge rumours persisted about an uneasy relationship between Burley and major shareholder Vladimir Romanov, with Romanov having bought players without the consent of the manager. John McGlynn was put in temporary charge of team affairs following the abrupt departure of Burley. During McGlynn's tenure of four games, Hearts lost their first league match of the season against Hibernian. Following this match, the chief executive Phil Anderton was dismissed, and the chairman, George Foulkes resigned in protest at Anderton's dismissal. Vladimir Romanov's son, Roman Romanov, was appointed as chairman and temporary chief executive.

On 7 November Graham Rix was confirmed as head coach. Hearts' title ambitions suffered a major setback when they lost 3–2 to Celtic on New Year's Day. Concern at the fairness of refereeing became a developing pattern with Romanov's Hearts, as there were major complaints after a controversial match with Rangers in the 2004/5 season where the referee (Hugh Dallas) awarded a decisive penalty late in the match on the basis of advice from his linesman (Andy Davis). There were also complaints after the dismissals of Craig Gordon against Falkirk, Edgaras Jankauskas against Hibernian, and Saulius Mikoliunas against Rangers. "I want a replay of all matches," said Mr Romanov

On 7 February, 2006, reports from Hearts players surfaced indicating that Graham Rix had told players, apparently disgruntled at being left out of the team before a match against Dundee United, that Romanov himself was picking the team and "pulling the strings". While it was well-known that Rix was not in charge of player transfer policy, it had not previously been confirmed that he not in charge of selecting match squads.

The agent of Andy Webster, the Scottish international player, has indicated that Webster will now not be extending his current contract at Tynecastle, which is due to expire at the end of 2006/7 season. In April 2006, Vladimir Romanov put Andy Webster on the transfer list, claiming that he could not 100% trust the player.

Graham Rix was sacked as Hearts manager on 22 March, 2006 along with the club's Director of Football, Jim Duffy, who had only been appointed one month previously. Shortly afterwards, former FBK Kaunas coach Valdas Ivanauskas was appointed interim head coach of the first team until the end of the season.

A 4-0 win over Hibernian in the semi-final gave Hearts a place in the Scottish Cup Final on May 13. In a hard-fought cup final, Hearts triumphed over at Hampden Park winning 4-2 in a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw.

Toward the end of the season, a 1-0 win over Aberdeen on 3 May at Tynecastle guaranteed 2nd place and hence a Champions League second qualifying round place next year, making them the first Scottish club outside of the Old Firm to play in the UEFA Champions League. Hearts' victory means that their cup final opponents Gretna will play in the UEFA Cup next season.

On 30 June 2006, it was announced that Valdas Ivanauskas had been appointed as head coach on a permanent basis.

Hearts will play their home 2006/2007 European Champions League games at Murrayfield Stadium rather than in their spiritual home of Tynecastle. A combination of Tynecastle falling short of UEFA requirements in terms of pitch size and hospitality facilities, and the feeling that the stadium currently doesn't have sufficient capacity to accommodate the expected number of fans desperate to see their team perform well on the Champions League stage mean that Murrayfield is the preferred choice for the Tynecastle board.

Current Squad (season 2005-2006)

Players out on loan

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Managers

Club Records

  • Highest home Attendance: 53,396 vs Rangers F.C., 1932
  • Most capped player: Bobby Walker, 29 *
  • Most Appearances: Gary Mackay, 640 (515 L, 58 SC, 46 LC, 21 E) 1980 - 1997*
  • Most League appearances: Gary Mackay, 515
  • Most League goals: John Robertson, 208, 1983-1997
  • Most goals in a season: Barney Battles, 44, *
  • Most Honours: John Cumming, 2 League Titles, 1 Scottish Cup, 4 League Cups, 1954-1962
  • Highest transfer fee paid: Mirsad Bešlija, £850,000, K.R.C. Genk, 2006

Honours

Major trophies
  • Scottish League Champions: (4) 1894-95, 1896-97, 1957-58, 1959-60
  • Scottish Cup: (7) 1891, 1896, 1901, 1906, 1956, 1998, 2006
  • Scottish League Cup: (4) 1955, 1959, 1960, 1963
  • Scottish Premier League Runners up:(3) 1985-86, 1991-92, 2005-06

Lower Division championships

  • First division: 1979-80

UEFA Ranking

Current Club Ranking

  • 099 Millwall
  • 099 Southampton
  • 101 Hearts
  • 102 Stade Rennais
  • 103 Spartak Moscow
  • Full List

Current National League Ranking

External links

References

  1. not picking team, say players" (BBC SPORT, Tuesday, 7 February 2006, 15:19 GMT.) (Retrieved 07 February 2006, 17:07 UTC.)]
  2. "Webster on his way out at Hearts" (BBC SPORT, Wednesday 26th April 2006 07:57 GMT.) (Retrieved 27th April 2006)
  3. Rix sacked as Hearts head coach (Retrieved 12:48, 22 March 2006 (UTC))
Heart of Midlothian F.C. | Sport in Edinburgh | Scottish football clubs

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