A key part of the mantra preached by Tony Bloom is that, no matter how difficult it might be, supporters should avoid becoming too attached to players.
The Jamestown Analytics trading model used by Bloom’s clubs is so fluid that players can often be in the door for barely five minutes in the grand scheme of things, before being sold for a handsome profit.
There are already players at Hearts for whom this will be true at some point in the future, with Claudio Braga and Alexandros Kyziridis being chief among them.
Yet, in the cases of Lawrence Shankland and Cammy Devlin, the emotional attachment with Hearts supporters was formed long before Jamestown entered the equation.
Shankland joined Hearts in the summer of 2022, 12 months after Devlin had arrived from Australia. Over the next few years, these two fan favourites became integral parts of the team.
With Shankland invoking a break clause in his contract to engineer a move to Rangers, and Devlin being out of contract this summer, Hearts fans will question the wisdom of the club losing two of its star players in this manner.
Tony Bloom’s Jamestown Analytics face a big summer rebuild at Hearts
Hearts talisman Lawrence Shankland invoked a break clause in his contract to move to Rangers
The wounds of what unfolded at Celtic Park on the final day of the season will take some time to heal, as Hearts missed out on a first league title in 66 years.
Those scars will linger for some time, especially given the manner in which certain refereeing decisions which went against Hearts in the run-in have since been acknowledge as incorrect.
But, for supporters, the sight of Shankland being paraded in a Rangers jersey on Tuesday night must have felt like salt being poured into those wounds.
Their captain, their talisman, the best striker in the league; allowed to leave for peanuts to join a direct title rival. Quite simply, the tin lid on what had already been the week from hell.
There is nuance to this. From the club’s point of view, they will argue that they got one more year out of Shankland after he almost left on a free last summer.
One more season in which he played a key role in the club almost winning a league title. Had Shankland left 12 months ago, there’s no guarantee Hearts would have challenged in the way they did.
It was only when Derek McInnes took charge last summer that he managed to talk him round and convince the Scotland striker to commit to a new deal.
We now know that the contract was weighted heavily in Shankland’s favour; a three-year deal which had a break clause to allow him to leave effectively for free after just 12 months.
Hearts got one more year out of him and almost won a title, whilst he is now able to secure a move to his boyhood club in Rangers.
Good business for both sides? Hardly. You can’t dress this up as anything other than a hammer blow to the Tynecastle club.
They should not have allowed Shankland to dictate the terms of the contract in the way that he did. If that meant him leaving on a free last summer, so be it.
He wouldn’t have joined Rangers. Kevin Thelwell and Russell Martin looked at him 12 months ago and opted against signing him.
More fool them, of course. But Rangers have, belatedly, woken up and signed the 30-year-old striker on the basis of what he produced over the past season.
Hearts could not have foreseen this happening, but they always left the door open and ran the risk by allowing the break clause to be included in the contract.
Hearts will hope to unearth another gem like Premiership Player of the Year Claudio Braga
The situation with Devlin is still in the balance. The Australian midfielder is currently in Florida with his national team as they prepare for the World Cup.
A return to America next season could well be on the cards, with several clubs in the MLS chasing his signature.
Devlin is understood to already have one concrete offer on the table. Hearts have not yet given up hope of keeping him, but he is weighing up his future.
Again, given his obvious importance to the team, why was a key player allowed to run down his contract in this fashion?
Hearts fans are entirely within their rights to be asking these questions of chief executive Andrew McKinlay and Graeme Jones, the club’s sporting director.
The club are already making moves in the market. A six-figure deal is being thrashed out to sign Amadou Ba-Sy, a 6ft 3ins striker from French third-tier side Rouen.
Hearts were linked with Ba-Sy back in January, so he should not necessarily be viewed as a direct replacement for Shankland.
But the task of trying to replace their main goalscorer is one which will test the Jamestown project to its maximum.
Likewise the task of trying to find another all-action midfielder if Devlin does move on to pastures new.
To put it bluntly, the replacements for both Shankland and Devlin are not currently in the building. The task of finding those replacements is now a top priority.
James Wilson has returned from his loan spell at Tottenham. But with no prospect of a contract extension on the table, it’s expected that Hearts could look to cash-in and get whatever money they can for the young forward.
Josh McPake joins Hearts after helping St Johnstone win the Championship
Winger Josh McPake has been signed from St Johnstone, and French midfielder Tom Renaud should arrive to bolster the options in the centre of the pitch.
Hearts fans were given a fairly gentle introduction to Jamestown last season. The likes of Braga, Kyziridis and Harry Milne came in and impressed.
But there was no real pressure or expectation on them. The difference now is that, for the first time, Hearts and Jamestown are now under pressure to replace key players.
This is when we will really start to see the fruits of the data. Trying to replace the best striker in Scottish football is quite a task.
Bloom spoke last week about the disappointment of losing the league on the final day, whilst also vowing that Hearts will come back stronger next season.
The ability to do that now hinges his data firm being able to unearth a couple of gems to replace key players. For Jamestown, this is now the acid test.
