The 2005–06 season was the 125th season of competitive football by Heart of Midlothian, and their 23rd consecutive season in the top level of Scottish football, competing in the Scottish Premier League. Hearts also competed in the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup.
Season Overview
Following his takeover of the club, Vladimir Romanov stated that his ultimate aim is for Hearts to win the Champions League. His early actions included bringing in former Rugby Union chief Phil Anderton as CEO on 3 March 2005. On 9 May 2005, manager John Robertson resigned, a move which was greeted with much dismay among supporters because Robertson had been a great player for Hearts. Former Ipswich Town and Derby County manager George Burley was hired on 30 June 2005 to replace him.
As the season began, the combination of Romanov's financial backing and the appointment of Burley led many Hearts fans to believe that they could win the SPL championship in 2005–06. Signings such as Edgaras Jankauskas, Rudi Skácel and Takis Fyssas, allied to existing players Andy Webster, Steven Pressley, Craig Gordon, and Paul Hartley meant that Hearts built a team which made an outstanding start to the season. Hearts won their first eight SPL games, including a 1–0 win over reigning champions Rangers.
After leading the Jambos through ten undefeated SPL appearances, and guiding them to the top of the league table, Hearts and Burley parted ways on 22 October 2005, just hours before their Premier League match with Dunfermline Athletic. A club statement after the game declared that the departure of Burley had been mutually agreed and that there were "irreconcilable differences" between Burley and the Hearts board. Throughout his short spell in charge rumours had persisted that the relationship between Burley and Romanov was uneasy. It had also been reported that Romanov had signed players without Burley's consent.
John McGlynn was put in temporary charge of the team following Burley's abrupt departure. Chief executive Phil Anderton was dismissed on 31 October 2005. The chairman, George Foulkes resigned in protest at Anderton's dismissal. Romanov's son, Roman Romanov, was appointed as chairman and acting chief executive.
Vladimir Romanov's concerns with the fairness of refereeing developed during this period. This started after Hearts made complaints after a match with Rangers in the 2004–05 season during which the referee Hugh Dallas controversially awarded a decisive penalty kick late in the match on the basis of advice from his linesman Andy Davis. There were also complaints after the dismissals of Craig Gordon against Falkirk, Edgaras Jankauskas against Hibs and Saulius Mikoliūnas against Rangers. Romanov called for a replay of each of these matches, but this was refused and Romanov was rebuked by the SFA.
On 7 November, Graham Rix was appointed as head coach. Hearts' title ambitions suffered a major setback when they lost 3–2 to Celtic on 1 January 2006. On 7 February 2006, reports were made indicating that Rix had told players who were apparently disgruntled at being left out of the team before a match against Dundee United that Romanov himself was picking the team and was "pulling the strings". While it was well known that Rix was not in charge of player transfer policy, it had not previously been confirmed that he was not in charge of selecting the team either.
Part of the fallout from this match was that the agent of Andy Webster indicated that Webster would not extend his contract with Hearts, which was due to expire at the end of 2006–07 season. During April 2006, Vladimir Romanov put Andy Webster on the transfer list, claiming that he could not trust the player.Webster made football transfer history when he invoked a loophole in FIFA-adopted EU law, enabling him to cancel his contract with Hearts in the third year of a four-year deal with the proviso that he join a club in a foreign country and that sufficient notice is given to his former employers. Webster's transfer to Wigan Athletic was ratified by FIFA on 4 September 2006."Webster on his way out at Hearts" (BBC SPORT, Wednesday 26 April 2006 07:57 GMT.) . Retrieved 27 April 2006.
Graham Rix was sacked as Hearts manager on 22 March 2006 along with the club's Director of Football, Jim Duffy, who had only been appointed one month previously. Shortly afterwards, former FBK Kaunas coach Valdas Ivanauskas was appointed interim head coach of the first team until the end of the season.
Nonetheless, on 2 April 2006 Hearts eased into the Scottish Cup Final. A 1–0 win over Aberdeen on 3 May at Tynecastle guaranteed second place in the SPL behind Celtic and a place in the Champions League qualifying rounds for the following season. It also meant that Hearts were the first club to break the total dominance of the Scottish Premier League by the Old Firm since Motherwell in 1995. Hearts then won the Scottish Cup by beating Scottish Second Division side Gretna in a penalty shootout after the final had finished 1–1.
Results and fixtures
Pre-season / Friendlies
Scottish Premier League
Scottish League Cup
Scottish Cup
First team player statistics Squad information Last updated 13 May 2006 During the 2005–06 campaign, Hearts used thirty-nine players in competitive games. The table below shows the number of appearances and goals scored by each player. {| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 100%; text-align: center;" |- ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" rowspan="2" width="10%" align="center"|Number ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" rowspan="2" width="10%" align="center"|Position ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" rowspan="2" width="10%" align="center"|Nation ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" rowspan="2" width="20%" align="center"|Name ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" colspan="2" align="center"|Totals ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" colspan="2" align="center"|SPL ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" colspan="2" align="center"|League Cup ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" colspan="2" align="center"|Scottish Cup |- ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=60 align="center"|Apps ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=60 align="center"|Goals ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=60 align="center"|Apps ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=60 align="center"|Goals ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=60 align="center"|Apps ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=60 align="center"|Goals ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=60 align="center"|Apps ! style="background:maroon; color:white;" scope="col" width=60 align="center"|Goals
Appearances (starts and substitute appearances) and goals include those in the Scottish Premier League, League Cup and the Scottish Cup.
Goal scorers Last updated 13 May 2006 PlacePositionNationNameSPLLeague CupScottish CupTotal1MFPaul Hartley140317MFRudi Skácel1601172FWEdgaras Jankauskas822123FWMichal Pospíšil70184FWRoman Bednář7007DFSteven Pressley50275FWCalum Elliot50166MFSaulius Mikoliūnas30037MFBruno Aguiar1001DFChristophe Berra1001MFDeividas Česnauskis0011FWJuho Mäkelä1001MFJamie McAllister0011MFStephen Simmons1001DFAndy Webster1001 Total7021284
Team statistics League table
Management statistics Last updated 13 May 2006 NameFromToPWDLWin% (interim)
Transfers
Players in
Player From Fee Michal Pospíšil Slovan Liberec£300,000 Julien Brellier VeneziaFree Steve Banks GillinghamFree Takis Fyssas BenficaUndisclosed Ibrahim Tall SochauxFree Lee Johnson Yeovil Town£50,000 Neil McCann SouthamptonFree Chris Hackett Oxford United£20,000 Juho Mäkelä HJK£600,000 Mirsad Bešlija Genk£850,000 Martin Petráš Sparta PragueFree Raïs M'Bolhi MarseilleFree
Players out Player To Fee Kevin McKenna Energie CottbusFree Tepi Moilanen KooTeePeeFree Phil Stamp DarlingtonFree Mark Burchill Dunfermline AthleticFree Ramón Pereira LivingstonFree Joe Hamill Leicester CityFree Neil MacFarlane AberdeenFree Stephen Simmons Dunfermline AthleticFree
Loans in Player From Fee Rudi Skácel MarseilleLoan Edgaras Jankauskas FBK KaunasLoan Roman Bednář FBK KaunasLoan Samuel Camazzola JuventudeLoan Nerijus Barasa FBK KaunasLoan José Gonçalves Bruno Aguiar Luděk Stracený
Loans out Player To Fee Dennis Wyness Inverness CTLoan Graham Weir Queen of the SouthLoan
See also List of Heart of Midlothian F.C. seasons
References
External links Official Club website Complete Statistical Record