The European Cup is back this week. The Conference League is an opportunity to discover certain clubs that would benefit from being better known here. This is for example the case of Hearts of Midlothian, who go to Cercle de Bruges.
The Bruges police are on edge as the European Cup approaches. If the Club travels to Celtic Glasgow this week, the city is set to welcome some equally vocal Scottish fans. More than 3,000 Hearts of Midlothian supporters are expected to descend on the Venice of the North for the match at the Circle.
It must be said that this is a historic club in the Scottish championship. The institution celebrated its 150th anniversary this year and owes its name to the novel of the same name by Walter Scott, which relates the journey from Edinburgh to London of a young working-class girl with the aim of obtaining a royal pardon for her. death sentence incurred by his sister, following the alleged murder of her newborn.
But back to our point: in their history, Hearts have been Scottish champions four times. In 1958, this led to the first match in their history in the European Cup…against Liège Standard. The Scots created a surprise by winning the first leg (2-1) before losing 5-1 in Sclessin. They met Les Rouches again during the 1992/1993 UEFA Cup, with two 1-0 defeats (goals from Alain Betagno and Marc Wilmots).
The Hearts almost disappeared
In addition to tradition and European epics, the club has also experienced some lean periods. In 2004, fans greeted Lithuanian multimillionaire Vladirmir Romanov with great concern. Their fears will be confirmed: the “Romanov revolution” will lead to a succession of coaches sacked one after the other, episodes of unpaid salaries and the contested arrival of two of his sons in the organization chart.
In his pursuit of megalomania, Romanov once declared that he was aiming for the Champions League final victory with Hearts. The club played well in the C1 but failed to progress through the second qualifying round. His madness led the institution towards a tax recovery.
The 2013/2014 season was particularly stormy: the team started it with a 15-point withdrawal and a ban on registering players over 21 until February. Unsurprisingly, this led to relegation to the second division. Despite this, the supporters never stopped supporting the club: the money from the massive subscription campaign contributed to the survival of the structure.
“Never again”: that was their slogan. That’s when the Foundation of Hearts came into play. They reached an agreement to repay creditors with a donation from a wealthy supporter, which will be repaid in part thanks to the monthly efforts of thousands of supporters.
And that’s not all: the club was taken over by a provisional consortium, aiming to hand over Hearts to their own supporters. Seven years later, monthly direct debits from 8,000 supporters allowed the Foundation to officially take over 75% of the club.
This makes them the largest fan-owned club in the UK. Please note, the latter do not have total autonomy regarding daily decisions: an executive team continues to define the strategy. At its head, President Ann Budge, 76 years old but still on the front line. An icon of supporters, she was the one who ensured the transition between the Romanov era and the takeover by the Foundation.
The thousands of investors have obtained guarantees regarding the direction taken by Hearts: without their consent, the club will not be able to change its name, color or move from Tynecastle, their favorite stadium. From a sporting point of view, the recipe seems to be a winner: the team has quickly moved up to the Premiership and is once again enjoying the thrill of European evenings, with two victories already in the Conference League this season.
After being in danger for years, the identity of the Hearts will therefore be preserved. Discussions with Cercle supporters, who have long questioned the partnership with AS Monaco, could be interesting, provided they are not drowned in whiskey.
