Jamestown chief remains sure that Jambos can break stranglehold
Hearts supremo Tony Bloom says he would still be “really disappointed” if the Tynecastle club weren’t able to win the Premiership title in his ten-year timescale.
Brighton and Hove Albion chairman Bloom paid £9.86 million for a 29 per cent shareholding in Hearts last summer, allowing them access to their Jamestown player database, and instantly made his intentions clear by claiming the Jambos could become the first club since 1985 to win the league outside of Celtic and Rangers.
Hearts came so close to doing so last term, losing out to Celtic on the final day of the campaign to two late goals at Parkhead. The manner of the defeat was particularly painful given a pitch invasion afterwards and contentious penalty decisions in preceding matches against Motherwell at Fir Park.
Bloom admitted that the manner of the title defeat hurt and said the club had to quickly recover from that, as well as losing manager Derek McInnes and club captain Lawrence Shankland to Rangers. However, Hearts have steadily grown under new head coach Wouter Vrancken and are five points off leaders Celtic after eight matches this term.
“The way it [last season] ended, in difficult circumstances from a Hearts point of view, is exceptionally disappointing for the club and for me as well,” Bloom said in an interview with Sky Sports. “At the end of the day, we've got to accept what's happened, if not be happy about how things ended.
“We move on to this season. We've started reasonably well, got a new head coach, so again we've got to be hopeful and optimistic for the season to come.
“It was really difficult with the head coach coming in literally just before the start of pre-season, but as a football club you have to recover, and you have to recover quickly. I think we have done.
“We've brought in a lot of new players, and there's a lot to play for in the season for Hearts, so I think there's a lot for the Hearts fans to look forward to this season."
Bloom was asked whether he still felt Hearts could win the league in his first decade of being at the club and the Brighton chairman added: "Absolutely. I'd be really disappointed if Hearts have not won the Scottish Premiership within the 10 years.”