I have said repeatedly that the Glasgow duopoly MUST be broken.
Celtic and Rangers MUST be knocked off their perches.
37 seasons of two names winning the Scottish Premiership?
Nowhere else on the planet has such a situation been allowed to persist.
Whatever the reasons for it, this spirit-crushing domination MUST be ended.
Hearts have recovered from Administration, two relegations and a Pandemic.
With their supporter ownership structure, the club could survive forever as Also Rans, kneeling before the Glasgow giants, accepting the crumbs from their table.
Fear of reaching for higher, of aspiring to greatness, could see Scottish football reach a 50 season milestone of the top league having been won by only Celtic and Rangers.
With Hearts as permanent 3rd, lording it over the lesser Also Rans, who can only aspire to overtaking the Men in Maroon.
BUT we – the Board; the Foundation; the Supporters – are NOT going to accept that fate.
Because glorifying 3rd is ultimately lauding FAILURE – and the price of that failure would be seeing 150 years of history lapse into just a collection of faded photos, memories of successes that will never be repeated.
3rd is only acceptable as a transition stage, a platform from which to aim higher, to get to the very top.
Robbie Neilson and his back room team can take Hearts to the very top. He has the personal qualities and skills.
Now, quite simply, he needs the money.
The Board and Foundation need to find that money. THIS YEAR.
Investment MUST start this Summer, bringing in players to augment the core of quality already in the squad.
How many are needed?
How much money needs to be spent?
£20 million or more in transfer fees and provision to meet an additional wage bill of £12 million plus a season.
There you go – £32 Million extra in season 2023/24.
The Hibs manager says his club needs a Sheikh to arrive to fund a challenge, though perhaps such an arrival might be more likely to assist Dundee United.
But the truth is that £32 million is NOT a fortune; it is, for example, a tiny fraction of the near £800 million the Edinburgh Trams cost.
If Edinburgh can find £800 million to resuscitate a transport method that had its glory days in the 1950’s, surely Hearts can find a small portion of that funding to bring back the capitais footballing glory days of the same era?
Clearly we are not talking about Hearts becoming EPL-style big spenders in terms of transfer fees – BUT the Tynecastle club need to make significant progress towards bridging the spending gap between themselves and the Old Firm.
There are many bright people on the Board and in the Foundation; they need to raise the required funds, whatever it takes.
The club needs to move from life-support to thriving. Only the fuel-injection, in the shape of new funding, can bring about that change.
There are, of course, monetary prizes to be won; for example, from Champions League participation.
BUT the real prize is bringing the Premiership Flag back to Edinburgh, for the first time in over 60 years.
Such a triumph for Hearts would be celebrated everywhere, apart from two small parts of Glasgow.
So let’s have no further procrastination.
This is NOT the time for consolidation.
37 seasons of pain is more than enough.
Time for Hearts to not just revive memories of the 1950’s – those triumphs need to be repeated right here, right NOW, in the 2020’s.
It CAN be done – it MUST be done!
Time for Change.
BELIEVE.
Scottish Football Matters 