Get Code | Create Your Own!Hearts were founded in 1874 and are reputedly named after a dance hall in Edinburgh (Scotland), which in turn took its name from the novel The Heart of Midlothian by Sir Walter Scott. The first Hearts Captain, Tom Purdie, stated that they may have played in 1873. They 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.Their badge is based on the Heart of Midlothian mosaic on the Royal Mile (which gave rise to the other legend that the club was founded by youngsters that had initially played street football, using the Heart of Midlothian mosaic as a centre spot, until dissuaded by the local police at the behest of the Church of Scotland fearing for the stained glass windows of St Giles Cathedral!).Hearts' traditional derby rivals in the city of Edinburgh are Hibernian F.C. Although there are some sectarian reasons behind the support for both sides (Hibs were initially founded as a charity side to raise money for the city's mainly Catholic Irish immigrants located around the Cowgate area of the city), they are nowhere near to the extent of those between Rangers and Celtic football clubs of Glasgow, despite a certain amount of "wishful thinking" - indeed Hearts fought hard for the admission of Hibernians (as they were initially called) into the Scottish Football Association, whom initially forbade member clubs to play them (Hearts played several "illegal" matches until the SFA acquiesed). Hearts' first 'Derby' match was on Christmas Day 1875, when they beat Hibernians 1–0. It wasn't until their titanic five game struggle for the EFA Cup in 1878, that the two clubs became the dominant ones in Edinburgh. Hearts won 3–2 after 0–0, 1–1, 1–1 and 1–1 draws.Hearts had considerable success in the early years of the Scottish Football League winning the league championship in 1894-5 and 1895-6. They also won four Scottish Cups in a 15 year period from 1891 to 1906.The Cup Final of 1896 is the only one to have been played outside Glasgow. Hearts beat Hibs 3–1 on 14 March 1896 at Logie Green.The club then went from 1906 to 1954 without winning a major trophy. They then had their most successful years winning the 1958 League title with a record 62 points, with 132 goals scored in 34 matches. They also won the League in 1960 and during this period won the Scottish League Cup four times in 1955, 1959, 1960 and 1963. This successful period for the club contained many top, now legendary, names such as Alfie Conn, Sr., Willie Bauld, Jimmy Wardhaugh, Dave Mackay and Alex Young.From the mid 1960s Hearts went into decline - like many Scottish clubs outside the Old Firm, they found themselves unable to compete with the wages English clubs offered top Scottish players - and with the advent of the ten team Premier Division in 1975 spent several seasons yo-yoing back and forth from the Premier League to the First Division & back again (a similar fate was in time to befall Hibs). However, the arrival of chairman Wallace Mercer - after the previous board finally resigned when Hearts failed to regain their Premier League status - led to a revival in the club's fortunes, with the team only failing to win the league in 1986 on goal difference on the last day of the season, and finishing runners up again in 1988.Since then the changing economics of football have made it almost impossible for Hearts, like other Scottish clubs, to compete with the Old Firm clubs, but in 1998 Hearts beat Rangers 2-1 to lift the Scottish Cup under the management of Jim Jefferies. Eight years later, Hearts beat then Second Division Gretna on penalties after a 1-1 draw under interim coach Valdas Ivanauskas.2006-07 On 30 June 2006, it was announced that Valdas Ivanauskas had been appointed as head coach on a permanent basis.Just days before the first SPL game of the season, Hearts were the only side in Scotland yet to have signed a player, contrasting with their 11 signings the previous January. This statistic worried the Gorgie faithful who had seen top players such as Rudolf Skácel (Southampton) and Andy Webster (Wigan) leave the club. However on the eve of the SPL season they announced the signing of Chile Striker Mauricio Pinilla on a season-long loan. PAOK Salonika's Christos Karipidis was followed by Tiago Costa, a full back from Benfica. The final week of the transfer window saw another transfer bonanza with a Lithuanian trio - Marius ,,aliukas, Kestutis Iva,,kevicius and Andrius Velicka - bringing the tally of Lithuanian players at Tynecastle to seven. Hearts fans still anticipated the arrival of "two World Cup stars" but were left disappointed when the club announced that the final piece of business of the transfer window would be to bring top goalscorer Roman Bednár to the club on a permanent deal.Hearts played their home 2006/2007 European Champions League games at Murrayfield Stadium rather than in their spiritual home of Tynecastle. A combination of Tynecastle falling short of UEFA requirements in terms of pitch size and hospitality facilities, and Murrayfield's greater capacity, meant that Murrayfield was the preferred choice for the Tynecastle board.Hearts won their Champions League 2nd round qualifier against Bosnian champions ,,iroki Brijeg 3-0 on aggregate (3-0 first leg, 0-0 second leg). In the first leg of the following round, Hearts were beaten 2-1 by AEK Athens at Murrayfield. The Greek side won with two goals in the last 5 minutes. Hearts faced a daunting task in the return leg in Greece, requiring to score at least twice in Athens' imposing Olympic Stadium to maintain their interest in the tournament. AEK won the second leg 3-0 against a Hearts side that had two men sent off, with three goals in the final twelve minutes. The loss remanded Hearts to a place in the UEFA Cup against Sparta Prague. The first leg of the initial Cup tie was a 0-2 loss at a muddy Murrayfield on 14 September. They were then eliminated at Prague on 28 September in a 0-0 draw.During their failed European campaign Hearts' league form was inconsistent, with losses at Ibrox and to St Mirren at Tynecastle and victories at Fir Park (1-0) and Pittodrie (3-1).On 23 October 2006 head coach Valdas Ivanauskas took a "two-week" break due to illness, with owner Vladimir Romanov saying "I have full confidence in Valdas and look forward to his return". Sporting director, Eduard Malofeev, replaced Ivanauskas for the two week period, making him Hearts' seventh manager in the previous 20 months.On 27 October 2006, Vladimir Romanov warned his players that they would all be put up for sale if they did not win their match against Dunfermline Athletic the next day. Hearts captain Steven Pressley responded with a statement voicing the players' unhappiness at affairs at the club. At the pre-match media conference ahead of Dunfermline's visit, Pressley revealed that there was "significant unrest" in the dressing-room. The game was drawn 1-1. On 13 November 2006, Pressley was left out of the squad for the match against Falkirk, while Paul Hartley, who flanked Pressley when he read out the statement, was dropped to the bench. On 19th November Pressley returned to the squad as an unused substitute in the 1-0 home defeat against Rangers. Hartley was given the captaincy for the game.Hearts failed to win a game during Eduard Malofeev's tenure, with defeats at Celtic, and capital rivals Hibernian - a result which eliminated Hearts from the CIS Cup - and at home to Rangers. He remained as caretaker manager until 20 November 2006, when he left the club to pursue further coaching credentials. During Malofeev's brief tenure Hearts confirmed that Eugenijus Riabovas would take charge upon Malofeev's departure, but on 24 November Hearts announced that head coach Valdas Ivanauskas had returned to the club and would resume his duties as manager on 27 November.On 9 December Steven Pressley and Heart of Midlothian parted company. Press releases attendant to this development stated that this was amicable but supporters may not be convinced. Pressley signed for Celtic FC shortly after, a move which took effect on the 1st of January. He captained his new squad to a 2-1 victory at Tynecastle on his first return to Edinburgh.On 31 January it was announced that Paul Hartley had departed from Hearts for Celtic F.C. for a fee of 1.1 million pounds, which left Craig Gordon as the only member of the trio at the press conference to remain at Hearts beyond the January transfer window.A 1-0 loss in the Scottish Cup at Dunfermline on 3 February, with Gordon on the bench, ended Hearts' chance to retain the trophy.On February 26, it was announced that Ivanauskas would change to a director of football role, with a new head coach to take over.It was announced on March 2 that Anatoly Korobochka would leave his position as director of football to become the head coach.On 24th April 2007, an announcement provided news of an illustrious pre-season fixture versus Spanish giants FC Barcelona, taking place at Murrayfield, Edinburgh on Saturday 28th July. 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