Latest news with #Gorgie
Scotsman
3 hours ago
- Sport
- Scotsman
Ex-Hearts and Charlton star pulls curtain back on season that's pushed him to the limit amid injury nightmare
The former Hearts and Charlton man has had a tough stint with injury. Sign up to our Hearts newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Former Hearts and Charlton ace Scott Fraser has revealed his frustration after an injury-ravaged campaign at Scottish Premiership side Dundee. The 30-year-old, who made 11 appearances on loan at Tynecastle last year before making the move to Dens Park, is currently set to depart Dundee with his contract up this month. While at Hearts under Steven Naismith, Fraser helped the Gorgie club finish third in the table. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad When on the pitch, Hearts only lost twice when he played - with both of those outings defeats to either side of the Old Firm, Rangers then Celtic in the split. In what his first start under then-boss Tony Docherty, Fraser picked up a groin issue and he has since been plagued by issues that have 'tested him both mentally and physically' over the past 12 months. He went on to make two showings off the bench but that came after six months out, and he has now went under the knife again - posting on social media platform X about his injury-hell. Ex-Hearts ace Fraser will 'come back stronger' He said: 'Over these past months, I've faced a lot disappointment, really for the first time in my career. Moments outwith my control that have tested me both mentally and physically. Instead of letting those challenges define me, I used them as fuel to grow and get better, both as a player and as a person away from the pitch. I stayed committed, kept working hard everyday, and focused only on what I could control. 'Through it all, it's certainly tested my character, staying positive and pushing forward when it wasn't easy and I'm proud of myself for that. Now, with that experience behind me, I feel more motivated than ever and ready to come back stronger, sharper, and better than before. I'm excited for the future. I absolutely love playing football and cannot wait to be back fully fit and able to do what I do.'
BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
'Expect hard work & tidiness on ball' from McEntee
New signing Oisin McEntee says Hearts fans can expect to see his hard work and technical ability when he takes to the 24-year-old defensive midfielder has penned a three-year deal at the Gorgie club following his departure from Newcastle academy product, who has played in Scotland before during a loan spell at Greenock Morton, is embracing the next step of his career at Tynecastle."It's really exciting to be here, starting a new chapter at a brilliant, massive football club," McEntee said."[The club] said they have a plan for me and want me in as a midfielder. I'm excited to be part of that plan."[The fans] can expect a hard worker who will win battles, put himself about and be tidy on the ball."
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lotto winner Jane Park makes cheeky jibe as Robbie Williams song choice divides crowd
Robbie Williams' impromptu performance of an Edinburgh football club's anthem received a mixed reaction from the crowd at Murrayfield on Saturday night. As well as performing his biggest hits during the first leg of his Britpop tour, he decided to ditch the stage and head towards some unsuspecting members of the crowd mid-performance. At one point, Robbie, dressed in pink, appeared to serenade one fortunate fan by touching her on the shoulder and encouraging the crowd to join in. READ MORE: Edinburgh firefighters rush to blaze on busy street as major response scrambled READ MORE: Moment Edinburgh passenger approaches group on train and makes 'shocking' comments However, the song in question was Sunshine on Leith by The Proclaimers - an iconic tune associated with Hibs and the club's fans. Many were quick to point out on social media how Robbie decided to sing that particular song while performing in the west of the city and near Tynecastle - the home of Hibs' city rivals Hearts. One well-known Hibs fan who couldn't resist posting a video of the rendition was Edinburgh EuroMillions winner Jane Park. She wrote on X: "Robbie Williams singing sunshine on Leith over in Gorgie," along with a laughing face emoji and green love heart. Once finished singing Robbie said: "Now there's two things here. One is I think that's a better song than You'll Never Walk Alone and the other thing is why don't Heart of Midlothian boo that song? I don't get it?" He added: "Are you here Hearts?" to which cheers can be heard from the crowd before Robbie quickly shuts down all talk of football rivalry by quipping: "Ok that's enough of that s**t." Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.
The Herald Scotland
28-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Can Tony Bloom do a Union Saint-Gilloise with Hearts and end duopoly?
'So I guess at first we were quite sceptical about it all. In the first year they were back up in the top division after winning promotion, they challenged for the title. But even then people thought, 'It will just be a one off. Let's see how they get on next season'.' The doubters, though, have sat up and taken notice since and been proved emphatically wrong. RUSG, as they are known for short, clinched the Pro League title amid scenes of mass rejoicing on Sunday when they defeated Gent 3-1 at home in their final game. It was the first time in no fewer than 90 years that they had been crowned national champions. Read more: Bloom is only a minority shareholder in the Brussels outfit now. The Englishman reduced his stake when they and Brighton both qualified to play in Europe two years ago to ensure compliance with strict UEFA multi-club ownership rules. He has, however, very much been the driving force behind their remarkable rise to prominence after decades in the doldrums. His substantial investment and insistence on the use of data analytics to identify potential signing targets has underpinned their success both on the park and off it. So will Hearts - whose fans voted overwhelmingly, it was revealed on Monday night, in favour of giving him a 29 per cent 'non-voting' shareholding in the Tynecastle club in return for a £9.86m cash injection - be transformed into giant killers in the coming seasons with him exerting an influence in the background? Celtic and Rangers supporters are not exactly quaking in their boots at the prospect of the Gorgie men, who have just finished a lowly seventh in the William Hill Premiership, ending their heroes' 40 year duopoly of the Scottish title during the 2024/25 campaign. The Parkhead and Ibrox giants had colossal revenues of £88m and £124m respectively in the last financial year. Their Edinburgh rivals, meanwhile, banked just £20m in comparison. It will take more than a few shrewd deals in the transfer market to bridge that gap. Won't it? (Image: Steven Paston) Conings is not so sure. 'I'm very intrigued by the way that they work, by how they have disrupted our natural order in Belgium and challenged the clubs who have traditionally enjoyed a lot of success, the likes of Club Brugge, Anderlecht, Genk and Standard Liege,' he said. 'Last season RUSG only spent €20m on wages. That should translate to seventh place in the league. Club Brugge, who are the biggest club in the country both sporting-wise and financially, were operating with more than four times as much as that, over €80m in terms of wages. 'Their crowds are also far smaller. This season they have had an average attendance of around 8,000 fans in their Joseph Marien Stadium. Club Brugge and Anderlecht will usually have between 25,000 and 30,000 people at their grounds. 'Their turnover is also far smaller. A couple of years ago, they were bringing in around €30m a year. Last year they got that up to €70m because they had some big outgoing transfers. But Club Brugge still had an income of €170m. Somehow, they outperformed everyone this season and still made the biggest profit in the league at the same time. 'The data from StarLizard/Jamestown Analytics that they use makes it very easy for RUSG to identify good players in leagues that our other top teams aren't looking at for reinforcements.' Read more: Stijn Joris, who is the Royal Union Saint-Gilloise correspondent for Het Nieuwsblad, explains how their canny dealings in the transfer market have helped them to become the dominant team in Belgium as well as a formidable force in Europe and has enabled them to remain firmly in the black to boot. 'They look for players in the €250,000 to €1.5m price range,' he said. 'But when it comes to strikers they are prepared to pay more. They have bought a few forwards for €4m and last year they bought the Israeli winger Anan Khalaily in from Maccabi Haifa for a club record €6m. 'He was an exceptional talent. A lot of clubs were interested in him and they were convinced he could be a big thing. There are a lot of bigger clubs who are interested in him now. He will leave for a big profit. 'They have been in the top league for four seasons and they have made €40m profit from transfers in that time. Mohamed Amoura, the Algerian striker who is on loan at Wolfsburg in Germany with an obligation to buy, will be sold for €15m this summer. 'Getting into the Champions League could convince some of their players to stay, but this will be the best summer for them transfer wise. But the way they operate is simple. Players are sold after one good season and replaced. 'They are really looking for undervalued players. They are looking for a player who is not playing every game, but has some nice statistics in the games he played. Or they are looking for players who play in Estonia or in Lithuania. They find somebody with special statistics and say, 'We need to bring him in'. 'They signed the Canadian player Promise David, their top scorer this season, from Nomme Kalju in Estonia last year for €400,000. He won't be sold for any less than €10m, maybe even €15m. They just keep on doing it.' (Image: Craig Foy - SNS Group) Hearts' early involvement with Jamestown Analytics has hardly sent shockwaves through the Scottish game. The surprise appointment of Neil Critchley as manager was heavily influenced by their data and he was sacked after six months in charge. But Conings stressed that it took time for the new way of working to produce results at RUSG too. 'After Bloom and his co-investor Alex Musio took over in 2018, things didn't work out so well despite the data they had available,' he said. 'So Muzio said, 'We don't just have to find players with the right qualities, we have to find the right human beings'. That was something he felt they had overlooked in the first couple of years. 'After their first season they were still in the Second Division, were operating at a loss, and weren't outperforming their budgets. But they hired somebody to take a look at the profiles of players as human beings. What kind of people are they? How do they interact in a group? That was something that previously was lacking. That made a real difference. Read more: 'This is the fourth year in a row that they have done well. I was talking to Muzio at the Pro League awards last night and he recalled how everyone had said they would only challenge for a year when they started out. People underestimate them, underestimate how strong they actually are. 'In the year that they got promoted to the Pro League, they changed to a 3-5-2 formation. They have stuck with that ever since. Their tactics are very straightforward. They don't very often have more than 50 per cent possession, but they play with a very intense, aggressive press. When they have the ball, they go straight to the goal. 'That is what they have been doing for the past five years and they have changed coaches every year. They buy players to play in a 3-5-2 and find coaches who like to play that way. It has worked for them. Muzio told me that, according to the data he has right now, RUSG would be in the top 24 of the Champions League with their current squad.' Both Conings and Joris stopped short of predicting that Hearts can become the first club from outside Glasgow to win the Scottish title since Aberdeen did so 1985 and the first Tynecastle side to be crowned champions since 1960 due to their association with Bloom. But they both envisage exciting times ahead. 'Jamestown Analytics have by now an impressive track record now,' said the former. 'Look at the clubs they have been working for on a consultancy basis. Como in Italy, for instance, also recently enjoyed a promotion after outperforming their budget. This is definitely good news for Hearts.' The latter said, 'The level of the Scottish top flight is similar to the league in Belgium, possibly a little lower. The players they scout for Union can also be brought in to Hearts. It will be beneficial for Hearts in the long run, no doubt about it. They should be excited about what lies ahead.'
Scottish Sun
26-05-2025
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Tony Bloom to Hearts latest as Brighton owner gets green light from fans with next steps revealed
Jambos saw one of Bloom's other clubs claim a sensational league title triumph over the weekend BLOOMIN' GOOD DEAL Tony Bloom to Hearts latest as Brighton owner gets green light from fans with next steps revealed Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) HEARTS fans have emphatically backed Tony Bloom's investment proposal. The Brighton owner made an offer of £9.86million for a 29% shareholding in the Gorgie club. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 Hearts fans have overwhelmingly voted to back Tony Bloom's investment proposal Credit: PA 3 The Brighton owner is seeking a 29% shareholding at Tynecastle Credit: Getty 3 Bloom would be entitled to a seat on the board at Hearts Credit: Reuters Current Jambos owners the Foundation of Hearts put the proposition to their members, with Bloom requiring a simple majority from votes cast. With 70% of the organisation's 8,000-strong ownership responding, more than 98% backed Bloom's proposal. The vote marks a major step towards the Brighton chairman becoming a minor shareholder at Hearts. The club will now hold an Extraordinary General Meeting to officially approve the investment, which must then be ratified by the Scottish FA. Bloom will be entitled to a place on the club's board but is expected to select someone to sit on his behalf. Hearts fans will no doubt have been interested to see Union Saint-Gilloise clinch their first Belgian top-flight title in 90 years on Sunday. Bloom is also an investor and minority shareholder in the new Belgian First Division champions. They use the same Starlizard analytics already being used at Tynecastle. In a letter to Foundation of Hearts members, chairman Gerry Mallon said: "A total of 6,208 votes were cast, with 6,112 voting in favour and 96 voting against. "Clearly it is a huge majority in favour and this demonstrates - once again - the passion the Foundation of Hearts members have for the club and their determination to see it move forward and reap the benefits of the financial investment. Can Hearts overtake Rangers with the help of Tony Bloom's £10m investment? "We have a wonderful opportunity now, I believe, to begin to tackle the challenge of becoming a major disruptor of the long-standing status quo in Scottish football. "It will take time, but we have never been better placed to reach that position. "Tony Bloom's decision to invest in Hearts was very much founded on the many benefits he saw at Tynecastle through the club being in fan ownership, not least its financial security through the level of our pledging. "What a moment to increase our membership and drive forward together." Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
