With goalkeeper Schwolow
©IMAGO
To be the best, you have to beat the best. That could be the mantra in the Heart of Midlothian FC dressing room these days. The club from Edinburgh leads the table Scottish Premiership Shortly after the start of the championship round last weekend, three points ahead of the series champion Celtic and four in front of the Rangers to. The Hearts, where the former Berlin and Freiburger Alexander Schwolow guarding the goal could end the Glasgow clubs’ 41-year dominance. As if that wasn’t exciting enough, all three teams will meet before the end of the season on May 16th.
For the last five match days, the Premiership is divided, with the six best and six worst teams competing against each other in a round table. After Hearts won the Edinburgh derby last weekend Hibs have beaten away (2:1) the Rangers are now arriving. Then it goes against Motherwell and Falkirkbefore Celtic waits on the last matchday. The tipping point could possibly even be the last Old Firm derby on May 10th at Rangers’ Ibrox Park. Will Hearts maintain their lead? Two main factors are likely to determine the course of the next few weeks: the current form of coach Derek McInnes’ team and their record in the direct duels against both Glasgow clubs.
In terms of form, the Tynecastle club have shown remarkable consistency. Although Rangers have reduced the gap by five points since the start of 2026, Hearts have the same record of 19 points as Celtic in the last ten games. Although McInnes’ side had occasional blips – such as the defeats against St Mirren (0:1) and Kilmarnock (0:1) – the past few weeks confirm why the team is leading the table. What will probably encourage Hearts fans the most, however, are the strikers Lawrence Shankland (30) and Claudio Braga (26). Captain Shankland, who has now scored 85 goals in 167 games for the club, has returned in fine form after a long-term hamstring injury, registering two goals and two assists in the last three games. With 23 goals each, they are Hearts’ top scorers this season.
“There is no doubt the last five games will be dramatic,” McInnes said after the win over Motherwell on April 11. “I feel the weight of responsibility in every lineup to get my players in the best possible shape. When you’ve come this far in the season and there are only five games left to play, it’s difficult to keep using your full potential and deliver these performances. That’s why the squad is so important to us. And at the moment we don’t have any problems with injuries.”
How Tony Bloom revolutionized Heart of Midlotiah FC
Since an investment of 11.3 million euros by Brighton owner Tony Bloom in the summer of 2025, the club from Edinburgh has been on the rise. The 5 million euros that flowed in transfers for 15 players from 14 different countries this season is a club record (overview: all transfers from Heart of Midlothian FC). The transfers had all the hallmarks of Jamestown Analytics, Investor Bloom’s well-known data analysis service that has helped his other clubs in England and Belgium succeed. 520,000 euros went for Braga to Aalesunds FK in Norway, the Brazilian midfielder Ageu (23, came from Santa Clara in Portugal) is Hearts’ record signing with 2 million euros.
“From the outside looking in, it would be obvious to attribute Hearts’ success to Tony Bloom’s recruitment model – Jamestown Analytics – but that would be misleading,” says Euan Robertson, Scotland expert and content manager at Transfermarkt UK. “In truth, it is still far too early to draw definitive conclusions about how successfully this model will be implemented, particularly as Hearts have only used it in three transfers so far. Of course, the club hopes to emulate Brighton’s remarkable success by identifying, developing and selling players for a significant profit. This will be crucial to Hearts’ long-term success in permanently narrowing the gap with the Old Firm teams, as the Jambos’ recent record in selling players is abysmal – they rank sixth in Scotland for transfer income over the last decade.”
Who are the key players at Hearts in the current system? “While the club hasn’t discovered too many diamonds in the rough using Jamestown Analytics, Claudio Braga is Scotland’s signing of the season,” says Robertson. “Brought from the relative obscurity of the Norwegian second division, the striker has already registered 23 goals and has been instrumental in Hearts’ success. His market value has risen from €500,000 to €6 million and Hearts should aim to sell him this summer as this is central to Bloom’s transfer strategy.” Striker partner Shankland should also be mentioned, as did Cammy Devlin, who has his limitations but showed excellent performances in midfield. “Alexandros Kyziridis’ form may have dipped, but he has been good, and Alexander Schwolow has been the proverbial safe bet. Derek McInnes also deserves high praise. He is an incredibly experienced coach in Scotland and knows exactly what it takes to win. Hearts – along with Partick Thistle – have the only unbeaten home record in Scotland this season, and Tynecastle is a fortress.”
A player who probably didn’t have to be found in a database is goalkeeper Schwolow, who came to Union Berlin on a free transfer after three disappointing years and is set. In 29 games, the former German youth international kept his box clean 14 times. Only Motherwell’s Calum Ward has a better tally this season with 17 clean sheets. “To be honest, I didn’t have a concrete idea of the club or the league beforehand. After the first contact, my agent raved about the conditions, the fans and the stadium – so I said: I’ll go there and take a look,” he said in a Transfermarkt interview at the end of October. “The Hearts are a big, traditional club in Scotland and I quickly noticed the power behind it. During my time at Schalke I also had one or two teammates like Moritz Jenz, who reported on his positive experiences in Scotland and talked about the awesome atmosphere.”
Hearts with a significant increase in squad value
Since the start of the season, the Hearts have seen an increase of 59.4 percent in terms of squad value to 27.85 million euros. Only Falkirk had a higher relative increase at 67.4 percent to 5.9 million euros. Celtic and Rangers are still well ahead in this measure, with currently 144.8 million and 121.4 million euros respectively. With a market value of €6 million, Braga is the only Premiership professional among the most valuable 25 who is not under contract in Glasgow.
The increase in squad value is a “fascinating topic,” says expert Robertson. “As previously mentioned, the transfer market will be crucial in determining whether Hearts can close the gap on Celtic and Rangers. They simply cannot match the financial strength of the Glasgow giants, but they can help narrow the gap by selling players. The market value of the Hearts squad has risen significantly this season, but it is not stacked with future stars…yet. They have a strong Scottish core, but these players are nearing the end of their careers and have therefore no significant market value.”
Glasgow crisis used: Are the Hearts perfecting the fairy tale?
When Bloom invested in Hearts, he explained that he wanted to “break the pattern of dominance that has existed for far too long” in Scotland. Celtic’s decline and Rangers’ difficulties undoubtedly contributed to the latter’s success so quickly. At the former, coach Brendan Rodgers resigned at the end of October due to a crisis, and successor Wilfried Nancy had to leave at the beginning of the year after just three games. Since then, old master Martin O’Neill has been at the helm. Ex-DFB assistant coach Danny Röhl also followed Russell Martin at Rangers in October. He is the fifth head coach in four years.
So while the Scottish record champions struggled on and off the pitch, Hearts thrived and took advantage of the huge power vacuum at the top of the Premiership. Hearts are unbeaten in three games against Celtic this season and have won two of their three meetings against Rangers; only their last game against the Ibrox club ended in a 2-4 defeat in Glasgow. Few would doubt that Hearts have shown they can win big games this season, but whether they can do so again in the final weeks of the Scottish Premiership season remains to be seen. If so, the Tynecastle Titans football fairytale is perfect.
