New Hearts boss Wouter Vrancken is hoping to 'annoy' Celtic this season as he looks to repeat the Edinburgh side's fine campaign of last. It has been a turbulent campaign for Hearts, who have lost manager Derek McInnes and top scorer Lawrence Shankland to Rangers and their set-piece coach to Celtic.
That all comes after they came within a whisker of beating Celtic to the Premiership title, but they lost on the final day of the season, though the damage was done earlier that week when Celtic won their game in-hand, and we all know there was a debatable penalty call during that one.
Hearts turn to Vrancken
Hearts have been searching abroad for a new boss, going in a different direction from the Scottish experience of McInnes. Belgian boss Wouter Vranchen has been hired after his sensational season with Sint-Truiden, securing the club's highest-ever finish and winning the Belgian Manager of the Year award in the process.
Vrancken will feel like a steal for Hearts, but it is, of course, unclear how he will adapt to Scottish football. He also has the challenge of replacing Shankland and finding a way to compete for the title with so much change at Tynecastle this summer.
But while many may be expecting a transitional campaign for Hearts, Vrancken wants another big season from the Edinburgh side. He told The Herald: "I hope to put in the football we want to see as quickly as possible. We want to be annoying the Glasgow teams and trying to hurt them.
“We’re trying to over-achieve ourselves in how we do things and how we play football, and it’s all totally new. I’m really curious and excited to go further. Hopefully, we can do it.”
There is the element of unknown for clubs facing Hearts, given the majority will not know much about Vrancken and his style of play, but few Hearts fans are likely to be expecting as good a season as their last, when they would have been good value for the league title had they managed to pull it off.
Too often we see these rogue appointments fail to pan out, so Hearts fans will likely be happy with a top four campaign and having a platform to build off next season.
As for Celtic, they want a much better start to avoid another race to the finish come the end of the season, but with McInnes heading to Rangers, it's more likely their Glasgow neighbours will be the closest competitor next term.
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