Heart of Midlothian Football Club, commonly known as Hearts, is a professional football club in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Professional Football League. Hearts, the oldest and most successful football club in the Scottish capital, was formed in 1874, its name influenced by Walter Scott's novel ''

The Heart of Midlothian ''The Heart of Mid-Lothian'' is the seventh of Sir Walter Scott's Waverley Novels. It was originally published in four volumes on 25 July 1818, under the title of '' Tales of My Landlord, 2nd series'', and the author was given as "Jedediah Cle ...

''. The club crest is based on the Heart of Midlothian mosaic on the city's Royal Mile; the team's colours are maroon and white. Hearts have played home matches at

Tynecastle Park Tynecastle Park is a football stadium in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh, which is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Heart of Midlothian (Hearts). It has also hosted Scotland international matches, and been used as a ...

since 1886. After converting the ground into an all-seater stadium in 1990, it now has a capacity of following the completion of a rebuilt main stand in 2017. They have training facilities at the Oriam, Scotland's national performance centre for sport, where they also run their

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

. Heart of Midlothian have won the Scottish league championship four times, most recently in 1959–60, when they also retained the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

to complete a League and League Cup double – the only club outside of the

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

to achieve such a feat. The club's most successful period was under former player turned manager Tommy Walker from the early 1950s to mid 1960s. Between 1954 and 1962 they won two league titles, one Scottish Cup, and four Scottish League Cups, and also finished inside the league's top four positions for 11 consecutive seasons between 1949–50 and 1959–60.

Jimmy Wardhaugh James Alexander Douglas Wardhaugh (21 March 1929 – 2 January 1978) was a Scottish professional footballer, most fondly remembered as part of the ''Terrible Trio'' Heart of Midlothian forward line of the 1950s, alongside Willie Bauld and Alfie ...

Willie Bauld William Russell Logan Bauld (24 January 1928 – 11 March 1977) was a footballer who played for Newtongrange Star, Heart of Midlothian, Edinburgh City and the Scotland national team. Heart of Midlothian Bauld was born in Newcraighall, Edi ...

and Alfie Conn Sr., known as the Terrible Trio, were forwards at the start of this period with wing half linchpins Dave Mackay and

John Cumming John Cumming may refer to: *John Cumming (clergyman) (1807–1881), Scottish clergyman *John Cumming (Scottish footballer) (1930–2008), Scottish footballer who played for Heart of Midlothian and Scotland *John Cumming (Australian footballe ...

. Wardhaugh was part of another notable Hearts attacking trinity in the 1957–58 league winning side. Along with Jimmy Murray and Alex Young, they set the record for the number of goals scored in a Scottish top-flight winning campaign (132). In doing so, they also became the only side to finish a season in the Scottish top tier with a goal difference exceeding 100 (+103). Hearts have also won the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

after a 5–1 victory over Hibernian, their local rivals. They have since been beaten finalists in 2019, 2020 and 2022. All four of Hearts'

triumphs came under Walker, most recently a 1–0 victory against Kilmarnock in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

. Their most recent League Cup Final appearance was in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, where they lost 3–2 to St Mirren. In 1958, Heart of Midlothian became the third Scottish and fifth

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

team to compete in

European competition The European Competition is a student competition in which students of all ages submit creative, artistic, or written pieces of work on the activities of the European Union. Tendered by European Movement Germany, it is the oldest student competition ...

. The club reached the quarter-finals of the

1988–89 UEFA Cup The 1988–89 UEFA Cup was won by Napoli over Stuttgart. It was the fourth season that English clubs were banned from European competitions. The English league clubs who otherwise would have qualified were Manchester United and Luton Town. R ...

, losing to Bayern Munich 2–1 on aggregate.

History

Early years

The club was formed by a group of friends from the Heart of Midlothian Quadrille Assembly Club. The group of friends bought a ball before playing local rules football at the Tron from where they were directed by a local policeman to The Meadows to play. Local rules football was a mix of rugby and association football. In December 1873 a match was held between XIs selected by Mr Thomson from Queens Park and Mr Gardner from

Clydesdale Clydesdale is an archaic name for Lanarkshire, a traditional county in Scotland. The name may also refer to: Sports * Clydesdale F.C., a former football club in Glasgow * Clydesdale RFC, Glasgow, a former rugby union club * Clydesdale RFC, South ...

at Raimes Park in

Bonnington Bonnington is a dispersed village and civil parish on the northern edge of the Romney Marsh in Ashford District of Kent, England. The village is located to the south of the town of Ashford on the B2067 ( Hamstreet to Hythe road). Bonnington h ...

. This was the first time that Association rules had been seen in Edinburgh. Members from the dance club viewed the match and in 1874 decided to adopt the association rules. The new side was Heart of Mid-Lothian Football Club. The exact date of the club's formation was never recorded; however, 1874 is regarded as the year of formation as it was when association rules were taken on, although Tom Purdie claimed the club was formed in 1873. The earliest mention of ''Heart of Midlothian'' in a sporting context is a report in ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

'' newspaper from 20 July 1864 of ''The Scotsman'' vs Heart of Mid-Lothian at cricket. It is not known if this was the same club who went on to form the football club, but it was common for football clubs in those days to play other sports as well. The club took its name from historic county Midlothian, dating from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, as well as the Heart of Midlothian mosaic on the Royal Mile, which marks the historic entrance to the Old Tolbooth jail, which was demolished in 1817 but was kept fresh in the mind by

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...

's novel ''

''.

Led by captain Tom Purdie the club played its matches in the East Meadows and in 1875 Hearts became members of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) and were founder members of the Edinburgh Football Association. By becoming members of the SFA Hearts were able to play in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,3rd Edinburgh Rifle Volunteers in October 1875 at Craigmount Park in Edinburgh. The game ended in a scoreless draw. A replay was held at the Meadows which again finished 0–0. Under rules at the time both clubs progressed to the next round with Hearts losing out to Drumpellier in the next round. In the 1884–85 season, clubs in Scotland struggled to attract players, who were attracted to play in England, due to the games professional status there. After an 11–1 win in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, Hearts were suspended by the SFA for two years as this was against the rules at the time. This was the first suspension of an SFA club. After a change of the clubs' committee the club was readmitted.

Early success

Hearts had considerable success in the early years of the Scottish Football League, winning the league championship in

1895 Events January–March * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. * January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Histor ...

and

1896 Events January–March * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end, as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports that ...

. They also won four

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Sunderland in the

1894–95 World Championship The 1895 World Championship was a football match that took place at Tynecastle Park on 27 April 1895 between the winner of the English Football League First Division, Sunderland, and Scottish League Division One, Heart of Midlothian. The matc ...

, but lost with a 5–3 score. Hearts did win the World Championship title in 1902, beating

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

3–1 in

, after a 0–0 in London a few months earlier.

Hearts in World War I

In November 1914, Heart of Midlothian comfortably led the First Division, having started the 1914–15 season with eight straight victories, including a 2–0 defeat of reigning champions Celtic. This streak coincided with the start of the First World War and the beginnings of a public debate upon the morality of continuing professional football while young soldiers were dying on the front-line. A motion was placed before the Scottish Football Association to postpone the season, with one of its backers, Airdrieonians chairman Thomas Forsyth declaring that ''"playing football while our men are fighting is repugnant"''.''McCrae's Battalion'', 15 While this motion was defeated at the ballot box, with the SFA opting to wait for War Office advice, the East London philanthropist Frederick Charrington was orchestrating a public campaign to have professional football in Britain suspended, and achieving great popular support for his cause.''McCrae's Battalion'', 21–24 The prime tactic of Charrington's campaign was to shame football players and officials into action through public and private denouncement. In response, sixteen players from Hearts enlisted in

Sir George McCrae Colonel Sir George McCrae (28 August 1860 – 27 December 1928) was a Scottish textile merchant and Liberal Party politician. In Scotland he is best remembered for the creation of McCrae's Battalion, also known as the Second Edinburgh Pals Batt ...

's new volunteer battalion, joining en masse on 25 November 1914. The battalion was to become the 16th Royal Scots and was the first to earn the "footballer's battalion" sobriquet. The group of volunteers also contained some 500 Hearts supporters and ticket-holders, 150 followers of Hibernian and a number of professional footballers from Raith Rovers, Falkirk and Dunfermline. Military training was thus added to the Hearts players football training regime, and the side had a 20-game unbeaten run between October and February. However, exhaustion from their army exertions, twice including 10-hour nocturnal-marches the night before a league game,''McCrae's Battalion'', 95–99 eventually led to a drop in form, as several enlisted players missed key games. Defeats to St Mirren and Morton allowed Celtic to usurp the ''Maroons'' and eventually claim the league title by 4 points. The war claimed the lives of seven first team players: Duncan Currie, John Allan, James Boyd, Tom Gracie, Ernest Ellis, James Speedie and Harry Wattie as well as former player David Philip. There are two war memorials to mark this period; The McCrae's Battalion Great War Memorial in Contalmaison and the Heart of Midlothian War Memorial in

Haymarket, Edinburgh Haymarket ( sco, Heymercat,
gd, Margadh an Fheòir ...

donated to the city by the club in 1922. The latter was placed in storage due to the

Edinburgh Trams Edinburgh Trams is a tramway in Edinburgh, Scotland, operated by Edinburgh Trams Ltd. It is a line between St Andrew Square in the New Town and Edinburgh Airport, with 15 stops. Construction began in June 2008, and after encountering dela ...

work but has now been replaced a little to the east of its previous position. A further memorial commemorating the 1914 Hearts team has been proposed by the club. An annual pilgrimage is held by football supporters to Contalmaison every year, whilst Hearts hold their memorial services at Haymarket or, whilst it was in storage, at

Inter war years

Hearts collected no senior silverware in the inter war years. Tommy Walker joined the Hearts ground staff aged 16 in February 1932. As Scottish clubs could not then officially sign players until the age of 17, Walker played

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

football for

Linlithgow Rose Linlithgow Rose Football Club are a Scottish football club based in Linlithgow, West Lothian. The team plays in the East of Scotland Football League Premier Division, the sixth tier of Scottish football, having moved from the junior leagues i ...

until his birthday in May. A talented and elegant inside-forward, Walker quickly earned a place in the Hearts first team, helping the side to victory in the 1933 Jubilee edition of the Rosebery Charity Cup, in a season in which they finished 3rd in the league. He was a regular first team player by 1933–34 but despite some emphatic victories, inconsistent form limited Hearts to a sixth-place finish. Despite Walker scoring 192 league goals for Hearts and playing in sides boasting numerous internationals, such as Scots Dave McCulloch, Barney Battles, Andy Anderson and Alex Massie, Welshman Freddie Warren and Irishman Willie Reid, Walker was destined not to win a major honour as a player at Tynecastle. The closest Hearts came to success during his period there was a second place league finish in 1937–38.

Tommy Walker's managerial era

The first seeds of the Tommy Walker managerial success at Hearts were sown by

Davie McLean David McLean (3 February 1884 – 14 February 1951) was a Scottish association footballer and manager. McLean played as a Winger. Player McLean was born in Buckhaven, Fife. He played for Buckhaven United, Cambuslang Rangers, Celtic, Ayr ...

. On 9 October 1948 after a mediocre start to the 1948–49 season, Hearts' manager McLean gave a competitive first team debut to 20 year old centre forward

and 19 year old inside left

, and 22 year old inside right Alfie Conn Sr. had already broken through to the first team so this game marked the first time all three were deployed as a combined attacking force. They became dubbed the ''Terrible Trio'' and scored over 900 Hearts goals between them (Wardhaugh 376, Bauld 355, Conn 221). As a unit they played 242 games together. The combination of Wardhaugh's dribbling skills and non-stop running, Bauld's cerebral play and prodigious aerial ability, and Conn's energetic, tenacious style and powerful shooting complemented each other well.Scott, ''The Terrible Trio'', 101–103 Their first match as a forward combination ended in a 6–1 defeat of

Scot Symon James Scotland Symon (9 May 1911 – 30 April 1985) was a Scottish football player and manager. He also played cricket for Scotland in an age when it was possible to play and excel in several sports. Footballer Symon started his professional c ...

's East Fife team of the era.Hearts History 1944 – 54 www.heartsfc.co.uk
This was notable as Symon's team had defeated the ''Maroons'' 4–0 three weeks earlier. A few weeks later in December 1948 Tommy Walker left during his third season at Chelsea to return to Hearts. He took the role of player-assistant to manager McLean. McLean's intention was that Walker would be a steadying influence in a developing young team. However, after a single appearance at right-half in a 1–0 home defeat by Dundee, Walker retired to concentrate fully on learning the managerial ropes. Tangible progress was made in the League Championship in 1949–50 when Hearts finished third. As Tommy Walker had become more influential, McLean was co-opted to the Board on 16 March 1950. Heart of Midlothian FC League Performance

Heart of Midlothian FC League Performance

McLean's death on 14 February 1951 saw Walker promoted to the position of manager. Walker's reign was to prove the most successful period in the club's history. Walker was always quick to acknowledge the contribution made by McLean and his fatherly interest in the welfare and development of the players. The important foundations Walker inherited from McLean included the ''Terrible Trio'' forwards, the full back pair of Bobby Parker and

Tam McKenzie Thomas F. McKenzie (5 November 1922 – November 1967) was a Scottish professional footballer who spent most of his career with Heart of Midlothian. Heart of Midlothian McKenzie was born in Edinburgh and joined Hearts from Haddington Athleti ...

and half backs

Bobby Dougan Bobby Dougan (3 December 1926 – 7 February 2010) was a Scottish footballer, who played as a centre half for Heart of Midlothian and Kilmarnock in the Scottish Football League, having started his career with Shawfield. Playing career Dougan w ...

and Davie Laing. To this established core

had recently broken through to the first team in the left half position he was to dominate for many years.

Freddie Glidden Frederick Glidden (7 September 1927 – 1 January 2019) was a Scottish professional footballer who spent most of his career with Heart of Midlothian. Career Early years Raised in Stoneyburn, Glidden played for several different juvenile sides ...

was already at Tynecastle but yet to first team debut as was the then schoolboy Dave Mackay. Walker made Parker the team Captain. Mackay's key signing as a professional was under Walker in 1952 (initially part-time whilst also working as a joiner). Mackay's pairing with Cumming at wing half was to become the nucleus of the team in the middle of the pitch. Mackay was a supremely talented all round player of ferocious tackling, endless running and sublime ball control. Cumming's ''Iron Man'' nickname says much of his fearless determination. Despite his commitment he retained control of his temper and was never booked in his career. Cumming was the only player to collect medals for all seven of the trophies Hearts won under Walker. "He never had a bad game. It was either a fairly good game or an excellent game," said Mackay later of his former teammate. Both went on to become full Scotland internationalists while playing for Hearts. Bauld's value to the team was underlined in 1952/53, when he missed eight vital league games through ankle injuries. Hearts were struggling, but with Bauld's return to full fitness came a change in fortunes. From the bottom half of the league they surged up the table to finish in fourth place (as they had the two previous seasons). That resurgence also took them to a 1952–53 Scottish Cup semi final against Rangers before 116,262 fans at Hampden Park in Glasgow. Wardhaugh scored in the 2–1 defeat. Hearts were now though on an upward trajectory. In 1953–54, Wardhaugh became the A Division's top scorer with 27 goals as Hearts appeared set to win the League championship. However, on 13 March 1954 in the Scottish Cup quarter final 3–0 defeat away to Aberdeen, Parker broke his jaw, Conn injured his back, and Wardhaugh collected a serious shin bone injury. Dougan already had a lengthy knee injury meaning 9 November 1953 was his last competitive Hearts first team game (Dougan only subsequently played for Hearts in friendlies). Walker immediately tried Glidden to cover and he took over the centre half berth from Dougan. A stuttering end to their season saw Celtic overtake them. The young Mackay was given his first team debut on 7 November of that 1953–54 season one week before his nineteenth birthday. Naturally more left sided than right, Mackay played in the number six jersey normally associated with the absent Cumming. Mackay's next two appearances though weren't until mid March immediately after the Aberdeen cup defeat when again he played in Cumming's position. It wasn't until 17 April 1954 in a 1–0 win at Clyde that Walker first selected Mackay, Glidden and Cumming in the numbers four, five and six. The team was boosted by the signing of Ian Crawford in August 1954. Mackay was given his extended place in the team in the 1954–55 season immediately after Laing's 5 September transfer to Clyde. It was from this point that Walker settled on Mackay, Glidden and Cumming as his combination for the number four, five and six jerseys. They promptly became a trophy winning force lifting the first of seven trophies over nine seasons between 1954 and 1963. In October of the 1954–55 season they won their first trophy since 1906, 48 years before. They beat Motherwell 4–2 in the 1954 Scottish League Cup Final. Bauld scored three and Wardhaugh scored one in the final giving the team their break through trophy. Hearts gained some recompense against Celtic from the season before by beating them home and away in that

1954–55 Scottish League Cup The 1954–55 Scottish League Cup was the ninth season of Scotland's second football knockout competition. The competition was won by Heart of Midlothian, who defeated Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town ...

group stage.http://www.heartsfc.co.uk.p.preprod.performgroup.com/articles/20080802/1954-1964_2241543_1356683 After signing Alex Young and Bobby Kirk, Walker's side proceeded to win the 1955–56 Scottish Cup. They thrashed Rangers 4–0 in the quarter finals with goals from Crawford, Conn and a Bauld double. Cumming's commitment to the team was typified in that 1956 Scottish Cup Final before 132,840 fans. With blood streaming from a first half head injury from a clash with Celtic's Willie Fernie he said, "Blood doesn't show on a maroon jersey". He returned to the playing field in the 3–1 win and was man of the match. That quote is now displayed above the entrance to the players tunnel at Tynecastle. Kirk could play in either full back role and played on the right in the final at the expense of Parker. Glidden lifted the trophy as Hearts captain in what he recalled as the "sweetest" moment in his footballing career. Wardhaugh was the top tier's leading scorer again that season. The scorers in the cup final win over Celtic were Crawford with two and one from Conn. Conn ended that 1955–56 season at the peak of his powers aged 29 with a career best 29 goals from 41 games. On 2 May 1956 two weeks after the cup win Conn became the third of the terrible trio to collect a full

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

cap. At Hampden Park he put his side ahead after 12 minutes in a 1–1 draw with

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. However the following September he suffered a broken jaw playing against Hibernian keeping him out until January.Hearts FC Alfie Conn obituary
The days of the ''Terrible Trio'' as a combined force were nearing their end. 17 year old Gordon Marshall debuted in 1956 as did George Thomson in February 1957. Marshall, a future England under 23 internationalist, became a Hearts goalkeeping regular until 1963. Hearts led the Scottish League for most of the 1956–57 season. The title hinged on Rangers visit to Tynecastle on 13 April. A capacity crowd watched a tense game in which Rangers keeper,

George Niven George Niven (11 June 1929 – 17 July 2008) was a Scottish footballer who played during the 1950s and 1960s as a goalkeeper for Rangers and Partick Thistle. Career Club Niven was signed to Rangers from junior side Coupar Angus in 1951 by mana ...

, was man of the match. Hearts could not beat him and the only goal came from Billy Simpson of Rangers who scored on the break in 35 minutes. Rangers had games in hand which they won to overtake Hearts and lift the trophy. Walker completed the set of having won all three major Scottish football trophies with the League Championship in 1957–58. Conn suffered a serious ankle injury meaning he only played in five league games all season. Injury hit Conn left Hearts for

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leagu ...

in September 1958 just two years after his 1956 zenith. He did so after 408 first team games and 221 goals. With an injury hit Bauld only playing nine times in the league title win a new Hearts attacking trio were dominant. For a third time Wardhaugh was the League's top marksman with 28 strikes. This was one ahead of Jimmy Murray's 27 and four more than Young's 24. Mackay, now Captain, was fourth in Hearts' league scoring charts with 12. Hearts won that League title in 1957–58 with record-breaking points, goals scored and goal difference. Their record from 34 league games of 62 points out of a maximum possible 68 was 13 more than their nearest rival. They scored 132 goals (still the Scottish top tier record) with only 29 against for a record net difference of +103. This was Hearts' greatest ever league side. Murray and Mackay both played for Scotland at the 1958 FIFA World Cup where Murray scored in a 1–1 draw against Yugoslavia. Parker was a fringe player in the league winning season, his last season as a Hearts player. He moved to the club coaching staff before joining the Board of Directors where he also had a spell as chairman. In the

1958–59 Scottish League Cup The 1958–59 Scottish League Cup was the thirteenth season of Scotland's second Association football, football knockout competition. The competition was won by Heart of Midlothian F.C., Heart of Midlothian, who defeated Partick Thistle F.C., Par ...

group stage Hearts eliminated Rangers. That October 1958 Scottish League Cup Final was won with a heavy 5–1 defeat of Partick Thistle. Bauld and Murray each scored two and Johnny Hamilton netted one. Hearts defended their league title by being leaders in mid December. However a side visiting Ibrox missing injured Mackay were beaten 5–0 with all goals in the first 35 minutes. This put Rangers into top position in the table on goal average. This precipitated a run of only two wins from the next seven games without injured Mackay. Hearts beat Queen of the South in a 2–1 home league win on 7 March 1959. After that QoS game Rangers with six games to play were firm favourites for the title, six points ahead of second placed Hearts. Even if Hearts were to win their remaining seven games including a game in hand and beating Rangers in their visit Tynecastle in Rangers' penultimate game of the season, Rangers would still have to drop two points elsewhere and give away a superior goal average. The league game against QoS was Mackay's last for Hearts after they accepted a bid of £32,000 from

for their captain who was fit at this time despite having had lengthy spells out injured in the previous 12 months. Bobby Rankin was brought in to bolster the squad and scored twice in each of his first two games (both victories). On the penultimate Saturday of the league campaign goals by Cumming and Rankin at home to Rangers meant Hearts were four points behind with a game in hand. In midweek they next won 4–2 at Aberdeen with Rankin scoring a hat-trick. The last day of the season began with Rangers two points clear with an identical goal average to Hearts. Rangers thus needed a point to clinch the title but lost 2–1 at home to Aberdeen. Despite missing Bobby Kirk at right back with a knee injury, Rankin's ninth goal from his fifth Hearts game had Hearts 1–0 up at half time at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is al ...

. Any victory would have given Hearts the title. Then Celtic's

Bertie Auld Robert Auld (23 March 1938 – 14 November 2021) was a Scottish football player and manager. He was a member of Celtic's Lisbon Lions, who won the 1967 European Cup Final. As a player, he made more than 200 appearances in the Scottish League f ...

playing at left wing equalised before Eric Smith scored Celtic's winning second goal to seal the title for their cross city rivals leaving those at Tynecastle to wonder what would have happened if Mackay hadn't been sold when he was. Mackay's name as a club mainstay at half back was eventually taken over by

Billy Higgins Billy Higgins (October 11, 1936 – May 3, 2001) was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop. Biography Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, ...

. That League Cup win was also Glidden's last trophy as a recurring back injury that season numbered his playing days at Tynecastle. 36 year old MacKenzie left in 1959 as did Wardhaugh. He scored 206 goals in 304 league games and a total of 376 goals in 518 games for Hearts. After collecting three Scottish championships and 19 full Scotland caps at Hibernian,

Gordon Smith Gordon Smith may refer to: In politics *Gordon H. Smith (born 1952), former U.S. Senator from Oregon, and current Area Authority for the LDS Church * Gordon Elsworth Smith (1918–2005), Canadian politician * Gordon Smith (academic) (1927–2009), ...

had a recurring ankle injury leading to his free transfer in 1959. Smith believed that an operation could cure the injury and paid for an operation on the offending ankle himself. He then signed for Hearts, his boyhood heroes. He enjoyed immediate success at Tynecastle, winning both the 1959 Scottish League Cup Final and league title in his first season with the club. Hamilton scored for Hearts in that second successive League Cup Final and Young hit the winner.

Third Lanark Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1872 and the Scottish ...

were beaten 2–1. 1960 ended with Walker being awarded the OBE for services to football. The 1960s saw Hearts fortunes fluctuate as Walker attempted to adapt to football's tactical changes by implementing a 4–2–4 formation. Young and Thomson departed for Everton in November 1960. At Everton Young was known as ''The Golden Vision'' and became another from the Walker production line of full Scotland internationalists. Smith had an injury hit season leading to his joining Dundee (who became the third club with whom he won the Scottish title). Hearts signed further future full internationalists in

Willie Wallace William Semple Brown Wallace (born 23 June 1940) is a Scottish former football player and coach. He won the European Cup with Celtic in 1967 along with several domestic honours. His other clubs included Stenhousemuir, Raith Rovers, Heart ...

and David Holt. Hearts lost the 1961 Scottish League Cup Final after a replay. Cumming scored a deserved equalising penalty for Hearts in the first game 1–1 draw they largely dominated against the Scot Symon managed Rangers. Norrie Davidson scored a then equalising Hearts goal when they lost in the 3–1 replay defeat. Bauld left Hearts in 1962 with 355 goals from 510 first team appearances. Another future internationalist,

Willie Hamilton William Winter Hamilton (26 June 1917 – 23 January 2000) was a British politician who served as a Labour Member of Parliament for constituencies in Fife, Scotland for 37 years, between 1950 and 1987. He was known for his strong republican ...

, joined for the run culminating in the 1962 Scottish League Cup Final win. Hearts won the trophy for a fourth time with a 1–0 final win over Willie Waddell's fine Kilmarnock side of that era. Davidson's goal this time proved decisive. Like in the 1954–55 win Hearts eliminated Celtic in that 1962-63 Scottish League Cup group stage. In 1964–65 Hearts fought out a championship title race with Waddell's Kilmarnock. In the era of two points for a win Hearts were three points clear with two games remaining. Hearts drew with Dundee United meaning the last game of the season with the two title challengers playing each other at Tynecastle would be a league decider. Kilmarnock needed to win by a two-goal margin to take the title. Hearts entered the game as favourites with both a statistical and home advantage. They also had a solid pedigree of trophy winning under Walker. Waddell's Kilmarnock in contrast had been nearly men. Four times in the previous five seasons they had finished league runners-up including Hearts’ triumph in 1960. Killie had also lost three domestic cup finals during the same period including the 1962 League Cup Final defeat to Hearts. Hearts had won five of the six senior cup finals they played in under Walker. Even the final they had lost was in a replay after drawing the first game. Hearts'

Roald Jensen Roald Jensen (11 January 1943 – 6 October 1987), nicknamed "Kniksen", of Bergen, Norway was one of that country's most celebrated association football players. He played for SK Brann and Heart of Midlothian F.C. ("Hearts"). ''Knicksen'' is a l ...

hit the post after six minutes. Kilmarnock then scored twice through

Davie Sneddon David Sneddon MBE (24 April 1936 – 24 December 2020) was a Scottish football player and manager. His career is notable for managing Kilmarnock to their 1979 Tennent Caledonian Cup victory and also being part of the 1964–65 Scottish Firs ...

and Brian McIlroy after 27 and 29 minutes. Alan Gordon had an excellent chance to clinch the title for Hearts in second half injury time but was denied by a Bobby Ferguson diving save pushing the ball past the post. The 2–0 defeat meant Hearts lost the title by an average of 0.042 goals. Subsequently, Hearts were instrumental in pushing through a change to use goal difference to separate teams level on points. Ironically this rule change later denied Hearts the title in 1985–86.Hearts History 1964 – 74 www.heartsfc.co.uk
Following a slump in results, Walker resigned in September 1966. Under his management Hearts had won 7 senior trophies and been runners up in five others. Cumming left the playing staff a year later and joined the coaching team.

Latter 20th century

The highlight of the late 60s was the run to the 1968 Scottish Cup Final when they lost 3–1 to

George Farm George Neil Farm (13 July 1924 – 18 July 2004) was a Scottish professional football goalkeeper and manager. Born in Slateford, a suburb of Edinburgh, Farm represented his country on ten occasions, the last three of which occurred after a g ...

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

. The players of greatest note in the late sixties were

Jim Cruickshank James Fergus Cruickshank (13 April 1941 – 18 November 2010) was a Scottish footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Heart of Midlothian through most of the 1960s and 1970s, making nearly 400 league appearances. He had brief spe ...

, Alan Anderson and Donald Ford with

Drew Busby Andrew Douglas Busby (8 December 1947 – 1 July 2022) was a Scottish footballer who played for Third Lanark, Airdrieonians, Hearts, Toronto Blizzard and Morton. Busby also served Queen of the South as their player-manager. Career Busby st ...

joining the three in the 1970s. The high point of the 1970s was another run to the Scottish Cup Final. In 1975–76 they again lost 3–1 in the final this time to Rangers. After the advent of the ten team Premier Division in 1975, Hearts were subsequently relegated for the first time in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

. This began a sequence of yo-yoing between the Premier League and First Division six times in seven seasons. On 25 May 1981, 34-year-old Wallace Mercer became chairman after buying a controlling interest in Hearts for £265,000. Hearts had just been relegated from the top flight for the third time in five seasons. The following December (1981), Mercer promoted Alex MacDonald to be Player-Manager. At the end of the 1982–83 season Hearts were promoted back to the top flight. This marked an upturn in their fortunes to rejoin the more competitive clubs in Scotland's top flight. The 1985–86 season was their best since 1965. The league campaign started with the loss of five of the first eight games. From there the club went on a 27-game unbeaten league run, reaching the top of the league on 21 December after a 1–0 win at St Mirren. Hearts needed a draw from the last game of the season away to Dundee on 3 May 1986 to win the Scottish league title. Before that final game they were two points ahead of Celtic and with a superior goal difference of four goals. However, this strong statistical position was undermined in the run up to the game when several players in the Hearts squad were hit by a viral infection.

Craig Levein Craig William Levein (born 22 October 1964) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is currently a full-time advisor to the board of directors at Highland Football League club Brechin City. During his playing care ...

failed to recover to make the game in Dundee. Celtic were 4–0 up away at St Mirren at half time in their final fixture. Thus, at half time the players knew that they would have to deliver a result at

Dens Park Dens Park, officially known as Kilmac Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland, which is the home of club Dundee F.C. and has a capacity of . Tannadice Park, the home of rivals Dundee United, is just 200 yard ...

. Substitute

Albert Kidd Albert Kidd (born 19 October 1961) is a Scottish former football player who now lives in Australia. He is best known in Scottish football for scoring two goals for Dundee against Hearts on the final day of the 1985–86 season to deny Hearts ...

forced Hearts to concede a corner kick with seven minutes remaining. The in-swinging corner was touched on and fell to Kidd who put Dundee ahead. This was the first goal Hearts had conceded from a corner all season. Hearts now needed an equaliser to win the title. However, Kidd went on a run with the ball from the halfway line down the right wing beating two Hearts players. After then playing a one-two with a teammate on the edge of the Hearts box he finished to score a second with four minutes left. Dundee won 2–0. This combined with Celtic winning 5–0 against St Mirren meant the top two clubs finished the season on the same number of points. Hearts lost out to Celtic by a goal difference of three. Had goal difference been the rule in 1965 Hearts would have been champions; had goal average still applied in 1986, they would have won the league. Hearts lobbying after the league loss in 1965 cost them the title in 1986. Hearts had been chasing a League and Scottish Cup double. After eliminating Rangers and

Jim McLean James Yuille McLean (2 August 1937 – 26 December 2020) was a Scottish football player, manager and director. He managed Dundee United between 1971 and 1993, becoming the longest-serving and most successful manager in the club's history, winn ...

's Dundee United they faced Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen in the final; Aberdeen won 3–0 meaning Hearts finished runners-up as they had in the league. Hearts finished league runners-up again in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

and 1992. The club reached the quarter-finals of the

losing out to Bayern Munich 2–1 on aggregate. After MacDonald's summer 1990 departure the club struggled to settle on a manager. Within a two-year period,

Joe Jordan Joseph Jordan (born 15 December 1951) is a Scottish football player, coach and manager. He is currently a first-team coach at AFC Bournemouth. A former striker, he played for Leeds United, Manchester United, and Milan, among others at club ...

Sandy Clark Alexander "Sandy" Clark (born 28 October 1956) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is currently manager of Lowland League side East Stirlingshire. Career Clark played for several clubs in his playing career incl ...

and

Tommy McLean Thomas McLean Jr. (born 2 June 1947 in Larkhall) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. McLean played for Kilmarnock, Rangers and Scotland as a midfielder. He managed Morton, Motherwell, Hearts, Raith Rovers and Dund ...

were all sacked. From April 1989 to April 1994, Hearts went on a run of 22 games in a row without defeat against arch-rivals Hibernian in the Edinburgh Derby. In 1994 Mercer sold his shares in Hearts to Chris Robinson and Leslie Deans. Under Mercer, Hearts finished second in the Scottish top tier three times and once in the Scottish Cup, but his time at the helm concluded without senior silverware. His personal influence at the club is perhaps best remembered with an attempted merger with Hibs in 1990. Seen by Hibs fans as an attempted take over to liquidate their club, Mercer's attempts were met with bitterness and acrimony before he backed away.'Creative accountancy': How Jim McLean - and others - were unlikely saviours of Hibs as Wallace Mercer circled
''

'', 4 June 2020 In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, Hearts beat Rangers 2–1 to lift the Scottish Cup under the management of ex Hearts player, Jim Jefferies. Colin Cameron scored a first-minute penalty and Stephane Adam added after half time. This was Hearts' first senior trophy win since the

1962–63 Scottish League Cup The 1962–63 Scottish League Cup was the seventeenth season of Scotland's second football knockout competition. The competition was won Heart of Midlothian, who defeated Kilmarnock in the Final. First round Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 ...

won in the Tommy Walker era.

Into the 21st century

Hearts finished third in 2003 and 2004, and reached the inaugural group stages of the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

in 2004–05, but finished bottom of their group, despite

Robbie Neilson Robbie Neilson (born 19 June 1980) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian. Neilson, who played as a right-back, started his senior career with ...

's goal giving a 2–1 victory over

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, a ...

. During the 2004–05 season, they finished fifth in the league. In 2004, then club CEO Chris Robinson announced plans to sell Tynecastle, which he claimed was "not fit for purpose", and instead have Hearts rent

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an affluent area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen and Roseburn. The A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murrayfield is often con ...

from the

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; gd, Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Styled as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league s ...

. This move was deemed necessary due to the club's increasingly large debt. The plan was very unpopular with supporters, and a campaign, entitled ''Save Our Hearts'', was set up to try to block the move. As Robinson and his supporters had a slight majority of the club's shares, a preliminary deal to sell the stadium was struck with the Cala property development company for just over £20 million.

The Romanov era

In August 2004 the midst of Hearts' financial difficulties

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

- Lithuanian multi-millionaire

Vladimir Romanov Vladimir Nikolayevich Romanov ( rus, Владимир Николаевич Романов, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr nʲɪkɐˈlaɪvʲɪtɕ rɐˈmanəf, lt, Vladimiras Romanovas; born 15 June 1947)

entered into talks to take over Hearts in what was dubbed the "Romanov Revolution". Romanov had already made failed attempts to purchase

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

,Who is Vladimir Romanov?

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

, 1 November 2005. Dundee and Dunfermline. Romanov offered the prospect of the club staying at a redeveloped Tynecastle, which was very attractive to Hearts supporters. At the end of September 2004 Chris Robinson agreed to sell his 19.6% stake to Romanov. Romanov called an

extraordinary general meeting An extraordinary general meeting, commonly abbreviated as EGM, is a meeting of members of an organisation, shareholders of a company, or employees of an official body that occurs at an irregular time.' The term is usually used where the group wou ...

in January 2005 so that the club could pass a motion to exercise the escape clause in the deal with Cala Homes.Hearts edge closer to home stay

, 7 January 2005. The backing of Leslie Deans and the McGrail brothers meant that the motion was passed with over 70% support. The sale of Robinson's shares was completed on 2 February 2005Romanov takes control at Hearts

, 2 February 2005. after Romanov made financial guarantees that the club could continue to trade without selling Tynecastle. This sale increased Romanov's stake to 29.9%, giving him effective control of the club. Romanov's takeover was welcomed by a fans' representative. Romanov increased his shareholding in Hearts to 55.5% on 21 October 2005, and offered to buy the rest of the shares.Romanov aims for Hearts ownership

, 21 October 2005. Chairman George Foulkes sold his shares to Romanov and encouraged others to do likewise. Romanov eventually increased his majority share in Hearts to 82%. Romanov's management of the club's debt became a cause for concern.Gibbons, Glenn
Gretna parallels should strike most concern among followers of Hearts
''

'', 2 April 2008 During his takeover Romanov pledged to eradicate the club's debt. Soon after the takeover was completed, the debt was transferred from

HBOS HBOS plc was a banking and insurance company in the United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group, having been taken over in January 2009. It was the holding company for Bank of Scotland plc, which operated the Ba ...

and SMG to the financial institutions controlled by Romanov, Ūkio bankas and UBIG. At the end of July 2007 the club were £36 M in debt. On 7 July 2008, Hearts issued a statement that stated the club would issue

debt for equity Debt restructuring is a process that allows a private or public company or a sovereign entity facing cash flow problems and financial distress to reduce and renegotiate its delinquent debts to improve or restore accounting liquidity, liquidity so ...

to reduce the debt by £12M. A further issue was completed in 2010. Since the takeover Hearts had failed to pay players wages on time on several occasions, and were threatened with administration twice due to failure to pay an outstanding tax bills with the bill finally being settled in August 2011. Results released for the financial year ending 31 July 2010 showed that Hearts had made a small profit for the first time since 1999, although they were still heavily in debt. Hearts' first manager of the Romanov era was

George Burley George Elder Burley (born 3 June 1956) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He had a professional career spanning 21 years as a player, making 628 league appearances and earning 11 Scotland caps. His most successful spell came whi ...

, who was appointed during close season by new chief executive Phil Anderton, who replaced Chris Robinson as chief executive.Ferguson, David and Halliday, Stephen
Hearts turn to Anderton
''

'', 18 February 2005. With their new manager and signings, Hearts got off to a tremendous start in the 2005–06 season. The team won their first eight league matches,Happy Burley avoids talk of title

, 24 September 2005. equalling a club record set in

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

. Romanov shocked Scottish football by sacking George Burley on the following day whilst Hearts were sitting top of the

SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...

table; Hearts ultimately finished second. Hearts fans were led to expect a "top class manager"Burley in shock exit from Hearts

, 22 October 2005. would replace Burley. Kevin Keegan,

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich ...

Claudio Ranieri Claudio Ranieri Grande Ufficiale OMRI (; born 20 October 1951) is an Italian football manager and former player. He will be the new head coach of club Cagliari from 1 January 2023. Ranieri began his managerial career in the lower leagues in ...

and

Ottmar Hitzfeld Ottmar Hitzfeld (; born 12 January 1949) is a German former professional football player ( striker) and manager. He accumulated a total of 18 major titles, mostly in his tenures with Grasshopper Club Zürich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. ...

were all linked with the vacancy. Anderton, who had been making the approaches for these coaches, was sacked by Romanov on 31 October 2005.Hearts in turmoil as duo depart

, 31 October 2005. Foulkes, who had helped to bring Romanov to the club in the first place, resigned in protest at Anderton's dismissal. Romanov replaced both of them with his son, Roman Romanov. This proved to be a feature of his time at the club, going through nine permanent managers in seven years. The next managerial change after those came on 1 August 2011 when Jim Jefferies was sacked during his second spell at the club and replaced by former

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

boss Paulo Sérgio. Romanov stated that his ultimate aim was for Hearts to win the Champions League. Hearts competed in the Champions League during season 2006–07 but progressed only as far the second qualifying round before dropping down to the

. Since then Hearts have been unable to split the

for a second time to earn a Champions League place. Hearts target became finishing third or above in the SPL. Romanov also owned the Lithuanian club

FBK Kaunas Kauno futbolo ir beisbolo klubas, commonly known as FBK Kaunas, was a Lithuanian football club from the city of Kaunas. History Banga Kaunas (1960–1993) Originally the team was founded in 1960 as Banga Kaunas and played its first three years ...

and Belarusian club

FC Partizan Minsk FC Partizan Minsk ( be, ФК Партызан Мінск) was a Belarusian football club based in Minsk. History The club was founded as MTZ-RIPO Minsk in 2002 as a merger of two Minsk teams from the Second League ( Traktor Minsk, a club wit ...

. Several players were loaned by FBK Kaunas to Hearts when Romanov acquired control of the club. The club began experiencing severe financial problems in November 2011, which meant they were unable to pay the players' wages, and the club was put up for sale. The squad's October salaries were late and the November wages were paid twenty-nine days late, just one day before their December salaries were due. The December pay failed to arrive on time, and a complaint was lodged with the Scottish Premier League by the players' union. During this period the club advised fringe players they were free to leave the club. On 4 January 2012 the SPL ordered Hearts to pay all outstanding wages by 11 January 2012 and insisted that January's wages had to be paid on time on 16 January. Hearts paid all outstanding wages that day following the sale of

Eggert Jónsson Eggert Gunnþór Jónsson (born 18 August 1988) is an Icelandic international footballer who plays predominantly as a midfielder but is also capable of playing as a centre back or in both full back roles. He current plays for the Icelandic clu ...

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

. On 17 January, the day after Hearts' wages were due to be paid, it was revealed all players had been paid. Despite this, the SPL issued a statement saying Hearts had failed to pay all players on 16 January and an emergency board meeting had been called; Hearts refuted this, saying payment of the remuneration had been made to all players. On 7 November 2012, Hearts were issued with a winding-up order by the Court of Session in Edinburgh after failing to pay a tax bill on time. In early June 2013, during the close season, a Hearts media statement stated that they would need to raise £500,000 in capital to keep the club up and running during the break between seasons. With no match day income coming in and a lack of finance from owner Romanov, the club were left in a position where they had to put their whole squad up for sale. On 17 June 2013, Heart of Midlothian began the process of entering into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...

with debts of £25 million, owing recently bankrupt Ukio bankas £15 million. On 18 June 2013, a Scandinavian consortium offered to pay the club £500,000 immediately in return for a share of any future transfer income from up to 12 players; this was rejected by Hearts. The process of entering administration began on 19 June 2013 when the club's parent company, Ukio Bankas Investment Group (UBIG), filed papers at the Court of Session on Edinburgh for accountancy firm BDO to be named as administrators.

Administration

On 17 June 2013 Hearts announced that they had lodged court papers stating their intention to enter administration, and on 19 June 2013 the administrators BDO were appointed to run the club. This meant that the club was unable to register players over 21 until February 2014 at the earliest. As long as they were still in administration they would not be able to bring in players of any age. As well as the signing embargo, Hearts were to be deducted a third of the previous season's points tally which meant the club would start the 2013–2014 season with −15 points. During this period the BDO administrator Trevor Birch pleaded with Hearts fans to purchase season tickets and stated that they needed to sell at least another 3000 season tickets to raise another £800,000 to keep the club running and avoiding liquidation. The fans met this number and took total season ticket sales beyond the 10,000 mark, giving the club more survival time. A deadline of 12 July 2013 was set for interested parties to put in formal bids for the club; there were three bids entered for the club which were received from the supporters group "The Foundation of Hearts", the second from a new company called "HMFC limited" which was backed by American firm Club Sports 9 and a third from former Livingston FC owner Angelo Massone through Five Star Football Limited. On 15 August 2013, "The Foundation of Hearts" were given preferred bidders status to make a CVA with Hearts' creditors. The money that the foundation used to purchase the club came from monthly donations from fans; the foundation received an interest-free loan from a wealthy fan, which was to be paid back using the monthly direct debts from the fans. On 2 December, Hearts' creditors agreed to the CVA deal proposed by "The Foundation of Hearts". The club's relegation from the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

was confirmed on 5 April 2014. Hearts won 4–2 away to Partick Thistle, but St Mirren beat Motherwell 3–2, making it impossible for Hearts to catch up. On Monday 12 May 2014, The

Ann Budge Ann Cochrane Cook Wallace Budge (born 21 February 1948) is a Scottish businesswoman and company director. Career Budge graduated with a psychology degree, and became the first woman appointed to a senior position in Scottish & Newcastle after start ...

fronted Bidco 1874 took control of Heart of Midlothian Plc, thus bringing to an end to Vladimir Romanov's involvement with the club. Budge, who fronted and financed the Bidco 1874 group which took over the reins at the club, became an unpaid executive chairwoman of the club. The Bidco group planned to hold the club for a possible five years, before the fans backed Foundation of Hearts supporters group take control. The Foundation put in £1 million for the running of the club until the final legal exit of administration. The Foundation then paid a further £2.6 million (£2.5m to cover the loan given by Bidco1874 Ltd to Hearts to finance the Creditors' Voluntary Agreement + £100,000 for the shares) to take 75% of the shares in the club and with that the running and decision making within the club. In addition, the Foundation also committed itself to provide a further £2.8m (£1.4m per year for two years) working capital for the club. Funding for the deal came from 8000+ people donating cash via a monthly direct debit. The club officially exited

on 11 June 2014, also bringing to an end the signing embargo that had been imposed upon the club a year earlier.

Post administration

Hearts earned an immediate return to the

by clinching the 2014–15 Scottish Championship title with seven games remaining. Hearts remained undefeated for the first 20 league matches before a 3–2 home defeat to Falkirk ended that run. They won the title, winning 29 of 36 games, scoring 96 goals, conceding just 26 goals with a points total of 91. They finished the season 21 points ahead nearest challengers city-rivals Hibernian and 24 points ahead of third placed Rangers. The season included handing

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...

a joint club record defeat 10–0. At the

PFA Scotland The Professional Footballers' Association Scotland (PFA Scotland) is the association for professional footballers in Scotland. It was known as the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association (SPFA), but that organisation was dissolved and repl ...

Awards, Hearts had six players named in Championship Team of the Year, two Young Player of the Year nominees, three Championship Player of the Year nominees, and Neilson shortlisted for

Manager of the Year Manager of the Year may refer to: * Major League Baseball Manager of the Year Award * League Managers Association Manager of the Year * Premier League Manager of the Season The Premier League Manager of the Season is an annual association footba ...

. This period of renewed stability unravelled in the years following 2015. Despite finishing as runners up in the

2019 Scottish Cup Final The 2019 Scottish Cup Final was the 134th final of the Scottish Cup and the final of the 2018–19 Scottish Cup, the most prestigious knockout football competition in Scotland. The match took place at Hampden Park on 25 May 2019 and was contested ...

, the club could only achieve mid-table placings in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. This decline took a turn for the worse in 2019–20, and Hearts were relegated after finishing bottom of the

, having won only four matches across the course of the season (which had been truncated due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

). Their relegation was confirmed in June 2020, after league reconstruction talks instigated by Budge collapsed. The club confirmed that they would be pursuing legal action against the SPFL following their demotion to the

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish Champio ...

. The legal action failed, as a Scottish Football Association arbitration panel ruled that the SPFL had acted within its powers.

was appointed as Hearts manager for a second time in June 2020, signing a three-year deal. Former manager Jim Jefferies was recruited as an advisor to the board and manager in July. In August 2020, Andrew McKinlay was appointed as the club's new Chief Executive. In June 2021, club captain Steven Naismith announced his retirement from football, taking up the role of Football Development Manager, focusing on the development of youth players "making their way towards the first team". On 30 August 2021, Ann Budge officially transferred the clubs shares to the Foundation of Hearts, meaning Hearts officially became the biggest fan owned club in the United Kingdom.

Colours and badge

The original Hearts

football strip In association football, kit (also referred to as a strip or uniform) is the standard equipment and attire worn by players. The sport's rules specify the minimum kit which a player must use, and also prohibit the use of anything that is dangerou ...

was all white shirts and trousers with maroon trimmings, and a heart sewn onto the chest. For one season they played in red, white and blue stripes. These were the colours of a club called St. Andrew, who had taken their name and colours from the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

, that Hearts had absorbed. Since then the predominant club colours have been maroon and white. The strip typically has a maroon top and a white collar, although the strip was predominantly white in the 2010–11 season. The shorts are normally white, although maroon was used in the 2008–09 season. The socks are normally maroon with some white detail. Hearts' current home kit is all maroon with a white collar. The badge is a heart, based on the Heart of Midlothian mosaic on the Royal Mile. There is a tradition to spit on the mosaic when passing, harking back to the days when the city gaol stood there. For the 2014–2015 season the club chose to commemorate 100 years since

McCrae's Battalion McCrae's Battalion was the affectionate name given by the people of Edinburgh to the 16th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Scots in World War I, raised from volunteers in 1914 as part of the New Armies called to the Colours by Lord Kitchener. T ...

with not only a commemorative strip, of maroon shirt, white shorts and black socks, but with a commemorative badge as well. The club chose to have no sponsor on the home top as a mark of respect to those who had joined the regiment.

Stadium

Hearts initially played at The Meadows, Powburn and Powderhall before moving to the

Gorgie Gorgie ( ) is a densely populated area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located in the west of the city and borders Murrayfield, Ardmillan and Dalry. Name The name is thought to be Brythonic in origin. Early forms suggest it derives from ''gor g ...

area in 1881. They moved to their current site,

, in 1886. Tynecastle has hosted nine full

international matches. Tynecastle was named after the Tynecastle Tollhouse, at the entrance to the grounds of Merchiston. For most of the 20th Century, Tynecastle was a mostly terraced ground, with a seated main stand that was designed by

Archibald Leitch Archibald Keir Leitch (27 April 1865 – 25 April 1939) was a Scottish architect, most famous for his work designing football stadiums throughout Great Britain and Ireland. Early work Born in Glasgow, Leitch's early work was on designing ...

and opened in 1919. The terraced sections were replaced by the Gorgie, Wheatfield and Roseburn Stands in the mid-1990s, making Tynecastle an all-seated stadium. In 2017, the main stand was demolished and replaced by a brand new stand which increased the ground's capacity to 20,099. While this work was undertaken, Hearts played some of their home league matches at Murrayfield Stadium.

Rivalry

Hearts have a traditional local rivalry in

with Hibs; the Edinburgh derby match between the two clubs is one of the oldest rivalries in world football. Graham Spiers has described it as "one of the jewels of the Scottish game". The clubs first met on Christmas Day 1875, when Hearts won 1–0, in the first match ever contested by Hibs. The two clubs became distinguished in Edinburgh after a five-game struggle for the Edinburgh Football Association Cup in 1878, which Hearts finally won with a 3–2 victory after four successive draws. The clubs have met twice in a Cup Final, in the 1896 Scottish Cup Final, which Hearts won 3–1 and the

2012 Scottish Cup Final The 2012 Scottish Cup Final was the 127th final of the Scottish Cup. The match took place at Hampden Park on 19 May 2012 and was contested by the Edinburgh derby rivals, Hibernian (Hibs) and Heart of Midlothian (Hearts). It was Hibs' 12th Sco ...

which Hearts won 5–1. The 1896 final is also notable for being the only Scottish Cup Final to be played outside

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. Hearts have the better record in derbies. Approximately half of all derbies have been played in local competitions and friendlies. Hibs recorded the biggest derby win in a competitive match when they won 7–0 at Tynecastle on New Year's Day 1973. While it has been noted that religious background lies behind the rivalry, that aspect has been described as minor in relation to the

sectarianism in Glasgow Sectarianism in Glasgow takes the form of long-standing religious and political sectarian rivalry between Catholics and Protestants. It is particularly reinforced by the fierce rivalry between Celtic F.C. and Rangers F.C., the two largest Scott ...

. In practice geography has been the main factor in establishing the support bases of the Edinburgh rivals: support for Hibs has always been founded in Leith and the surrounding areas in the north and east of the city, whereas the rest of Edinburgh has tended towards Hearts. Although the clubs are inescapable rivals, the rivalry is mainly "good-natured" and has had beneficial effects due to the demographic diversities; considering both of the clubs' territories have a variety of neighbourhoods that differ economically, politically, denominationally, or all three at once.

Supporters and culture

Heart of Midlothian are one of two full-time professional football clubs in

, the capital and second largest city in Scotland. Hearts' average attendance during the 2019–20 season was 16,750. Important matches, particularly the Edinburgh derby, European fixtures and games against the

, always see Tynecastle at or very close to full capacity. The ''Hearts Song'' was written and performed by Scottish comedian Hector Nicol, a St Mirren fan. A new modern ''Hearts Song'', performed by ''"Colin Chisholm & The Glasgow Branch"'', has been played before matches at Tynecastle in recent seasons, though the original version returned for the 2019–2020 season. In 2020–2021 the modern version once again replaced the oldest. The folk-anthem "There will always be Heart of Midlothian" by songwriter Neil Grant has been played regularly at Tynecastle Park since 2018. At the request of the Foundation of Hearts, Neil performed the rousing track live at Tynecastle during the Ladbrokes Premiership match against St Johnstone on 26 January 2019. The track gained additional exposure after being played on the BBC's popular '' Off the Ball'' radio series. Hearts have many celebrity fans including

Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish professional snooker player who dominated the sport during the 1990s, becoming one of the most successful players in its history. After turning professional in 1985 at age 16, Hendry ...

, the late

Ronnie Corbett Ronald Balfour Corbett (4 December 1930 – 31 March 2016) was a Scottish actor, broadcaster, comedian and writer. He had a long association with Ronnie Barker in the BBC television comedy sketch show ''The Two Ronnies''. He achieved promine ...

Ken Stott Kenneth Campbell Stott (born 19 October 1954) is a Scottish stage, television and film actor who won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1995 in the play '' Broken Glass'' at Royal National Theatre. He portrayed th ...

Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond (; born 31 December 1954) is a Scottish politician and economist who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure on the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as leader ...

Sir Chris Hoy Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy MBE (born 23 March 1976) is a former track cyclist and Racing driver from Scotland who represented Great Britain at the Olympic and World Championships and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. Hoy is eleven-times a w ...

Wattie Buchan Walter David "Wattie" Buchan (born 24 July 1957) is a Scottish punk rock musician. He is the lead vocalist for the punk rock band Early life Buchan was born in Edinburgh on 24 July 1957. He served in the British Army as a soldier prior to jo ...

, Eilidh Doyle,

Lee McGregor Lee McGregor (born 24 December 1996) is a Scottish professional boxer who has held the Commonwealth bantamweight title since 2018, the British bantamweight title since 2019, and the European bantamweight title since 2021. Professional career ...

Andrew Oldcorn Andrew Oldcorn (born 31 March 1960) is a Scottish professional golfer. Oldcorn was born in Bolton, Lancashire, England. He was raised in Edinburgh, and represents Scotland. He represented England as an amateur and won the English Amateur in 198 ...

Gavin Hastings Andrew Gavin Hastings, (born 3 January 1962) is a Scottish former rugby union player. A fullback, he is widely regarded to be one of the best ever Scottish rugby players and was one of the outstanding players of his generation, winning 61 ...

Martin Geissler Martin Geissler (born 1971) is a Scottish news reader, broadcast journalist and correspondent for BBC Scotland News. Career Geissler joined the Scottish bureau of the then-recently launched Sky News in 1991. Later he joined Grampian Televisi ...

Nicky Campbell Nicholas Andrew Argyll Campbell, OBE (born Nicholas Lackey, 10 April 1961) is a Scottish broadcaster and journalist. He has worked in television and radio since 1981 and as a network presenter with BBC Radio since 1987. Early life Campbell wa ...

, Grant Hutchison and the late Scott Hutchison. Hearts were featured in the second season of '' Succession'', where the team is bought by the character Roman Roy (

Kieran Culkin Kieran Kyle Culkin (born September 30, 1982) is an American actor. The brother of actors Macaulay and Rory, he began his career as a child actor in the films ''Home Alone'' (1990), ''Father of the Bride'' (1991)'', The Mighty'' (1998), and ''Th ...

) who, in an attempt to impress his father Logan ( Brian Cox), mistakenly buys the Edinburgh rival of Logan's actual favourite team, Hibs.

Player of the year

*2012–13 Marius Žaliūkas *2013–14 Jamie MacDonald *2014–15 Jamie Walker *2015–16 Arnaud Djoum *2016–17 Jamie Walker *2017–18

Christophe Berra Christophe Didier Berra (born 31 January 1985) is a Scottish professional football former player and coach, who is currently the first team coach for Livingston. Berra began his professional career with Heart of Midlothian, playing 146 times f ...

*2018–19 Steven Naismith *2020–21

Craig Gordon Craig Sinclair Gordon (born 31 December 1982) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian, where he is club captain, and the Scottish national team. Gordon started his c ...

*2021–22

Honours

Major honours

and predecessors (1890–present): **Champions (4): 1894–95, 1896–97, 1957–58, 1959–60 **Runners–up (14): 1893–94, 1898–99,

1903–04 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

1905–06 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

, 1914–15, 1937–38, 1953–54, 1956–57, 1958–59, 1964–65, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1991–92, 2005–06 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1890–91, 1895–96, 1900–01,

, 1955–56, 1997–98, 2005–06, 2011–12 **Runners–up (9):

1902–03 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

1906–07 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

, 1967–68, 1975–76, 1985–86, 1995–96, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2021–22 *

(1947–present): **Winners (4): 1954–55, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1962–63 **Runners–up (3): 1961–62, 1996,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Minor honours

(second tier, 1893–present): **Winners: 1979–80, 2014–15,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

**Runners–up: 1977–78, 1982–83 * Victory Cup (1919) **Runners–up: 1919 *

Inter City Football League The Inter City Football League was formed in 1899 in Scotland as one of several supplementary football leagues that were created in order to increase the number of fixtures for Scottish Football League clubs.Edinburgh Football League/East of Scotland League (1894–1908): 1894–95, 1895–96, 1896–97, 1897–98, 1898–99, 1899–00, 1903–04 (7, record)East of Scotland League
Scottish Football Historical Archive, 5 August 2020 * North-Eastern Cup (1908–1914): 1909–10, 1912–13 (2, record) * Rosebery Charity Cup (1882–1945): 32 times (record)Rosebery Charity Cup
Scottish Football Historical Archive, 18 July 2020 * Wilson Cup (1906–1946): 21 times (record) * East of Scotland Shield (1875–1990): 48 times *Dunedin Cup (1909–1933): 13 times (record) * Festival Cup (2003–2004): 2003, 2004 *

Football World Championship The Football World Championship, also known as the United Kingdom Championship or the International Club Championship, was a exhibition association football match played between the English and Scottish club champions on a regular, but not annual ...

: **Winners:

1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world' ...

**Runners–up:

Club records

;Attendance *Highest home attendance: 53,396 v Rangers, 13 February 1932, Scottish Cup, Tynecastle *Highest average home attendance: 28,195, 1948–49 season (15 games) ;Single game *Biggest win: 21–0 vs Anchor, EFA Cup, 1880 *Biggest defeat: 1–8 vs

Vale of Leven The Vale of Leven (Scottish Gaelic: ''Magh Leamhna'') is an area of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, in the valley of the River Leven. Historically, it was part of The Lennox, the name of which derives from the Gaelic term ''Leamhnach'', meaning ' ...

, Scottish Cup, 1888 ;Caps and appearances *Most capped players:

, 70 (for

) *Youngest competitive player:

Scott Robinson Scott Robinson may refer to: * Scott Robinson (jazz musician) (born 1959), American jazz musician * Scott Robinson (ice hockey) (born 1964), Canadian National Hockey League player * Scott Robinson (singer) (born 1979), English singer in the boy ban ...

made his debut aged 16 years, 1 month and 14 days old. *Most appearances:

Gary Mackay Gary Mackay (born 23 January 1964 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish former footballer, who made over 500 league appearances for Heart of Midlothian and also played for Airdrieonians and the Scotland national team. After retiring as a player, he m ...

, 640 (515 L, 58 SC, 46 LC, 21 E) 1980 – 1997 *Most league appearances:

, 515 *Most honours:

, 2 League titles, 1 Scottish Cup, 4 League Cups, 1954–1962 ;Goals *Most league goals: John Robertson, 214, 1983–1998 *Most goals in a season: Barney Battles Jr., 44, 1930–31 season ;Transfers *Highest transfer fee paid:

Mirsad Bešlija Mirsad Bešlija (born 6 July 1979) is a Bosnian retired professional footballer who played as a right winger. He has most notably played for Željezničar, Genk, Heart of Midlothian and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Club career B ...

, £850,000,

Racing Genk Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (), commonly known as KRC Genk, Racing Genk or simply Genk, is a Belgium, Belgian professional association football, football club based in the city of Genk in Limburg (Belgium), Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays ...

, 2006 *Highest transfer fee received: £9m for

from Sunderland in 2007 (British record fee paid for a goalkeeper at the time)

Players

Current squad

On loan

Retired numbers

(posthumous)

Development and under-20s squad

''For more information on reserves and under-20s, see Heart of Midlothian F.C. Reserves and Academy

Hearts Women squad

''For more information on Hearts Women squad, see ''

Club staff

Corporate staff

Coaching staff

Hearts Women staff

''For more information on Hearts Women staff, see ''

Managers

* Peter Fairley (1901–1903) * William Waugh (1903–1908) * James McGhee (1908–1909) * John McCartney (1910–1919) *

Willie McCartney Willie McCartney (date of birth unknown — 24 January 1948) was a Scottish football referee and manager. He managed both of the Edinburgh derby rivals, Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) and Hibernian (Hibs). The ''Sunday Herald'' newspaper ...

(1919–1935) * David Pratt (1935–1937) * Frank Moss (1937–1940) * David McLean (1941–1951) * Tommy Walker (1951–1966) * John Harvey (1966–1970) *

Bobby Seith Robert Seith (born 9 March 1932) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He won league championships in both England and Scotland, with Burnley and Dundee respectively. Playing career Seith began his professional career with Burnley ...

(1970–1974) *

John Hagart John Hagart (19 November 1937 – 1 June 2010) was a Scottish football player and manager. He bossed Scottish sides Hearts and Falkirk during the later 1970s and early 1980s. Hagart had a modest playing career, making only five senior league a ...

(1974–1977) * Willie Ormond (1977–1980) *

Bobby Moncur Robert Moncur (born 19 January 1945) is a Scottish former professional footballer. Moncur is most famous for his role as captain of Newcastle United in the late 1960s and of the Scottish national side in the early 1970s. Moncur was part of the ...

(1980–1981) * Tony Ford (1981) * Alex MacDonald (1982–1986) *

Sandy Jardine William "Sandy" Pullar Jardine (31 December 1948 – 24 April 2014) was a Scottish professional footballer who played for Rangers, Hearts and represented Scotland. He played over 1000 professional games and twice won the Scottish Football Wri ...

and Alex MacDonald (1986–1988) * Alex MacDonald (1988–1990) *

(1990–1993) *

(1993–1994) *

(1994–1995) * Jim Jefferies (1995–2000) *

(2000–2004) * John Robertson (2004–2005) *

(2005) *

Graham Rix Graham Cyril Rix (born 23 October 1957) is an English former professional football player who later became a coach and manager. He is the current manager of Fareham Town. He played for Arsenal for thirteen years, then Brentford (on loan), Cae ...

(2005–2006) *

Valdas Ivanauskas Valdas Ivanauskas (born 31 July 1966) is a Lithuanian football coach and a former striker. He is best known in Europe for his time at Austria Vienna as well as Hamburger SV where he acted between 1993 and 97. Beyond that he stood on the sidel ...

(2006–2007) * Anatoliy Korobochka (2007–2008) * Stephen Frail (2008) * Csaba Laszlo (2008–2010) * Jim Jefferies (2010–2011) * Paulo Sérgio (2011–2012) *

John McGlynn John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

(2012–2013) * Gary Locke (2013–2014) *

(2014–2016) *

Ian Cathro Ian Cathro (born 11 July 1986) is a Scottish football coach, who is a first team coach at Al-Ittihad. He was previously an assistant coach at Rio Ave, Valencia, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur, and was briefly the head coach at Scottish P ...

(2016–2017) *

(2017–2019) *

Daniel Stendel Daniel Stendel (born 4 April 1974) is a German professional Association football, football manager and former player, who currently is in charge of Hannover 96 II. Stendel played as a Striker (association football), striker in his native Germany ...

(2019–2020) *

(2020–)

Hearts Women

In 2009, Hearts took over Musselburgh Windsor Ladies Football Club, changing their name to Hearts Ladies F.C. They currently play in the

Scottish Women's Premier League The Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) is the highest level of league competition in women's football in Scotland. Its two divisions are SWPL 1 and SWPL 2. The league was formed when the Premier Division of the Scottish Women's Football Leag ...

under the name Hearts Women. The team play their home games at The Oriam, Riccarton.

References

Bibliography

External links

Official Club website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heart Of Midlothian F.C. Football clubs in Edinburgh Football clubs in Scotland Association football clubs established in 1874 Scottish Premier League teams 1874 establishments in Scotland Gorgie Scottish Football League teams Scottish Football League founder members Scottish Cup winners East of Scotland Football League teams Scottish Professional Football League teams Scottish League Cup winners Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom