July 6, 2023. 9.42am.

"Figured I may as well start a thread for next season as they are going to crash and burn next season and their fans won't know who to give abuse to when things go wrong..."

The above was the first post in a thread titled 'Hearts the banter years 23/24 season' on an unnamed forum of an unnamed rival club.

It is part and parcel of football fandom, supporters all too eager to bestow the term 'banter years' on rivals. It can be seen weekly with the ubiquitous and, at times, tedious use of the 'x-team are falling apart' chant. A chant Hearts fans would come to use in jest come the final months of the season.

Heart of Midlothian didn't fall apart. Heart of Midlothian didn't they crash and burn. They largely cruised to third in the Premiership by 12 points, conceding the third-fewest goals, scoring more than all but three teams and winning twice as many games as five of the league's 12 clubs.

The result was European qualification once more. In the coming months, supporters will look forward to at least eight games in Europe with the club reaping the financial awards. With Aberdeen and Hibs both entering a new period with new managers the Hearts are well placed once more to take hold of third place, making it their own and putting distance between themselves and rivals. Easier said than done, of course.

But, looking back, it was a season that saw records broken and feats achieved for the first time in a long time. A season that provoked a whole gamut of emotions and created new memories. It may well have started with banter years jibes but finished in a roof-raising fashion with Kyosuke Tagawa's stunning stoppage-time equaliser against Rangers at Tynecastle Park.

Rewind 12 months and Hearts went into the summer with a big decision. Who replaces Robbie Neilson as manager on a permanent basis after Steven Naismith's interim spell when he was supported by Gordon Forrest and Frankie McAvoy?

It is understood there were interesting names keen on the job, some of those beyond the club's budget. There were conversations with Marti Cifuentes. And conversations with senior figures at Aberdeen regarding the state of the managerial market. Naismith was viewed by chief executive Andrew McKinlay as "definitely less risky and more attractive", impressing decision-makers with his vision, his knowledge of the club and Scottish football, his experience with the club's B team and academy, and his general football experience rather than significant managerial experience.

When the appointment was announced in June it arrived with a slight caveat. A caveat that didn't sit well with some among the support and one that was used to beat both the club and Naismith with.

"In order to comply with UEFA regulations, with Steven [Naismith] not having the required Pro License qualification, a requirement to manage in European competition, Frankie [McAvoy] will be named Head Coach with Steven serving as Technical Director," a club statement read.

Hearts Standard:

The aforementioned banter years thread appeared in the aftermath of the above announcement. A structure that prompted plenty of intrigue and interest, confusion and comment. It dominated the narrative around the club during the summer and into the start of the season.

No matter how often figures at Tynecastle Park - whether it was Naismith or McAvoy, sporting director Joe Savage or McKinlay - spoke of how little had changed and that everyone internally was comfortable with the set-up the view from the outside was, at best, curious but often critical. That was even more apparent following an interview with Sky Sports ahead of the new season where Naismith and McAvoy spoke side by side. It didn't fill supporters, still agitated with the way the team blew the lead to finish third a few months previous, with confidence, and was ridiculed by many rival fans.

Minds had been made up early on. It simply wasn't going to work and Hearts had made a mistake. Therefore the team needed to get off to a good start.

[NARRATOR]: The team did not get off to a good start.

With six wins from the first 16 fixtures, the noise grew louder and louder. 

"It seems a long time ago now, the start of the season, the structure and set-up - what's funny is the narrative around that," Naismith would come to reflect. "It was so far from the truth - 'the players don't know who they are talking to' - it's funny looking back at it. We just got off to a slow start. Simply that was it. It was a new squad together."

During that time there was a notable night at Tynecastle Park as Hearts came from behind to defeat Rosenborg on aggregate to progress to the Conference League play-off. It was a night that will live long in the memory and a European night for a new generation of fan as Cammy Devlin produced a two-goal tie-winning display. The atmosphere that evening was possibly the best in front of the new Main Stand, aided by the Gorgie Ultras who would be a constant source of noise and backing for the team during the campaign. Such results and performances, however, were few and far between in the first few months of the season.

Hearts Standard:

New recruits, with the exception of Frankie Kent, did not have a huge impact and the team struggled as an attacking force. Play was ponderous, hesitant and indecisive. Hearts were too easy to play against. Sit deep and compact, allow Naismith's men possession and then strike on the counter was a pretty effective blueprint. It was far from stirring or inspirational, especially at home, with regular failings, including the concession of cheap goals.

Ahead of the 12th game of the season fans sent a pointed message to the club's board as a banner was unfurled at Rugby Park prior to the League Cup clash: 'Funded by fans. Ran by clowns. We deserve better.' There were also banners in Gorgie. There was no message to Naismith or chants for him to go but it wasn't hard to link the appointment to the ill-feeling among some of the fans.

Hearts would win that match at Rugby Park. And they would follow it up with success in Dingwall. Then came the loss of a two-goal lead at home to Hibs followed by back-to-back defeats to the Old Firm. Just when it was thought that the team were ready to kick on their momentum would be stalled and the noise, which had died down, would increase once more.

It was entering a territory where one poor result would, no matter what had happened in the previous few weeks, prompt a demand for the removal of the manager. Naismith distilled it down to four words. "It was just time," he said when asked about the turning point in the season.

"It wasn't so much that 'we got results and that was it'. A big result like Celtic away gives you confidence but whether that's the first week of the season or the last, it gives you confidence. But it was just time. We beat Livingston 1-0 at home, scored 76 minutes I think, we battered them for the whole game, we were attacking a lot but didn't find that moment. For me, the joy of having the patience of having to wait for the moment to come, getting the goal, for me is a big moment. Kilmarnock away in the cup, big moment, but not one of them is the thing that changed.

"Time and having a good group of players who are willing to listen and willing to put the work in, that's what made us become a good team."

Adding to that list of games, the victory at Motherwell in November was important. The travelling Hearts hierarchy at Fir Park that day perhaps met the full-time whistle with a mixture of delight and relief. Not only was there a positive result going into the international break - a time teams view as convenient for a change in manager - but a positive and controlling performance to go with it. It was one of the clearer indications of what Naismith wanted from the team.

Perhaps just as important was the loss at Aberdeen the following month. For what happened during the game, what happened in the immediate aftermath and how the noise came to a head at the AGM which followed a few days after. 

Lawrence Shankland revealed recently that he flipped the lid. Words were said by the team's captain in the Pittodrie dressing room after they let a 1-0 half-time lead slip, losing 2-1.

"It was probably the angriest I've ever been after a game," he admitted.

"It was probably the right time, in terms of inside the changing room, for something to be said. It falls on my role to take it upon myself. To be fair, I don't like having a go at people, I like to encourage them but that day I just felt something had to change at that point."

The team had been guilty of giving up points from winning positions. Eight alone were given up against Aberdeen, Hibs and Rangers over a two-and-a-half-month spell. After that game, Hearts would drop points from winning positions just twice. A 1-1 home draw with Kilmarnock, and in the final game of the season against Rangers having led at half-time.

Hearts Standard:

The AGM that followed the Aberdeen loss was a long affair. It lasted over 150 minutes. There was plenty of focus on the team, the head coach and the on-field performances. One shareholder spoke of being "completely underwhelmed by what I see on a Saturday" which was met by applause. Another spoke of the football being "horrific" and another made a jibe about passing the ball forward. The club's board didn't, despite the view among some, need reminding of fan feelings but they certainly got one.

McKinlay was somewhat ridiculed when he offered a few facts, like Naismith being the manager of the month for November, of the points tally being one fewer than at the same point of the season 12 months prior, and that the team were two points off third with a game in hand.

Such a positive outlook on the club's season to that point didn't quite stretch to predicting a win at Celtic Park two days later. A venue the club had not won at in the league since 2007. Yet, that's exactly what happened. It was no smash-and-grab. It was a tactically shrewd display, there was control in and out of possession and a sense that the team could have played all evening and kept a clean sheet. 

Hearts Standard:

When discussing a manager who is viewed skeptically by supporters, it is often said it requires a long unbeaten run with some statement wins to win over those fans and shred those doubts. That's exactly what transpired. Twelve unbeaten, 11 wins, including a 1-0 derby win and that Celtic success, and twice coming from 2-0 down to get a result.

"It was just time," Naismith would no doubt reiterate. The mood music, the momentum and the feeling around the club altered significantly.

Through that first half of the season, the Hearts head coach never gave any indication of being under pressure. He would often say that he was not interested in short-term fixes. There was a desire to change aspects of the club that would be long-lasting. Everything from how the team operate at the Oriam to how young players are brought through from the academy to the mentality of playing at Hearts. In an interview with Hearts Standard in December he discussed how, to the respective wage budgets, there was more pressure on players at Tynecastle Park than at the Old Firm.

The team grew, individually and collectively across the season, most noticeably in the second half of the campaign. Hearts showed greater adaptability and flexibility as the season progressed, displaying different ways of winning matches. Dominant displays in wins, playing poorly but coming away with three points, battling performances and the resilience to come from behind. Only Kilmarnock and Motherwell would earn more points from losing positions over the course of the Premiership campaign. 

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Individually, fans could pick out many players who improved from last season to this, or the start of the campaign to the end of the campaign. Zander Clark, Kye Rowles, Stephen Kingsley, Jorge Grant, Shankland, Cammy Devlin, Alan Forrest and Alex Cochrane all displayed development, provided greater production or increased importance. Aidan Denholm, Macaulay Tait and James Wilson made the step up to become first-team players. Kenneth Vargas, Calem Nieuwenhof and Kyosuke Tagawa supplied big moments and big performances the more they settled in. Naismith demonstrated the importance of rotation and getting buy-in from the squad, something which will take on even greater importance next season with Europe.

Now, for all it is a squad game, it still requires players or a player to elevate it. Lawrence Shankland did that and more.

It was a historic season where he became the first Hearts player to score 30 goals in a single campaign since John Robertson. It was just the 18th occasion a Hearts player had achieved that feat in the club's history. Only the second time since the late 1950s. He became the first Hearts player to win the PFA Scotland Player of the Year award. He added the SFWA, Cinch Premiership, Hearts fans' and Hearts Players' Player of the Year awards. He won the Premiership golden boot. The first Hearts player to do so since Robertson. Remarkably, he scored 31 goals in a season that featured a run of eight games without a goal at the start of the season and a run of one in seven toward the end.

Still, listing those achievements doesn't do justice to what he gave the club's fans this season. He was a totemic figure. Perhaps more so than Rudi Skacel. He turned decent chances into good chances and good chances into great chances. His range of finishes were laughable. He scored goals that will be talked about for years to come. But he was more than goals. Incredible. Iconic. Irreplaceable. January was a nervous month for fans when speculation ramped up over his future and a move to Rangers. Yet, not only would it have taken an "exceptional" transfer fee - in the region of £5million - to sign him in January but, remarkably, the club received no notes of interest in the player despite his sensational form.

Hearts Standard: Lawrence Shankland scored a brace as Hearts defeated Motherwell 2-1

There was a reliance on him for a period of the campaign but that too improved as the season progressed. Naturally, the question will be raised as to how Naismith and Hearts cope if/when he moves on but - that is one for another day.

As Hearts and Shankland went on a tear across December, January and February, they left the rest of the league in the rear-view mirror. Over the year, disappointments were kept to a minimum. The team couldn't make that step to get past Rangers to reach a cup final and they fell just short of the 70-point tally. Still, the final tally of 68 would have been enough to finish third in all but two of the last 30 top-flight campaigns. And one of the biggest achievements was the 10 away wins in the league. The highest top-flight tally for the club since the early 1990s and something that had been a bone of contention for those who follow the club home and away.

On reflection, the season may well have been a learning in patience and allowing newcomers, both coaches and players, time to settle and get their message across. It was a season of development and progress under a manager in his first first-team managerial job and a squad that was the second youngest in the Premiership. It was a season where objectives were achieved, namely returning to the newly formatted European group stage.

Equally, it is a season that shouldn't be viewed as the culmination but the beginning, one fans should take great encouragement from. There should be more to come with plans already in place to improve on and off the field. It wasn't the perfect campaign but it was a successful one with plenty of standout moments.

A campaign where Hearts fell apart but finished third. Comfortably.