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| Full name | Heart of Midlothian Football Club | |||
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| Nickname(s) | Hearts The Jam Tarts HMFC The Jambos The Gorgie Boys | |||
| Founded | 1874 | |||
| Ground | Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh | |||
| Capacity | 19,852[1] | |||
| Chairperson | Ann Budge[2] | |||
| Head coach | Neil Critchley | |||
| League | Scottish Premiership | |||
| 2023–24 | Scottish Premiership, 3rd of 12 | |||
| Website | www | |||
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Heart of Midlothian Football Club, commonly known as Hearts, is a professional football club in Edinburgh, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football. Hearts, the oldest football club in the Scottish capital,[3] was formed in 1874, its name influenced by Walter Scott's novel The Heart of Midlothian.[4] 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.[4]
Hearts have played home matches at Tynecastle Park since 1886.[5] After converting the ground into an all-seater stadium in 1990, it now has a capacity of 19,852[1] 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.[6]
Hearts have won the Scottish league championship four times, most recently in 1959–60, when they also retained the Scottish League Cup to complete a League and League Cup double – the only club outside of the Old Firm 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, Willie Bauld 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. Wardhaugh was part of another notable Hearts attacking trinity in the 1957–58 league winning side. Along with Jimmy Murray and Alex Young,[7] 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 eight times, most recently in 2012 after a 5–1 victory over Hibernian, their local rivals.[8] They have since been beaten finalists in 2019, 2020 and 2022. All four of Hearts' Scottish League Cup triumphs came under Walker, most recently a 1–0 victory against Kilmarnock in 1962. Their most recent League Cup Final appearance was in 2013, where they lost 3–2 to St Mirren.
In 1958, Heart of Midlothian became the third Scottish and fifth British team to compete in European competition. The club reached the quarter-finals of the 1988–89 UEFA Cup, losing to Bayern Munich 2–1 on aggregate.
- ^ a b "Tynecastle Park Safety Certificate, issued October 2018" (PDF). 31 October 2018.
- ^ "Ann Budge to start at Tynecastle on Monday". BBC Sport. 9 May 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
- ^ Bowie, Andrew-Henry (2011). Two miles to Tynecastle. Clacton on Sea: Apex.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
1874-1884was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Inglis 1996, p. 447
- ^ "Oriam - The jewel in the crown of Scottish sport". Scottish FA. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
- ^ "1957-58". Londonhearts.com. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
- ^ "Hibernian 1 Hearts 5". BBC Sport. 19 May 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2012.