Match Thread Vs Heart Of Midlothian

because we had no game this weekend i think harry should play a strong side otherwise they will be playing man u without having kicked a ball in 2weeks.

gomez
charlie kaboul daws ekotto
lennon hudd modric bale
super pav. defoe

The stats I have looked at show no previous meetings betwenn the 2 clubs so the best I can do is give some background on Hearts . . . . .


Heart of Midlothian Football Club (more commonly known as simply Hearts) are a Scottish football club from Edinburgh who currently play in the Scottish Premier League. They are one of the two principal clubs in the city, with the other being Hibernian. Russian-Lithuanian businessman and banker Vladimir Romanov has been the major shareholder of Hearts since he bought Chris Robinson's stake in 2005. Paulo Sergio is the current manager of Hearts, having replaced Jim Jeffries on 2 August 2011.


David Craig Mackay (born 14 November 1934) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Mackay is best remembered for a highly successful playing career with Heart of Midlothian, the Double winning Tottenham Hotspur side of 1961, and winning the league with Derby County as a manager. He also represented Scotland 22 times, and was selected for their 1958 FIFA World Cup squad. Mackay tied with Tony Book of Manchester City for the Football Writers' Association's Footballer of the Year award in 1969 and was later listed by The Football League in their "100 Legends".



Alfred "Alfie" Conn Snr (2 October 1926 – 7 January 2009) was a Scottish professional footballer, most commonly remembered as part of the Terrible Trio of the Heart of Midlothian side of the 1950s, along with Willie Bauld and Jimmy Wardhaugh. He was born in Prestonpans, East Lothian. He retired in 1960, and had a brief spell as manager of both Gala Fairydean and Raith Rovers. After his footballing days were over, Conn had the pleasure of watching his son, Alfie junior, establish a successful footballing career of his own, notably with both Rangers and Celtic and a period with Tottenham Hotspur in Englad. Conn Sr. died on 7 January 2009, at the age of 82.

Into the 21st century

In recent seasons, Hearts have usually been competing for third place in the Scottish Premier League. They finished third in 2003 and 2004, and reached the inaugural group stages of the UEFA Cup in 2004–05, but finished bottom of their group, despite a victory over FC Basel. During the 2004–05 season, they finished fifth in the league.

In 2004, then club CEO Chris Robinson announced plans to sell Tynecastle, which he claimed was “not fit for purpose”, and instead have Hearts rent Murrayfield from the Scottish Rugby Union. This move was deemed necessary due to the club’s increasingly large debt. The plan was very unpopular with supporters, and a campaign, entitled Save Our Hearts, was set up to try to block the move. As Robinson and his supporters had a slight majority of the club’s shares, a preliminary deal to sell the stadium was struck with the Cala property development company for just over £20 million.

Romanov years
In the midst of Hearts' financial difficulties in late 2004, Russian-Lithuanian multi-millionaire Vladimir Romanov began to be involved with the club in what was styled the “Romanov Revolution”. After Romanov began negotiations to purchase a large portion of Hearts’ shares, the impending sale of Tynecastle was called off, much to the relief of the majority of supporters.

In February 2005, Romanov purchased 29.9% of the share capital, taking effective control of the club. He then increased his holding to 80% by December 2005 and thus gained full control of the club. Romanov also arranged for a £4,500,000 loan due to Scottish Media Group to be paid off by his investment bank.

Romanov said that his ultimate aim is for Hearts to win the Champions League. Romanov also owns the Lithuanian club FBK Kaunas and Belarusian club FC Partizan Minsk. Several players have been loaned by FBK Kaunas to Hearts since Romanov acquired control of Hearts.

2010-11

After making six signings over the summer break: Stephen Elliott, Kevin Kyle, Darren Barr, Marian Kello, as a permanent deal, after being on loan at the club, Adrian Mrowiec from FBK Kaunas and Rudi Skácel who returned to the club; Hearts started the league off with a 1-1 draw with St Johnstone, a 0-4 win over Hamilton, and a 1-1 draw with Dundee United. Performances received positive reviews, and Hearts were unlucky not to win all three of their opening games, taking the lead in each. A period of 6 consecutive wins in a row followed later - beating rivals Hibernian 2-0 at Easter Road Stadium, while beating Celtic, Hamilton and Saint Johnstone 2-0 as well, Aberdeen 5-0 at Tyncastle and Motherwell 2-1 away from home. On 3 February 2011 it was announced that Andy Webster would return to the club after being released by Rangers of deadline day of the transfer window. He signed a two-and-a-half-year deal. Ending the season disappointingly, Hearts drew five then lost the last three games of the season against Rangers, Celtic and Dundee United, narrowly scraping third place by just two points - despite being 16 points clear at one point in the season.


The original Hearts football strip was all white shirts and trousers with maroon trimmings and a heart sewn onto the chest and Hearts played in these colours until 1876. For one season they played in red, white & blue strips, the colours of a club called St. Andrew they had absorbed (who had taken their name and colours from the University of St Andrews where they were students) but when the strips were washed the colours dyed to the famous maroon of today (usually with white shorts)[citation needed]. The colour maroon has been famously associated with Hearts ever since



Hearts' badge is a heart based on the Heart of Midlothian mosaic on the Royal Mile.

Hearts initially played at The Meadows, Powburn and Powderhall before moving to the Gorgie area in 1881. They moved to their current Tynecastle site in 1886.

The all-seated 17,420-capacity Tynecastle Stadium in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh has been the club's home since 1886. Tynecastle Stadium has hosted nine full Scotland international matches, although only two of these games occurred after the Second World War

Many Hearts supporters ask why Hearts named their ground Tynecastle. The answer is after the Tynecastle Tollhouse at the entrance to the grounds of Merchiston. More details can be read in "The Definitive History of the Heart of Midlothian Football Club" by Alex H. Knight, Club Archivist.


Supporters and culture

Hearts are one of only two professional football clubs in Edinburgh, which is the capital of and second largest city in Scotland. The club had the third largest average attendance in the Scottish Premier League during the 2010–11 season, with 14,185. Important games, particularly the Edinburgh derby, see Tynecastle at or near full capacity.

The Hearts Song was written and performed by Scottish comedian Hector Nicol, a St. Mirren fan. The more modern Hearts Song is was performed by "Colin Chisholm & The Glasgow Branch". It is played before every game at Tynecastle.

soz it said it didnt post the 1st time,

yea walker or charlie you cant go wrong lol

I hope we field a strong team for the first leg ...An away goal or two would be nice ....

They've just had their first win this season beating Aberdeen 3-0 at home .... I'd think it'll be be a tough game up there...

Im not to sure how Hearts play Vis but as you say with it being an Auld Enemy thing attached to it , could well be a physical game ....

I'd like to see us play with three up top , Bale, Defoe and Lennon... Hit them hard with our speed....

It'll be intresting to see if Harry picks either Crouch or Wilson for this game as doing so will probably rule out their possible move to Stoke..


For me, 4-3-3 should be tried out

.............Gomes

Walker...Dawson ..Kaboul.. Benny

.....Livermore....Hudd...........

.............Modric ........

Lennon .... Defoe .....Bale

nice team there arnie. would love to see livermoor given more games this season.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp could be without up to six midfielders for Thursday night's Europa League play-off first leg at Hearts.

Sandro, Wilson Palacios (both knee) Steven Pienaar, Luka Modric (both groin) and Jermaine Jenas (Achilles) are all out while Tom Huddlestone is a doubt with an ankle problem, meaning that 21-year-old Jake Livermore is almost certain to start just his second game for Spurs.

Ledley King and Alan Hutton are sidelined with knee injuries and William Gallas is also out with a calf problem.



Tottenham (from): Gomes, Friedel, Cudicini, Bale, Kaboul, Bassong, Dawson, Corluka, Walker, Assou-Ekotto, Huddlestone, Lennon, Van der Vaart, Kranjcar, Rose, Livermore, Pavlyuchenko, Defoe, Crouch.

http://www.sportinglife.com

HARRY

“We’ve got one midfield player really and that’s Jake Livermore, a young lad who’s been out on loan. We like Jake, he’s a kid who’s played in the Championship on loan at several clubs, and he’s the only central midfield player who’s available tomorrow.

“We’ll try to invent a new formation with one midfield player, we’ll see how we go.

“It’s an area that we’re looking at to improve and strengthen, and we’ve got one or two irons in the fire at the moment.”

Redknapp insists that he is anxious to progress past Hearts and into the group stages of the Europa League – but he concedes that he plans to field a weakened team in the competition if Spurs do qualify, with the Premier League campaign taking priority.

“The Champions League was a new experience for us and we loved it, it was great,” he said. “But we’re in this competition now and we want to get through this knockout stage if we can – and if we do that I would look to play some of the younger players in the group games, like everyone else has done.

“Liverpool did it last year. You can’t be playing the same players every Thursday night and then playing them again on the Sunday, or you’ll end up struggling in the league. The most important thing for me is the league. I want to get back into the Champions League.”

http://www.london24.com

but we do have other players.

bentley nico gio. anyway i hope we do play livermoor but dont want to see corluka in the middle thats well negative

Hearts v TottenhamEuropa League qualifier, first legVenue: Tynecastle Date: Thursday, 18 August Kick-off: 1945 BST Coverage: BBC Sport website, BBC Radio 5 live, BBC Radio Scotland
ITV 4 1900-2200

Hearts are without midfielder Mehdi Taouil for the Europa League first-leg qualifier against Tottenham.

But Eggert Jonsson and Arvydas Novikovas have shaken off knocks, while David Obua and Andy Webster have resumed training after injuries.

Tottenham defenders Ledley King, Alan Hutton and William Gallas are all missing through injury.

As are midfielders Sandro, Steven Pienaar, Jermaine Jenas, Luka Modric, Tom Huddlestone and Wilson Palacios.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp may be forced to play the likes of Jake Livermore and Danny Rose.

However, the visitors are buoyed by the news that influential playmaker Rafael van der Vaart has fully recovered from an ankle injury.

Strikers Kevin Kyle and Calum Elliot are long-term absentees for Hearts.

From todays Independent , a profile of Hearts somewhat erratic owner. . . . .
Madness in court of King of Hearts

Former submariner, who won Lithuania's 'Strictly' and changes managers for fun, welcomes Spurs tonight

By Robin Scott-Elliot
Thursday, 18 August 2011

They have rarely known the sublime down Gorgie Road – the championship win of 1960 perhaps, or maybe the Scottish Cup triumph in 1998 – but the ridiculous has been Heart of Midlothian's constant companion for the last six years. Under the extraordinary stewardship of Vladimir Romanov, sometime submariner, backstreet record dealer turned multi-millionaire and once upon a time the best dancer in Lithuania, the club that lays claim to being Scotland's best and biggest outside the Old Firm have installed a managerial hotseat that has already scalded 11 occupants.


Paulo Sergio is the 12th, if you include caretakers. He was serenaded by the Tynecastle support midway through his first game, a Europa League tie with Paksi SE of Hungary, with cries of, "You're getting sacked in the morning." Tonight he sends his side out for a rather sterner European challenge against Tottenham. It is the Portuguese's first job outside his own country. His previous one ended with his dismissal by Sporting Lisbon so at least he will have relevant experience to call on when his time in Edinburgh comes to an end. Because if anything has become certain at Hearts, it is that the manager will be sacked.

The dismissal of George Burley, with Hearts top of the Scottish Premier League after a flying start to the season, hours before a game with Dunfermline in October 2005, appeared to give Romanov a taste for it.He has become a serial sacker and was at it again on the first day of this month, dismissing Jim Jefferies, his most popular appointment, two games into the league season and with a third-placed finish behind him from the previous campaign. Jefferies himself had been installed two hours after the previous incumbent, Csaba Laszlo, was ushered out the Scottish capital's busiest revolving door.
Prior to that there was Valdas Ivanauskas being dispatched on sick leave – no doubt with a spinning head after making 59 team changes in 11 games under the direction of the owner. Then there was Anatoly Korobochka's 33-game reign despite his being unable to speak English. Eduard Malofeev is another curiosity. Appointed as a caretaker from his position as director of football, the 64-year-old did not win a game in six weeks and then returned to Russia to complete his Uefa coaching licence. He later popped up at Partizan Minsk, another club owned by Romanov.

Romanov's take on getting rid of Jefferies was characteristically bullish. "With only one competitive win in 15 games," he declared, "only fools and idiots would not raise questions and suspicions." He also turned on the "media monkeys" who questioned his actions, a theme he has regularly touched on. Another favoured target has been the Old Firm who he once suggested tried to "buy off players and referees."

"You do wonder," remarked George Foulkes, the Labour peer who resigned as the club's chairman following Burley's sacking, "what he's looking for in a manager."

Suffering may have been pre-determined for Hearts supporters. In 1914, in the middle of a run of 48 years without a major trophy, they were running away with the Scottish league when the First World War began. The second half of the 1950s were the glory years with two titles and a Scottish Cup garnered through the likes of the Terrible Trio – Alfie Conn, Jimmy Wardhaugh and Willie Bauld – and Dave Mackay before he moved to Tottenham. A long drought followed that should have ended in 1986 when they began the final day of the season needing a point at Dundee to take the title. They fell seven minutes short when Albert Kidd, a striker who had not scored all season, found the net. Down in Paisley, Celtic won 5-0 to snatch the crown. At Dens Park they sat down on the terraces and wept.

There has been much wailing and gnashing over recent seasons, but it is not a straightforward picture. Romanov effectively saved the club when he took it over in 2005 and during his tenure they became the only side to break the Old Firm's grip on the top two places in the 13-year history of the SPL. They have also finished third twice and won the Scottish Cup in 2006. He has invested more than £60m in the club, a level far and above anything outside the Old Firm and Hearts have also targeted youth development – alongside regular Lithuanian imports. Romanov recently had meetings with the SPL – executives travelled to Lithuania – over league reconstruction in which he reiterated his belief that developing club academies is the only way for Scottish football to survive.

His relationship with the football authorities has rarely been cordial, likewise with a number of his managers – Graham Rix, his controversial appointment to succeed Burley, and Laszlo took to the courts following their abrupt departures – and players too have taken umbrage. In 2006 Steven Pressley, the club captain, was supported by Craig Gordon and Paul Hartley in making a public statement to express disquiet at the way the club was run. Pressley was stripped of the captaincy, dropped and was soon on his way.

Pressley now manages Falkirk in the First Division. "It's ludicrous," he commented after Jefferies' departure. "But nothing really surprised me. It's become a position where people just now accept what is happening. For me there is no strategy, no plan, no end-game for Hearts."

Romanov insists there is an end game; breaking the Glasgow duopoly. He turned up and happily kicked a ball around at the club's training facility at Heriot-Watt University on the city's outskirts on Sergio's first day in charge. He has been an erratic attendee in his time in Scotland – from November 2008 until April last year he did not attend a single match.

He is still based in Lithuania where most of his business interests are. Two years ago he declared an intention to stand for the country's presidency but was barred from running because although he is a Lithuanian citizen he was born in Russia. His father was a Red Army soldier who was stationed in the Baltic state.

After his father died, Romanov left school aged 16 to work as a taxi driver to help provide for the family. The Romanov legend has it that he made extra cash by selling bootleg copies of Beatles records before he joined the Soviet navy and became a cook on the K19 nuclear submarine. Years later he was to buy the vessel and turn it into a museum "as a symbol of those heroes who prevented a third world war".

Romanov made his money in the free-for-all that followed the break-up of the Soviet Union, founding Lithuania's first private bank and also making lucrative investments in textiles and food processing. Unlike Roman Abramovich, his heart seems to remain very much in his homeland – in 2007 he won Lithuania's Dancing with the Stars after a final watched by one million people, a third of the country's population. There were dark mutterings of vote rigging.

Whether part of his heart still lies in Midlothian is less clear. When he took over there were claims he was no more than an asset stripper and within a couple of years there was speculation that he wanted out. But, with his son Roman as chairman, he remains a fixture in Scottish football, the club remain at Tynecastle, although it's in need of work, and the team remain the ones most likely to challenge the Old Firm. "Thank you for not beating me up," said Roman as he departed one AGM summing up the uneasy relationship with supporters.

It's Festival time in Edinburgh – Tottenham have had to stay outside the city because all suitable hotels are booked up – but the Scottish saga of the Romanovs beats anything on show back up the Gorgie Road.

Tottenham are unbeaten in four clashes with Scottish opposition in Europe (inc. qualifiers), winning three of them.

In four meetings with Scottish opposition, Spurs have scored 13 goals and conceded six.

Tottenham conceded two or more goals in five of their six away European games (inc. qualifiers) last term, but scored two or more in four of them.

This will be Hearts' first ever meeting with English opposition in Europe.

The Jambos have lost five of their last nine European games (inc. qualifiers) at Tynecastle.

Hearts have netted seven goals in their last two home games in all competitions.

"BRING EM ON" COYS !!!!!!

I think this is a much tougher game than the bookies or the papers have us believe. I don't see a lot of goals especially as Harry has to experiment due to injuries in midfield and tactics are not his strong point.

I personally see it as a draw and probably 0 - 0 but that will suit us and wallop them at home with all our new signings...I wish!!

Mikey M

Gomes; Walker, Dawson, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Livermore, Kranjcar, Bale; Van der Vaart; Defoe.


subs Friedel, Cudicini, Bassong, Corluka, Huddlestone, Townsend, Pavlyuchenko.

No Crouch hmmmmm still getting his hair chopped off that 89 yr old guy