It has been forty years since Scotland had a title-winning club not called Celtic or Rangers. Aberdeen’s success in 1985 ended a brief period in which the so-called ‘new company’ Dundee United and Aberdeen threatened Glasgow’s hegemony. This season, Heart of Midlothian sit at the top of the Scottish Premiership with a nine-point gap between them and Celtic. History tells us that Celtic cannot be written off, that their power and money will always bring them certain advantages, but there is something very powerful about the developments at Tynecastle, the home of Hearts.
When Tony Bloom said Hearts could win the league within a decade you could almost hear the laughter from Glasgow, but this was not a throwaway sound from a new investor at the club. Bloom, of Brighton & Hove Albion fame, bought a minority stake in the club for just under £10 million in the summer, bringing his analytical approach to Scottish football. Bloom transformed Brighton into a Premier League fixture and also laid the foundations for an assembly line of talent to be acquired and then sold on for healthy profits. Brighton was considered one of the best managed clubs in Britain. Bloom also bought a stake in Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise, a Brussels club that only recently languished in non-league football. In 2025, USG won their first Belgian title in 90 years.
Should Hearts win the title this season it would be a remarkable achievement. In 2024-2025 the club generated £24.4 million in revenue, a fraction of what Celtic earned, but almost 21% higher than in 2023-2024. The club made a pre-tax loss of £1.9 million. Commercial activity rose 13.5% to £9.9m, while media revenue was 41.6% higher at £9.9m. Matchday profits totaled £6.7 million, around 12% more than 2023-2024. Hearts are the third best supported club in Scotland, with an average gate of almost 18,500.
Revenues could increase in 2025-2026, but Hearts has some challenges ahead; they are not competing in Europe this season and their wage bill has crept up and, if their current trajectory continues, the bonuses will see it rise higher. Hearts’ wage bill was £19.1 million in 2024–25, which represented 78% of income.
Hearts’ success in the early months of 2025-2026 is not based on overspending or unrealistic gambles, it is the result of efficient management of the club and detailed analysis of players in the market. Hearts were very active in the final season and used strong fiscal discipline to bring in no fewer than ten players and remove four, amounting to a net expenditure of around £550,000. Hearts are focusing on bringing in young players such as 23-year-old Brazilian midfielder Ageu, who cost the equivalent of £1.7 million from Portuguese side Santa Clara, a record fee for the club.
Another signing, Cláudio Braga, a 26-year-old striker, joined from Norwegian club Aalesund for just under half a million pounds. Since joining the club, he has scored nine goals in sixteen games. Player development at Hearts is intended to fund reinvestment in the squad, the kind of player trading strategy adopted by many mid-tier clubs in Europe. Hearts’ squad cost around £4.7m but is currently valued at €18.7m (£16m) by Transfermarkt.
A Hearts title win would be welcome in many parts of Scotland. The more clubs in contention, the stronger and more marketable the Premier League will be, but the gap between Celtic and Rangers and the rest is significant. Scotland need a new champion and Bloom’s prediction may need to be rewritten if Hearts maintain their current form. However, there is still a long way to go, and a beast is never more dangerous when injured.
Photo: CC BY 2.0 Via flickr Zhi Yong Lee
Published by
Game of the People was founded in 2012 and is ranked among the 100 best football websites by various sources. The site consistently wins awards for its work, across a wide range of topics. View all posts by Neil Fredrik Jensen
#Hearts #threshold #datadriven #dream