From the pie stalls at Tynecastle to the pitch, everyone at Hearts deserves to be part of their own proper footballing fairytale this term.
No one has given these players anything. Look through the squad and it’s a collection of guys who’ve had to bounce back from setbacks, bide their time, trawl round lower leagues, work for everything coming their way.
They’ve had to graft hard to get to this lofty position, just a couple of games away from delivering probably the most incredible achievement ever dished up on the domestic front.
Same goes for their manager Derek McInnes. Considering he was lined up to take over at Rangers at one point, it says a lot for him that he was prepared to drop down a division to revitalise Kilmarnock back in early 2022 – ten months after leaving Aberdeen – and put his own reputation on the line.
The sense of unity and spirit he has built around the club over the course of the season speaks to a fellow still improving as a coach and leader even at the age of 54. He’s eked everything out of this squad, bringing them back from defeats and disappointments, getting results when all looks lost.
Hearts fans cheer their team on as they seek to clinch the Premiership title
Getting results when all looks lost has become part of the DNA of Hearts, of course. That’s what the place is built on. That’s why there’s a shiny main stand at Tynecastle that will be full to the rafters when Falkirk visit on Wednesday night for a game that might, just might, depending on what happens elsewhere in the interim, be enough to make the dream of that first league title since 1960 reality.
Money from the Foundation of Hearts supporters’ collective helped construct it. Before then, of course, money from the Foundation of Hearts kept the club alive. And it’s why any success that may come over this monumental week ahead belongs to everyone who calls that stadium home and not just the blokes who have been out there on the field to earn it.
When the FoH was set up in 2010, the club was already badly distressed under Vladimir Romanov’s regime. When it went into administration, it would have gone out of business had the FoH vehicle to raise funds from fans not already been in existence to support the deal that saw Ann Budge pony up £2million to buy shares freed up by administrator Bryan Jackson at a tense creditors’ meeting in Lithuania.
What’s perhaps more impressive than anything, though, is that there has been no fatigue amongst those who pledge every month. Memberships are rising. More than £20m has been ploughed into the club so far.
‘At the beginning, a lot of people thought we were mad,’ said co-founder Garry Halliday ahead of the home game against Dundee in March which celebrated the Foundation’s work. ‘We were born out of a crisis, but we are not in a crisis now and we are still putting the money in. Everything we have achieved is down to the supporters.’
It has been a phenomenal show of unity and commitment and should be celebrated every bit as much as the achievements of McInnes and his players if this week does, indeed, bring the most magical and unlikely prize of all.
