Dons_1988 Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 (edited) 2 minutes ago, G51 said: Second tier teams like Hearts and Hibs should be able to put together a title run. Insulted that you think I'd nibble on that. ETA - although I missed an absolute open goal re those two clubs being second tier teams. Edited February 25, 2021 by Dons_1988 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheJTS98 Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, Forever_blueco said: 2006 hearts . Still believe they were on course for a proper challenge at the very least until Romanov decided to sack Burley Nah. 2005/06 team had no pre-season and an unstable owner. We were realistically out of it on New Year's Day. Celtic were simply very consistent in the second half of that season and even if we'd been in better form, we'd have struggled to keep up. As the team tired, it wouldn't have mattered who the manager was. The legs were gone by March. 1998 we were level top on same games played in March and both Old Firm sides went on to drop further points. We gave up on it too soon to focus on the cup final. Edited February 25, 2021 by TheJTS98 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 10 hours ago, TheJTS98 said: Will it? Maybe by you. I remember it as the season when Hearts threw away a great shot at the title. Nobody's had a better chance of winning it since. Rangers and Celtic were competing to out-bottle each other in 97/98. Celtic only won four of their last nine games, including drawing two of their last three, one of which at home to the side that got relegated. They also got their arses handed to them in the big 'title decider' Old Firm game as well as the Old Firm Scottish Cup semi-final. They only got away with this because Rangers didn't win either of Aberdeen away or Kilmarnock at home. Is losing a title because you don't beat Killie at home on the second last day not 'blowing it' anymore? Keep in mind that Rangers' Old Firm record that season was P5 W3 D1 L1, but they ended the season with nothing. Smith failed to finish off ten in a row against a Celtic side wobbling like a drunk towards the finishing line, riven by internal division in the background, managed by a coach who had decided he was leaving, and against whom his side had a winning record. But he didn't blow it? Hearts will probably never have a better chance than that year. Anyway. Of Celtic and Rangers' potential TIAR teams, one of them failed to win the league because they didn't win a winnable home game. The other was out of the league before the Christmas shopping was done. You can't 'blow it' if you were never in it. Rangers blew it. That Rangers team was an aging team with a manager who was leaving. Off field incidents involving players like Gascoigne and Negri had not helped either. There were a number of players who should have been replaced in the years before so it was no surprise that they blew up and failed to finish off teams and ended up losing the Scottish Cup Final. Had things been handled better, they would have won the league. Celtic had a couple of very special players in Larsson and Moravcik and a number of very average players but they got over the line in the end. I never thought Hearts would win the title that year either. By the time they lost at Easter Road in April 98 they looked to be out of gas and the vultures were circling talking about what plyers would move on(the curse of all non OF clubs in Scotland). Credit to Jim Jeffries for keeping them going for the Cup. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheJTS98 Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 (edited) 39 minutes ago, AndyM said: Celtic had a couple of very special players in Larsson and Moravcik and a number of very average players but they got over the line in the end. I never thought Hearts would win the title that year either. By the time they lost at Easter Road in April 98 they looked to be out of gas and the vultures were circling talking about what plyers would move on(the curse of all non OF clubs in Scotland). Credit to Jim Jeffries for keeping them going for the Cup. Moravcik wasn't there. Didn't arrive till the following season. Celtic were a decent enough side. Bringing in Lambert was a big move, Craig Burley had a good season, and Marc Rieper was an upgrade on John Hughes. Rangers fell into the trap of getting away with not being tremendous in the 1996/97 season but having pretty much every break go their way all season. Their problem was that they didn't recognise that they'd been lucky because the league table flattered them. Meant they stuck with too many of the team for a year too long. Hearts could have won it. I didn't really believe until we got a draw at both Ibrox and Parkhead a few weeks apart in February and March. Should have won at Ibrox too. That was in a run where we also came from 2-0 down to win at Motherwell and ground out a tough win at Dundee United after smashing Aberdeen at home. It was championship form and a league position to match. Ultimately the squad was too small and towards the end of the season that caught up with us. The white flag went up a bit early though. I don't think JJ foresaw the OF continuing to drop points the way they did after our derby defeat. We thought we were out of it, but weren't really. Arguably the biggest mistake was not settling for a draw at Easter Road. We ended up playing 4-2-4 and got caught out trying to win. Rangers won the Old Firm game the next day. A draw at Hibs and we'd have been three points off the top with four games to go and three of our games at home. Big psychological difference. Rangers lost two of their last four and Celtic drew two of theirs. It was there for us. Edited February 25, 2021 by TheJTS98 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 You are quite correct re Moravcik. I've just looked at their squad from that season which makes their title win all the more remarkable. Best players were Larsson, Reiper, Boyd, Burley and Lambert. However I spoke to a couple of Hearts mates on the Monday at our 5 a side game after the Derby and they were of the opinion that any title challenge was gone. Then again they were convinced that HIbs were going to stay up (I wasn't) so I guess their judgement might come into question. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheJTS98 Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 (edited) 20 minutes ago, AndyM said: You are quite correct re Moravcik. I've just looked at their squad from that season which makes their title win all the more remarkable. Best players were Larsson, Reiper, Boyd, Burley and Lambert. However I spoke to a couple of Hearts mates on the Monday at our 5 a side game after the Derby and they were of the opinion that any title challenge was gone. Then again they were convinced that HIbs were going to stay up (I wasn't) so I guess their judgement might come into question. That's my point. It looked like it was. But nobody thought Rangers would lose 2/4 and Celtic draw 2/4 after that. If your mates had known Rangers were about to lose at Aberdeen and Celtic would draw at home to the bottom club, they might have felt differently. And Hearts might have continued to play Cameron and might not have played their home game against Rangers with Lee Makel and Stuart Callaghan in the starting eleven. Even then. That result was with four games to go. It was a hell of a season. Easy to look back now and say Hearts were never going to win it, but it would have been a brave thing to say as we entered April joint top of the league having just drawn at Celtic and Rangers. Edited February 25, 2021 by TheJTS98 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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