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Hearts
Heart of Midlothian Football Club was founded in 1874 and took its name from the Royal Mile dance hall frequented by the founders. The club initially played at the Meadows, Powburn and Powderhall before taking up residence in the Gorgie area in 1881, moving to the existing Tynecastle site five years later in 1886.
Hearts were the only club from the East of Scotland to become founder members of the Scottish League in 1890 and success came quickly with two league titles and four Scottish Cup wins between 1895 and 1906, including a 3-1 win over Hibernian in the only Scottish Cup Final to be played outside Glasgow, at Logie Green in 1896.
During The First World War the entire playing staff volunteered to join the forces and, in doing so, encouraged thousands of supporters to follow suit. Seven players were killed in action, few of the survivors managed to play again after the horrors of the trenches, but their sacrifices have never been forgotten and every year a Remembrance Service is held at Haymarket where a war memorial to the club stands proudly.
Under manager Tommy Walker the Scottish Cup returned to Gorgie in 1956, with the League Championship flag following in 1958 (a season which saw the side score a record 132 League goals) and 1960. The side, which contained legendary names such as Alfie Conn, Willie Bauld, Jimmy Wardhaugh, John Cumming, Dave Mackay and Alex Young, also won the League Cup on four occasions.
1983 Hearts came back to the top division for good and came close to bringing success to the supporters on a number of occasions. Although no trophies arrived the fans at least had an unparalleled streak of 22 league games without defeat against rivals Hibernian to celebrate. The breakthrough finally came in 1998 when Hearts lifted the Scottish Cup defeating Rangers 2-1 in the final at Celtic Park.
In December 2000 former captain Craig Levein was appointed as head coach to replace Jefferies. His approach had proved a successful one, particularly in the league, where Hearts have now recorded back to back third-place finishes and consequently successive UEFA Cup qualifications for the first time since the 1960s.
In February 2005 Vladimir Romanov completed deals to buy shares from Leslie Deans and Chris Robinson which gave his investment group Ubig a 29.9% share of the club. As part of the deal chief executive Chris Robinson resigned. He was, after an interim period under Sergejus Fedotovas, replaced by former Scottish Rugby chief Phil Anderton. Heart of Midlothian Football Club were changing and with that John Robertson's short spell as head coach came to an end after six months. His replacement was a clear statement of intent. George Burley, who commanded a fine reputation across Europe, was lured from England, where he had managed Ipswich Town and Derby County, and embarked on a spectacular spending spree with support from the club's major financial backer.
Short time success was secured, but after "irrevocable differences" George left the club. He was replaced by Graham Rix, the former Chelsea coach. Just after the departure of George, chief executive Phil Anderton left the club. Although not a direct replacement, Campbell Ogilvie, the former Rangers director arrived in Edinburgh as operations director, with a remit to run the football club on a day-to-day basis.
Although life was difficult at the beginning for the new coach, Graham slowly began to get the team playing as he wished. He was later aided by Jim Duffy, who joined the club as a coach, initially, before becoming director of football. Alas for Graham and Jim, their partnership was short lived. Both were dismissed barely before the end of March. The new man was an internal appointment: Valdas Ivanauskas was handed the job on an interim basis.
He will forever go down as the man who delivered Hearts seventh Tennent's Scottish Cup, after a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Gretna, and perhaps more importantly a crack at the UEFA Champions League for the first time as runners-up in the league.
It was no surprise when the Lithuanian was confirmed as the club's 25th 'manager' in June 2006. He would be assisted by John McGlynn and new sporting director Eduard Malofeev.
