Hearts in Bloom: A Capital Dream Blossoming at the Top of Scottish Football | OneFootball

Hearts have enjoyed the dream start to the 2025/26 Scottish Premiership season in Scotland, sitting top with an eight-point lead ahead of champions Celtic, after defeating them 3-1 at Tynecastle. Derek McInnes has his team believing and the fans are enjoying an exciting brand of direct football. But it isn’t just on the pitch where the belief comes from.

Tony Bloom, even just as a minority owner, has already made a significant impact in the short time he’s been at the Edinburgh club. The fans are dreaming of heights their club has never seen before. But how have Hearts been able to build themselves into such a prominent position so early into Bloom’s ten-year title objective?

Tony Bloom’s involvement and investment

On the 6th May 2025, Hearts put out a statement saying that Tony Bloom made an offer to invest in Hearts. The proposal was worth £9.86M, and he’d also get a 29% stake in the club in return.

Just over a month later, Hearts then confirmed that the process for Bloom’s investment had been complete after consultation with majority shareholders, Foundation Of Hearts, and he was officially welcomed into the Hearts family on the 25th June.

The moment he arrived, the impact was already very clear. Derek McInnes was appointed Head Coach, someone within Scottish football that knows how to build solid and stable teams. He achieved great success with Aberdeen as well as Kilmarnock prior to his move to Edinburgh.

It was also very evident that with Tony Bloom’s involvement within the club, there was a clear shift in recruitment strategy and that was because a high-level data analysis system was put into place – something Tony Bloom has had significant success with at Brighton as well as Union Saint-Gilloise.

Hearts’ summer additions included the likes of: Stuart Findlay who arrived on loan from Oxford United, Oisin McEntee from Walsall, Alexandros Kiziridis from Slovakian side Zemplin Michalovce and Claudio Braga from Norwegian 2nd-tier side Aalesund. All of those up to now have been successful, with Claudio Braga becoming a big fan favourite. The signings of Kiziridis and Braga in particular just highlight the impact Bloom was already having since nobody knew who they were prior to moving to Edinburgh.

Derek McInnes’ impact and hearts’ season so far

Shortly after Tony Bloom made his offer to invest in Hearts, Derek McInnes was appointed as the new Head Coach of the club.

As mentioned before, he has a proven track record of building clubs within the Scottish Premiership, providing them with stability and solid foundations. This includes consecutive 2nd place finishes with Aberdeen between 2014/15 and 2017/18.

He also had success with Kilmarnock, winning promotion from the Championship in 2021/22 before stabilising them in the top flight from 2022/23 to 2024/25.

The impact he’s already had in just a few months is quite simply extraordinary considering Hearts really struggled to meet expectations during 2024/25, with two managers in Steven Naismith and Neil Critchley, sacked whilst Hearts struggled in the bottom half.

It was clear from the first few games of the 2025/26 campaign against the likes of Dunfermline Athletic, Hamilton Academical and Stirling Albion that Derek McInnes wanted his team to be direct, to be aggressive, to show that hunger and fight that the supporters hadn’t really seen during the previous campaign. Essentially, live up to the club’s name by playing with heart and desire.

Obviously, those sides mentioned, they were convincingly beaten and were lower-tier sides. But setting that foundation regardless of who the opposition is, that is really important for when the League games begin. The way they went about those Premier Sports Cup games in July was clearly evident on the opening night against Aberdeen.

It was Monday night under the lights; Hearts fans started to feel that belief that maybe their side could achieve something quite magical. Derek McInnes helped his side by setting out a game plan to get after Aberdeen very early on, put them under pressure and make it a rough game. They did it superbly, getting an early goal after 11 minutes, a Graeme Shinnie own goal.

Hearts also used the wide areas really well that night and that 1st-half pattern was sort of similar in the 2nd half too. Eventually the second goal came thanks to Stuart Findlay and Hearts began the season with a win. That night also just showed a glimpse of what Hearts are truly capable of with the way Derek McInnes wants his side to play. It was the tone setter.

Hearts continued to win games in the Premiership, beating Rangers at Ibrox and also getting a comfortable victory away from home at Kilmarnock. That was before they faced their biggest challenge so far last weekend at Tynecastle, where they welcomed defending Scottish Premiership champions Celtic to Edinburgh.

Just in the build-up to the game, you could just feel the importance all three points would be for both. Prior to last weekend, with Hearts beating Kilmarnock and Celtic falling to defeat at Dundee, the gap was five points heading into the top of the table clash on Sunday lunchtime. A win for Hearts would extend their lead, whilst Celtic were searching for a win to close the gap back to just two points.

Hearts 3-1 Celtic: What happened in the top of the table clash?

Hearts knew what was at stake, as did Celtic. A good start was crucial and being the home side as well as having a coach who wants that rough aggression and direct football, McInnes’ players delivered the dream start for their supporters. They were so dangerous in wide areas early on and they had far more bite in their pressing than Celtic did with their passing.

Hearts only needed 7 minutes to find the opening goal, an outstanding fingertip save initially from Kasper Schmeichel, but as Dane Murray tried clearing the ball away, it ended up into his own net instead. That had Tynecastle bouncing; Hearts fans were dreaming and it was total disaster for the Champions who knew they had to respond quickly.

Celtic only needed a few minutes to regroup, settle down, take some control and progress the ball up the pitch into a dangerous area. It was a lovely move by the Champions and it saw Tounekti cut it back for Callum McGregor, who was left free, and he just beautifully slotted the ball home to get Celtic level after 11 minutes.

Despite that though, it was so clear Hearts were carrying the greater threat. Particularly down their left-hand side, Alexandros Kiziridis gave Colby Donovan nightmares all game long with his fantastic desire to be direct, get at his man and try to create opportunities for Hearts to try score. Whilst the first half ended 1-1, heading into the break and back out for the 2nd half, there just seemed to be more hunger from Hearts.

A bit like the first half, Hearts were really physical with Celtic in the key individual duels in midfield and they were very direct in the wide areas. They yet again got an early goal, with Alexandros Kiziridis coming inside from the left wing, and he was able to beat Schmeichel from long range to restore the Hearts lead at Tynecastle.

Unlike the first half though, Celtic didn’t reset and get going as Hearts continued to push on and maintained that physical intensity Derek McInnes always likes and wants in his team. It only took his side a few minutes to have another big attack on Celtic, and that led to a penalty which was excellently converted by captain Lawrence Shankland.

It was 3-1, the hosts were in total control and Tynecastle was quite literally bouncing. Celtic were rocked, they looked defeated, and this could be the game we look back on in May as the one where Celtic’s grip on Scottish football dominance was significantly loosened.

It’s also worth mentioning how well Derek McInnes’ side defended too. They were fantastic going forward, so threatening and direct in the wide areas. But McInnes has also got his defensive unit so together and well organised. Celtic barely created anything significant during the game, especially 2nd half they looked lost, toothless and well beaten.

Conclusion

Before the Celtic match, hopes and dreams of a possible title charge for Hearts probably were premature.

But after they got such a massive result to go eight points clear at the top, as well as putting in such a fantastic performance, the fans will certainly dream and feel that under Derek McInnes they could achieve the unthinkable by breaking the Glasgow dominance in Scottish football, something that hasn’t been done since Sir Alex Ferguson achieved it with Aberdeen way back in the early 1980s.

A fairytale is blossoming in the capital of Scotland; Heart of Midlothian are on a title charge. Glasgow domination is coming to an end.