Just as the 150th anniversary celebrations near their end, it is perhaps appropriate that Heart of Midlothian are set to enter a hugely intriguing new era. 

Following a spell which has seen the club return to the Scottish Premiership and qualify for Europe in three consecutive seasons for the first time in their history, they are embarking on a new journey to try to bridge the gap to the Old Firm.

Now, that's big talk for a club bottom of the league with just one win all season across all competitions.

Yet, not only are the club set to appoint a new head coach, replacing Steven Naismith, but they are on the cusp of announcing a partnership and investment that will see analytics play a key role in how the club operate, especially when it comes to recruitment. A setup that has proven successful elsewhere in the UK and around Europe and would effectively be the first of its kind in Scotland.

It has been well-documented that Brighton & Hove Albion owner Tony Bloom is in the background of such a link-up, whether it be directly or indirectly with a view to a potential minority shareholding.

When Andrew McKinlay caught up with the media during Hearts' European trip to Baku, he could not divulge much more information on any deal than he had in his update with HeartsTV last month, noting that it is "commercially sensitive".

Hearts have, however, already been able to lean on Jamestown Analytics and its expertise as they search for a new head coach with interviews having taken place following candidates, both from the club and analytics, being put through complex and secretive algorithms as the best man for the job is sought.

Someone who will be able to work with analytics, work within the culture at Hearts and Scottish football, and someone who has experience of improving a team.

"Until we actually get something concrete there is not a lot we can talk about," McKinlay said. "What I would say, we are allowed to use analytics.

"We are hoping to do something that can help us with the analytics from the first instance. There is chat about investment and that is more around FOH and others who hold shares.

"It's exciting, it should be exciting and I'm looking forward to having a bit more to say on it."

All of that is in the short term as the deal waits to be confirmed. McKinlay was able to cast his sight longer term.

Since coming to the club as chief executive he wondered how it was possible for Hearts to make inroads to the Old Firm. In the first instance, it was the case of being able to walk before even thinking about breaking into a jog, let alone a run.

The club are in a fantastic position off the field with record revenues and on the field, there has been a consistency that hasn't been seen for several years, certainly up until the start of this campaign.

McKinlay sees the involvement of Jamestown Analytics as a huge opportunity. While not the Hearts chief's words, it isn't hard to read between the lines that this deal has the potential to be transformational.

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"The investment, whilst it would be nice, I know there's numbers being talked about, but those numbers might be a bit wide of the mark," he said. "It might sound silly, but the investment to me is going to be great, it's going to help, but it's not the exciting bit of this.

"The exciting bit for me is access to the analytics. If you look at how analytics has been used at other clubs, and how successful it's been at other clubs, you can't help but be excited.

"From my perspective, when I first came into the club, we'd just been demoted. I remember saying I wanted to get us back to being the third force in Scotland. Even for that, I got abuse because I wasn't showing enough aspiration. I learned quickly.

"I've never said in an interview that we should be first or second. That's always been on my mind. I've always struggled to think how you do that from a financial perspective. Unless something goes wrong with one of the other two, that's a different thing. You're constantly looking for something else that can allow you to close that gap because their finances are miles ahead.

"When analytics comes along as an opportunity, I genuinely see it as a chance to use it properly. We should get a standard of player that allows us to close that gap."

He added: "Genuinely, hopefully at some point challenge, whether it's for second place or maybe in time it would be lovely to be right up there. It would be brilliant for Scottish football.

"Whether it's Hearts or someone else, we're all dying to have more than two teams every year who can win the league. I see this as a genuine opportunity to do that."

It should be reiterated that it's not a case of clicking fingers and it will happen. It is a process. A process other clubs around Europe have gone through, most notably Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium. They've gone from the second tier to challenging for the Belgian title.

The analytics will go beyond just the manager search and recruitment. It will strengthen the opposition analysis the club already do for example. But McKinlay was keen to stress once more that there is no link with any other club. There will not be a feeder club situation. This set-up will see Hearts stand on their own.

"One of the crucial things there is the Foundation and where the Foundation sits on that," he said. "They've been quite clear about their red lines for things that they wouldn't want.

"What we won't do is enter into anything which is a link-up with another club or akin to a feeder. Which is why when individuals are talked about it's not helpful because people then naturally think if an individual were linked to other clubs.

"The one thing I can say categorically is there are no links here to any other football club."

A lot of fans have been curious as to how a possible shareholding would come to fruition, especially as the FOH is keen not to see its own shareholding impacted. 

"There are various ways you can do it," McKinlay said. "There are other shares out there that could be bought.

"You can dilute so you can do a share issue. In fact, that might end up being a prep [share preposition] because if you buy someone else's shares technically the money is theirs, not the club's. 

"It depends on the individual deal. If you're doing a dilute you're issuing shares in the club. There would have to be certain approval mechanisms around that which no doubt FOH would have to be involved in."

Looking even further ahead, could the investment and link-up be helpful when the club's lease at the Oriam ends in 2029?

That is far from definitive.

McKinlay admitted the club do need to potentially "look at investment for things like the training ground" but noted the club have "invested quite heavily in the background over the last year or so".

"We've got a bistro up there, we've just stitched a pitch, a semi-hybrid pitch up there," he said. "That will be exclusively our pitch.

"We are getting better with what we get from the facilities up there as they currently stand. We've got it in quite a good place. Steven was very demanding on that side of things. Which is great given his background and where he's been. He felt we've got it to about as good as we can get it in the current setup."