scottish premiership

Firstly Gl with you're bet, but obviously it's a marathon not a sprint.
Why are Celtic so short ? probably because no Hearts players would get a game for Celtic, Aberdeen have started well in past and folded once Celtic get into gear.
I still think the 2 Glasgow Teams will be 1st and second. Although it's great to see a competitive league.
Tony Bloom influence is a bit of a myth IMO.
You may be better focusing on individual matches.
Celtic still can flex their muscles in January window, would Bloom be interested or capable of matching them ? Doubt it, btw Hearts are out the first cup competition, the Glasgow teams are there as are St Mirren Motherwell who wouldn't fear Hearts in a league game.

I was delighted to find out Hearts win at Ibrox, but reading between the lines I think home team may be have been unlucky, luck may change at Tynecastle when they meet again.
Massive respect for Hearts as football club, brilliant football club, brilliant club song, bigger club than Brighton, definitely but they won't win league IMO.

GOOD REPLY
hope you are wrong....lol

Definitely you hope I'm wrong and as stated previously GL with you're bet, but there is a long way to go and a lot of matches to be played, I would not be shocked if Hearts didn't make top 6. I'd be more shocked if they won the league.

The last time Hearts threatened to win the League they,……………….sacked their manager.
The time before that,…………………….they were unbeaten in 31 games,……………………and lost their 32nd.
They have a gift for finding ways to chuck it.
Mind you if any club is going to do it it will be them because none of the others have the wherewithal or the mentality to even get close.

Here’s another Hearts heartbreak episode.
In 1965 they had to do anything but lose 0-2 to Kilmarnock at home on the last day of the season and managed to do it, losing on goalAVERAGE
In the coming years they campaigned to have this rule changed and, eventually it was and goalDIFFERENCE became the tiebreaker and, in 1986 they lost the title to Celtic, on the last day of season by, yes you’ve guessed it,……….goalDIFFERENCE.

Here’s a quite amazing and brilliant piece of Scottish footballing history.
When Jim McLean’s Dundee United won the league - one of the most outstanding provincial club achievements ever - they did so by playing only THIRTEEN players throughout the whole season.  An astonishing achievement.

i talk to one of 13 regularly honcho, as you say outstanding achievement, superb manager

had a superb right hook as well, wee Jim

lol indeed, in fairness he was defending his friend Alex Smith, " I told you not to ask me that question" Bang

I loved the bit in the documentary about United’s great season where the players said they did anything NOT to sit beside a certain player - maybe Dave Bowman - when  wee Jim was doing his player by player review.  They knew he always argued and contradicted Jim, igniting his fury for the next one in line.
Another great managerial “character” was Eddie Turnbull.  Reputedly, in training, he rounded off on Allan Gordon - well educated type - by telling him “The trouble with you Gordon is that aw your brains are in your heid”. 

Hearts 5 points ahead and Celtic play away to them next week, would be great for Scottish Football for Hearts to win the League, they got decent investment over the summer and it might encourage others to invest in other teams now the old firm look anything but infallible in their decision making........

Good luck with your bet.
I have explained elsewhere Hearts infallible record of blowing Leagues, however nailed on they look.  Mind you this is just about the earliest they have ever been five clear.  Their resurgence is largely down to the ineptitude of the Old Firm.  Come April I might think differently but I doubt it.

stranger things has happened, like man utd beating liverpool 2/1 today

Not for Hearts they haven’t.

I think the last time they were in such a good position was under George Burley, certainly Celtic fans I spoke to last night seem concerned, it's a seriously big match next week for both clubs, although Hearts may lose their manager this week, 500k compensation only but would he go to Ibrox ?

Not if he’s got any brains.  Poisoned chalice with little prospect of immediate improvement.  Imo.
Felt sry for the Celtic defender yesterday.  Kept having to cover for an absent left back then no-one covered for him.  Made him look bad.

Starship

United drew at anfield last season a draw was the least they deserved the previous season they beat Liverpool in the fa cup quarter final and whilst I accept united are nothing special at the moment Liverpool are also nothing special.

Never seen match but seen Dundee second goal, great play from wide lad maybe in past a player in his position would be be happy to carry it up the pitch and get a throw in or corner, he was confident, went for it lovely feet, and Dundee scored a very good goal, but from Celtic point of view it was  a bad goal to lose from several players, if they go to Tynecastle with that attitude they are in bother.

Congreve.  Overflowing with confidence.  On loan I believe.  Pressure on Elvis reduces.  For a week at least. 

Great nickname Elvis, I suppose it couldn't be anything else, I worked with a lad second name Pickles, he had to be called Branston.

Celtic did do ok in Europe last year, I skip my hat on that, but all that boasting, these are games we relish pitting our wits against Europe elite Bayer Munich etc, but I will tell you next week's match at Tynecastle is bigger than Bayer Munich last year, and Rodgers needs to make sure his squad realise that.

to answer the OP - why arent hearts shorter - simple answer is history - no team outside the OF have won the league for 40 years and plenty teams including hearts (and aberdeen last season) have started the season well to ultimately fall away often without sustaining the challenge into the new year

this year could be different tho

previous hearts challenges have faltered mostly due to lack of squad so when injuries suspensions and fixture pile ups occur have struggles with the drop offs to the replacement players

this season hearts arguably have a deeper squad than both rnagers and celtic - a backbone of reliable spl experienced players supplemented by tony bloom analytics signings - hearts have won many games in the second half due to the squad and those coming off the bench - there are players who cant get on the bench who were rated top players at hearts not that long ago - the depth of squad is still to be fully tested eg players coming in for 3 or 4 games in a row - hearts record signing just returning from injury and an international already signed for january - neither have contributed to the current position so far

the manager has almost been over the course and distance before with aberdeen a few years ago and is bery experienced so if the challenge is sustained his experience should help as the pressure is on

as well as being decent football players most of the hearts team you wouldnt want to get into an arguement with which is always a help especially in the spl

rangers and celtic by their standards are poor - have poor squads or areas of weakness - a number of celtic players want away and its showing at times

for the poster who said none of the hearts team would get in the celtic team - ask an informed celtic supporter and theyll tell you different

its a long season and hearts have plenty questions to answer (they weill imo) and even a poor celtic probably still deserve to be favourites

if hearts win on sunday they go 8 clear if they lose its down to 2 - even at 8 clear its a long long way home for hearts but win lose or draw on sunday imo they will sustain a challenge at least deep into the season and possibly win it

im not sure if the markets have caught up but hearts have been good from set pieces and celtic have been a bit dodgy defending them so halkett findlay and mcentee are a bunch of defenders who might be worth a bet if they are decent prices - halkett has scored in the last 3 so the value has maybe gone on him

Gl with any bet you have, Celtic battered a team in Europe this week and should have won by 6 goals, Sturm Graz are a superior team to Hearts.
I love Tynecastle briLLiant atmosphere. Unfortunately I won't be there, but I would be very surprised if Celtic don't win this match unless there are some dodgy decisions from Masonic FA.

Oct 25, 2025 -- 11:21AM, maysoon3 wrote:

to answer the OP - why arent hearts shorter - simple answer is history - no team outside the OF have won the league for 40 years and plenty teams including hearts (and aberdeen last season) have started the season well to ultimately fall away often without sustaining the challenge into the new yearthis year could be different thoprevious hearts challenges have faltered mostly due to lack of squad so when injuries suspensions and fixture pile ups occur have struggles with the drop offs to the replacement playersthis season hearts arguably have a deeper squad than both rnagers and celtic - a backbone of reliable spl experienced players supplemented by tony bloom analytics signings - hearts have won many games in the second half due to the squad and those coming off the bench - there are players who cant get on the bench who were rated top players at hearts not that long ago - the depth of squad is still to be fully tested eg players coming in for 3 or 4 games in a row - hearts record signing just returning from injury and an international already signed for january - neither have contributed to the current position so farthe manager has almost been over the course and distance before with aberdeen a few years ago and is bery experienced so if the challenge is sustained his experience should help as the pressure is onas well as being decent football players most of the hearts team you wouldnt want to get into an arguement with which is always a help especially in the splrangers and celtic by their standards are poor - have poor squads or areas of weakness - a number of celtic players want away and its showing at timesfor the poster who said none of the hearts team would get in the celtic team - ask an informed celtic supporter and theyll tell you differentits a long season and hearts have plenty questions to answer (they weill imo) and even a poor celtic probably still deserve to be favouritesif hearts win on sunday they go 8 clear if they lose its down to 2 - even at 8 clear its a long long way home for hearts but win lose or draw on sunday imo they will sustain a challenge at least deep into the season and possibly win itim not sure if the markets have caught up but hearts have been good from set pieces and celtic have been a bit dodgy defending them so halkett findlay and mcentee are a bunch of defenders who might be worth a bet if they are decent prices - halkett has scored in the last 3 so the value has maybe gone on him

Nice post maysoon3, I think Hearts use of Bloom's Jamestown Analytics is very interesting, other clubs using it seem to be flourishing. Like Hearts, Union Saint-Gilloise sit atop Belgian Pro League, Como punching above their weight in Italy and Brighton in the last 2 months have beaten Newcastle, Chelsea and Man City, teams very much wealthier than themselves. Hearts have a squad value worth €16.7m compared to Celtics €132.6m, so on paper Celtic should pump them, but they couldn't beat Dundee or Hibs recently, 2 teams not as good as Hearts are at the moment. Hearts v Celtic is defo one the most interesting games in the SPL for some time, looking forward to it.

Interesting article on Hearts use of analytics in the current League year:

https://sentinelsportsgroup.co.uk/
hearts-data-driven-rebuild-how-tony-blooms-is-reshaping-scottish-football/

They used analytics last year too. Got them a duff manager and a poor season.
Masonic FA.  Funny how we never hear about when the Sellick are winning. 

the hearts board made a pigs ear of hiring a manager last season and told some porkies about using analytics to hire the manager - theyve subsequently came out and fully admitted this - anyone with a clue at the time knew they were lying through their teeth especially as they had a bit of previous form for it - much better now with tony blooms man now on the board

hearts signed 5 players in the january window using analytics - 4 of them are either starters or on the bench this season and playing amjor part as i said in my previous post the guys on the bench are as important as the starters

one final point regarding the depth of squad - during the international break hearts had 2 strikers score hat-tricks - amittedly one at under-21 level the other an anlytics signing came of the bench at 0-0 replacing a £40m bournemouth striker to score his - those players are currently 5th and 4th choice strikers respectively with only the latter making the bench

5-0 to celtic coming up tomorrow now that ive hexed it

badjoe - yes there is a proven track record at other clubs - ipswich used then when they got promoted but had to stop once in the same league as brighton - i think grimsby using them too and last i looked they were doing well

so far the hit-rate at hearts has been higher than expected as even using analytics youd expect some duds - the only one not really contributing at the moment is actually a really good player but maybe not robust enough for the current manager when the boots start flying which is often the case in the spfl

malay - i reckon the game will go one of three ways

1 - hearts are very physical and i think theres a chance celtic might not fancy it

2 - both teams play somehwere around their kevel and its a tight game and maybe comes down to set pieces which on past form will favour hearts if theres a winner

3 - as you say in reality it turns out celtic are still a level or three above hearts and despite hearts best efforts the extra quality will be decisive

in order of likelihood id go for 1 then 2 then 3

had this been celtics team from the start of  last season i woukd say 3 would be far most likely

What was”the previous form for it”.
Loads of glib statements.  Back them up if you can.

honcho - what do you mean “lots” of glib statements

regarding previous - there has been various situations where the hearts board thought they could just say anything thinking the silly old fans would just lap up anything they said - very similar except not as bad as what the celtic board are currently doing to the celtic fans

one example was that one member had assured fans they no longer were part of any footballing decisions - once director of football left in an interview he confirmed the manager had been picked by this board member apparently no longer being part of footballing decisions - that was for a previous manager to critchely - ok you could claim the director football was lying but there was lots of “tells” already and thats just one example - there are a few others including the one below

last years manager (critchely) hearts had an experienced portugese (i think ) manager lined up presumably via the analytics - that fell through and they appointed cricthely who everyone knew and was no secret had independently applied for the job - they made up some wooly story about retrospectively running him through the analytics and him scoring really well - that didnt make sense as if he had he would have already been in the running which he wasnt - the story also kept changing

once the disaster undolded the board guy fessed up and said he panicked when other options had failed and didnt want to start the search again so gave the job to cricthely via a zoom interview and fessed up he had never even met him in person

in normal circumstances the guy probs wouldnt  have survived that but the hearts fans knew the bloom revolution was on its way and so that dampened the anger and now pretty much all is forgiven as far as i can see

Thank you.

hearts 7/4 on betfair now

as i said , with tony bloom involved,

hearts have more chance of getting champion league football than brighton

You missed out option 4 maysoon.

As I said - he isn’t in the dug out, or on the park.  His input is though clearly significant.  Manager and players deserve the bulk of any credit.

Goals a Plenty Both Teams to Score 6 out 6 Over 2.5 Goals 6 out of 6 Score x Win  5 out of 6 Jollies Won Bring it On

No words needed.but i will give you all two clues.
1="song and dance"/recorded by Blackmore,s Night.
2=Green.
.

It's getting interesting. Tony Bloom's data and analytics versus Martin O'Neill and David Pleat. It could be like the ending of The Last Samurai

Crisp:
'It could be like the ending of The Last Samurai'.

LOL as the kids(circa 2005) might say.

Tony Bloom doesn’t play football.  The players and the coaching staff create the football and the results.

Bloom has took Brighton from League One into the PL and Europe.

He's took Union St Gilloise from the Second Tier into the CL.

So no reason at all why he can't take Hearts from mid table to Champions

He doesn't play, coach or manage, but he'll help pick and choose those that do.  And he is the daddy at that

He must be good at that right enough.  Delegation is a huge part of success and selection is the key to everything as you say.