Planet Hearts - (Page 12)

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That becomes a worry when it emerges Paul Hartley has a long term injury problem, Neil McCann is still some way off the pace, and there have been no replacements for Rudi Skacel or Andy Webster. In France, scores of Hearts fans – Gary Mackay – among them, travel to Contalmaison to pay tribute to the war dead in a moving service. Off the field, the club’s commercial operation is getting pelters on several fronts. Many fans don’t like the new strip, although it becomes a best-seller. It has a hefty price tag which leaves many parents unhappy – but not as unhappy as those who learn HMFC has become HoMFC overnight. And others are troubled by news that Hearts’ Euro games will all be played at the huge Murrayfield stadium instead of fortress Tynecastle as the club looks to cash in. As it was, Hearts get the rugby stadium off to a great start with a 2-0 win against Osasuna, which also sees the return of Neil McCann. Hearts had earlier had a 2-1 friendly win away to Preston. A 3-0 win against Siroki Brijeg in the first Champions League qualifier has the fans brimming as the group stages beckon. Planet Hearts finds itself in trouble with some fans for publishing an interview with Lebanese Jambo Ramez Daher about the conflict with Israel, causing a huge debate over whether the newspaper should cover only football-related matters or also those that affect fans. consolation knowing the UEFA Cup was still to play for. Mauricio Pinilla signs on a loan deal and immediately fans take to the fleet-footed Chilean, while the club are linked to FBK Kaunas star Marius Zaliukas. Off the field, the club’s commercial team are on the defensive again after a blunder over season tickets leaves fans without their briefs for the opening clashes, forcing an apology and gift vouchers by way of compensation. There are further teething problems as a new call centre team based in Luton are appointed to take the strain of the hard-pressed ticket office, only for the new club telephone system and the new workers on the other end of the line to leave hundreds of fans frustrated and angry. TRMG from Hertfordshire are appointed to produce a new bi-monthly Hearts magazine called The Beat. Hertfordshire-based CRE8 already produce the official club programme. Plans are also announced for two new club stores, one at the St James’ Centre, one in Livingston. But that does little to appease fans, already moaning about the price of the new-look strip, when the club runs out of sizes and fails to meet orders just days after its official launch. The goodwill generated at the end of last season is slowly being eroded away. Graham Rix compounds a month to forget with news that he plans to sue the club for £500,000 compensation, while the Scottish Sun runs an old story branding Paul Hartley a bigot shortly before the team crashes to a 2-0 defeat at Rangers. SEPTEMBER HEARTS draw Sparta Prague in the UEFA Cup sparking a scramble for away leg tickets as Roman Bednar and Michal Pospisil hope for a chance to shine in front of their home town. Planet Hearts teams up with Tribal Sports to offer our biggest readers competition to date – flights, tickets and hotel for the historic trip. But a lacklustre side crashes 2-0 at Murrayfield and, while inspired to a brave show in Prague, a 0-0 draw sees Hearts tumble out – and the European dream ends. Back home youngster Lee Wallace appears in court on gun charges and, after admitting them, is warned by a Sheriff not to throw away his career. The club launches the Hearts of Midlothian Education and Community Trust to much fanfare with help from the City of Edinburgh Council. Fans at the Orwell Lodge stage a fantastic Player of the Year function, with Steven Pressley and Freddie Glidden among the star guests. Vladimir Romanov declares war on the Scottish Press, sick of the rough ride he and his club have been getting from some section of the media. Anew striker arrives at the club by the name of Andrius Velicka. Hearts also drawn against Hibs in the CIS Cup, while the big news is Steven Pressley being nominated as Scotland’s style icon of the year just as he becomes Hearts’ most capped player. AUGUST HEARTS’ dream of making the group stages are very much alive as they draw 0-0 away in Bosnia to Siroki Brijeg to set up a clash with Greek giants AEK Athens in a special home coming for Takis Fyssas. And they prepare well, demolishing Celtic easily 2-1 thanks to strikes from Roman Bednar. But there is agony at Murrayfield. A Saul Mikoliunas strike looks enough to send Hearts to Greece with a lead only for AEK to strike twice in the dying moments to snatch victory after Bruno Aguiar is controversially sent off. Worse follows in the away leg as brave Hearts lose 3-0. Referee Yuri Baskakov all but hands the game to the Greeks when he first sends off Julien Brellier, after a booking for wearing ear-rings, then Neil McCann for a bad tackle. But there was some small Warning : Unknown : The session id contains invalid characters, valid characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in Unknown on line 0 Warning : Unknown : Failed to write session data files . Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct /var/lib/php/session in Unknown on line 0

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Planet Hearts

Planet Hearts