Heart of Midlothian

Heart of Midlothian
	Heart of Midlothian
Basic data
Surname	Heart of Midlothian ; Football Club
Seat	Edinburgh , Scotland
founding	1874
Board	Ann Budge
Website	heartsfc.co.uk
First soccer team
Head coach	Robbie Neilson
Venue	Tynecastle Park
Places	20,099
league	Scottish Premiership
2019/20	12th place (quotient regulation)

The Heart of Midlothian Football Club is a Scottish football club from Edinburgh that plays in the first-class Scottish Premiership . The home games are played in Tynecastle Park .

history

The Hearts , as they are commonly abbreviated, were founded in 1874. The Heart of Midlothian Dancing Club , where the founders of the club met regularly at the time , presumably served as the namesake . The name of the dance hall was derived from Sir Walter Scott's novel The Heart of Midlothian , which was named after a prison that was demolished in 1817 and also served as a public place of execution. Today's Hearts club crest is modeled on the heart-shaped mosaic that is carved into the cobblestones of Edinburgh's old town where the entrance to the prison was once located to commemorate the historic site.

The club celebrated its greatest successes in the early days of Scottish football at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, when two championships and four cup wins were celebrated. Two more championship titles followed in the 1950s and 1960s, and are still the last to this day. The Hearts have won the Scottish Cup eight times , most recently in 2012, and the Scottish League Cup four times . With the start of the 2007/08 season , the board introduced Anatoly Korobochka and Stephen Frail as new managers. After four games without a win at the beginning, the press blamed the board for the bad start. It wasn't just the results that were a problem; Korobochka didn't speak a word of English, so a translator had to be hired to ensure communication. After five defeats in a row, Romanov announced on December 31, 2007 that he wanted to sign a new manager with experience in Scottish football. Further sporting disappointments followed; after being eliminated in the 4th round of the Scottish Cup against Motherwell, the team was eliminated in the semifinals of the CIS Insurance Cup against the Glasgow Rangers . The final round was missed two points behind, so the Hearts had to complete the relegation round without being in danger of relegation themselves.

As a result, Vladimir Weiss and Lothar Matthäus were traded as candidates for the managerial position. However, both canceled. As a result, on July 11, 2008, Csaba László was introduced as the new manager of Hearts. The former national coach of Uganda signed a three-year contract in Edinburgh. After a failed preparation for the season (2 wins, 5 defeats) the new midfielder David Obua was signed and Hearts won their first league game under the new coach 3-2 at home against Motherwell. Saulius Mikoliūnas scored the winning goal in the 82nd minute. Under Csaba László in the meantime a series of five wins in a row succeeded, including the record champions Glasgow Rangers was defeated 2-1. Only a 0-1 in Aberdeen marked the first defeat after further unbeaten games. With the 2-0 win against local rivals Hibernian Edinburgh in the 4th round of the Scottish FA Cup , they were finally back on the road to success. In the following months, the targeted third place was captured and successfully defended against rivals FC Aberdeen and Dundee United . On May 16, they beat Dundee United 3-0 in the decisive game at their home country Tynecastle Park and secured third place and the starting place in the play-off round of the newly created UEFA Europa League in the 2008/09 season . In 2012 the Hearts won the Scottish Cup against their city rivals Hibernian Edinburgh with a 5-1 win. It was the first time since 1895/96 that the two clubs from the Scottish capital played against each other in the final.

After the bankruptcy of Ukio Bankas and UBIG Holding, through which the Russian-Lithuanian entrepreneur Vladimir Romanov - the father of President Roman Romanov - owned the club, the club ran into major financial difficulties in 2013. There were debts of 29 million euros, salaries and tax debts could no longer be paid, and an insolvency administrator was appointed. Roman Romanov was wanted by Lithuanian law enforcement agencies for misappropriating funds. The club was deducted 15 points for the 2013/14 season.

Because of the 15-point deduction, relegation in the highest Scottish league was unattainable, and Hearts was relegated from bottom of the table. In the second highest Scottish league, however, a new team could be formed, which consisted of many homegrowns due to lack of money. They managed the immediate promotion and won the championship clearly (21 points ahead) ahead of city rivals Hibernian Edinburgh and third-placed Glasgow Rangers. The presidency also changed and the Romanov era came to an end with the club's relegation to the second division.

successes

Scottish Championship (4):
- 1895 , 1897 , 1958 , 1960
Scottish Championship (2nd division) (1):
- 2015
Scottish Cup Winner (8):
- 1891 , 1896 , 1901 , 1906 , 1956 , 1998 , 2006 , 2012
- Scottish Cup finalist (7): 1903, 1907, 1968, 1976, 1986, 1996, 2019
Scottish League Cup (4):
- 1955 , 1959 , 1960 , 1963
- Scottish League Cup finalist (3): 1962, 1997, 2013

Current squad - season 2020/21

As of August 18, 2020

No.		position	Surname
1	Scotland	TW	Craig Gordon
2	Northern Ireland	FROM	Michael Smith
3	Ireland	FROM	Aidy White
4th	Scotland	FROM	John Souttar
5	Austria	MF	Peter Haring
6th	Scotland	FROM	Christophe Berra
10	Scotland	MF	Jamie Walker
12	Czech Republic	TW	Zdeněk Zlámal
14th	Scotland	ST	Steven Naismith
15th	Scotland	ST	Craig Wighton
16	England	MF	Olly Lee
17th	Australia	FROM	Ben Garuccio
20th	Scotland	MF	Harry Cochrane
21st	Scotland	MF	Anthony McDonald

No.		position	Surname
22nd	France	MF	Loïc Damour
25th	Scotland	FROM	Jamie Brandon
26th	Scotland	FROM	Craig Halkett
27	Scotland	MF	Lewis Moore
29	Northern Ireland	ST	Liam Boyce
40	Scotland	MF	Andy Irving
41	Scotland	ST	Euan Henderson
44	Scotland	FROM	Chris Hamilton
45	Scotland	MF	Connor Smith
48	Scotland	FROM	Cammy Logan
49	Scotland	FROM	Leeroy Makovora
51	Scotland	FROM	Aaron Hickey
	England	MF	Jordan Roberts
	Scotland	TW	Ross Stewart