Tony Bloom has certainly set the cat among the pigeons with his view of Hearts challenging Celtic in the Scottish Premiership.
The Brighton owner has a £10m investment in Hearts and he hopes, one day, to challenge Celtic for the Scottish Premiership title.
Indeed, with the finances at the Parkhead club’s disposal, any talk of Celtic’s domination being threatened is very premature.
But with a ten-year vision in place, Bloom is certain that he can push Celtic to become the dominant force in Scottish football.
So what does current Hearts boss Derek McInnes think of that?
Derek McInnes admits Hearts ‘can make progress’ to challenge Celtic
Not since 1985 has anyone outside Celtic or Rangers won the title in Scotland and it seems like that won’t change any time soon.
However, McInnes is confident that Hearts can change that, but not just yet.
McInnes told PLZ Soccer, “I knew what Tony was going to say ahead of what you guys heard, and I’ve got absolutely no problem at all.
“I think there’s so many people, including Tony, who are ambitious and want Hearts to be successful at the club.
“He’s obviously come in with a fresh pair of eyes and come out and shown from that exactly what he wants. And he’s no different to what we all want in the club.
“We’ve got work to do well, and we need to do a job well for us to achieve everything that we want. We’re coming from a long way back, finishing in the bottom six last season, and we’re trying to make progress.
“And I think we can make progress. I think we’re still working off the same budget that we were working the last couple of seasons here at Hearts.”
McInnes points out where Hearts ‘can bridge the gap’ to Celtic
Whilst Bloom was very bullish in his comments, McInnes’ seem a bit more measured. The last time Hearts challenged Celtic was back in 2005.
And whilst McInnes is hopeful it can be done, here the Tynecastle boss sets out his stall on how the gap between the two clubs can be closed.
McInnes continued, “But where Tony and others and myself think where we can bridge the gap and maybe try and get ahead of others is the confidence they have in the recruitment.
“We think we can work smarter and better in that side yet, and that, in turn, will hopefully get us closer to teams with a lot more money than us, and hopefully get us away from teams who have similar budgets to us.
“But that’s not to say certainty. We’ve got work to do to do that. Just because we’ve got that doesn’t mean there’s any certainty.
“So we’re all aware of that. I’m aware of it. I’m just enjoying working with my players day to day. Like I said, we’re a long way off of where we want to be, but we’ve got work to do, as I said, but we intend to do our jobs well here.”
Will Hearts make a push this season? It’s unlikely. But what about the next ten years?
‘Anything is possible but what the Edinburgh club need to do is get more revenue streams into their coffers, because as long as Celtic have 52,000 season ticket holders, the chances of catching the Bhoys remain very, very slim.
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