Last season, Hearts had a great Scottish Premiership campaign as they finished third in the division. Their campaign this season has seen their smiles turn upside down as they’re currently bottom of the table, but all hope is not lost yet.
Steven Naismith, who played 90 times for Hearts, scoring 29 goals and assisting 14 times, still believed that he could turn things around, but those above him at the club evidently did not as he was sacked this week.
Naismith took charge of Hearts in September 2023 and he was a huge reason for the club doing so well last season, but with the club having higher aspirations and Hearts losing their last eight matches in all competitions, it was deemed a good time for both parties to part ways.
So far, Hearts have lost five out of six Scottish Premiership games, drawing the sixth. During these matches, they have scored just three, and conceded 11. It’s not the start that they would have wanted or expected, and now they face a very tough challenge to try and finish in the top three this season.
This challenge has been made harder due to the fact that Aberdeen have currently won all five of their SPFL matches in 2024/25. They are currently matching Celtic this campaign and it will be interesting to see if they can keep this good form going.
The club were knocked out of the Europa League during the qualifiers, and also knocked out of the Scottish League Cup during the second round, despite making it to the semi-finals last season, so there are some big issues.
Even though things do not look great at this current time, all hope is definitely not lost for the Scottish side.
Despite sitting at the bottom of the table, bookmakers still feel it’s considerably more likely that Hearts end the season as the top-placed team outside the Old Firm (12/1) than finishing bottom of the league with guaranteed relegation (28/1). In percentage terms, that means there’s an 8% chance of another top three finish, compared to just over 3% for the dreaded rock bottom scenario.
The Jam Tarts are currently only six points away from the top six and only nine points from Rangers who sit in third place. This will definitely give them hope that they can still do well this season; however, the next manager will have to turn things around sooner rather than later if they want to repeat the successes of last season.
