To stop jeers and keep from being bottom at Christmas, Jambos must defeat St. Johnstone.
Wearing a replica shirt and scarf isn’t the only thing Hearts fans do before games these days. Additionally, the vocal chords must be cleared.
At Tynecastle, cheers have given way to jeers. Many of them. Down Gorgie Way, the locals are extremely agitated as their squad presents one of the most gruesome campaigns they could ever hope for. For the boys in maroon, who are at the bottom of the Premiership, there are no season’s greetings.
Hearts will remain at the bottom of the tree on Christmas Day unless they defeat St Johnstone this afternoon. A club that coasted to third place in the 2023–24 season would have a dramatic fall from grace, and no Jambo wants to open this present. Hearts supporters have every right to be upset after the team’s humiliating UEFA Conference League departure on Thursday night and only three domestic victories. Simply said, expectations aren’t being fulfilled.
For a large portion of the season, Europe was Hearts’ safe refuge, but today it is not a port in a storm. After the team began their Conference League campaign with two strong victories over Dinamo Minsk and Omonoia, there was optimism that the wait would be over as they hadn’t played on the continent after Christmas since the 1988–89 year. To finish in the top 24 of a 36-team ladder and advance to the play-off stage, they just needed to earn one more point from their final four games.
Even though the three games against Heidenheim, Cercle Brugge, and FC Copenhagen were difficult assignments, Hearts totally missed the opportunity to win a home match against the already-eliminated Moldovan minnows Petrocub on the last day. They trailed Serbian TSC in goals scored, finishing in 25th place.
Tynecastle became poisonous on Thursday evening. As early as five minutes in, the players (especially the hapless Alan Forrest), head coach Neil Critchley, the board, and chairwoman Ann Budge were all given it by the crowd. At full time, the seething fans gently told Budge where to go. There was poison in the stadium.
If Hearts lose to St Johnstone today, you never know what will happen. There was optimism that this group of players would perform better after Steven Naismith was fired as head coach in early October and Neil Critchley took over. Under the 46-year-old Englishman, four victories in 14 games point to at most modest progress. This Hearts team lacks speed, inventiveness, and strength and is lopsided, full of similar kinds. Frankie Kent and Stephen Kingsley, two important defenders, have potentially season-ending muscle ailments that limit Critchley’s options at the back. At the moment, he lacks the complete arsenal to engage in combat.
However, the Hearts fan base won’t tolerate those kinds of things. Hearts should be higher up the league table despite those problems, which every club faces over a season. With star scorer Lawrence Shankland still only having three goals this season, there is an exasperating lack of creativity. Last Saturday, Kilmarnock played 84 minutes with 10 men, and they were unable to defeat them. When Shankland is in his funk, no one else is stepping up to the plate.
Yan Dhanda, a midfielder who has worked hard to make an impression since signing from Ross County, stated, “Sunday is very important because we had a disappointing result last week but we’ll have a game plan for St Johnstone and we’ve got to stick to it.” “You go through tough times in football, so we need to stick together. This is one of them, but everything changes if you win a few games. Therefore, we must concentrate on defeating St. Johnstone in the upcoming encounter.
The good news for Hearts is that, under Critchley, who oversaw a 2-1 success in Perth last month, St Johnstone is among the few teams they have defeated. Simo Valakari took Craig Levein’s place as manager of the Saints in 2024–2025. With lots of beautiful patterns and deft passing, the Finn has totally changed the way St Johnstone plays football. They are just one point ahead of Hearts, but they have what the Jambos still lack: goal scorers.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if Hearts’ surplus player, Makenzie Kirk, was their executioner in this game? Despite scoring a lot of goals for Tynecastle’s B team, the 20-year-old was never considered a first-team player. He has six goals for Saints this season, and Hearts let him go in the summer.
In the lead-up to this game, Kirk stated, “Obviously, I thought I deserved a chance and should have had opportunities.” However, you can’t think about it for too long. All you can do is try to demonstrate your abilities and move on. Hearts was really supportive when I decided to go, so I don’t have anything against them. I needed to change things around in my profession. I desired a long-term agreement so that I could proceed.
The threat in attack is not limited to the son of Andy Kirk, the former Hearts hitman and assistant coach at St Johnstone. Benji Kimpioka and Adama Sidibeh, a gifted but unpredictable team, are quick and strong. Hearts could use any one of these right now.
Critchley claims he is confident in his ability to change Hearts’ fortunes and has a strategy for the future. With the aid of Jamestown Analytics, the renowned Tony Bloom database, he can bring in his own players during the January sales, which he is eagerly anticipating. He is working with a team that was handed down to him and is being penalised for poor hiring decisions made in the summer, when forward alternatives were mainly overlooked. James Penrice, a left-back, is the only acquisition that truly succeeded.
However, Critchley is aware that this is a results-oriented company and that his time with the boo-boys is drawing to a close. At least one victory is needed to put out a fire that is about to blow out of control because games against capital rivals Hibs, Ross County, and fellow relegation contenders in St Johnstone are all scheduled for the same week.
