Hearts become the latest club after Tottenham and Manchester City to film a fly-on-the-wall documentary as fans get to see what happened behind the scenes of their disastrous 2019-20 relegation season… with the first episode airing tonight!
- Hearts were relegated to the second tier in Scotland for the first time since 1983
- Craig Levein and Daniel Stendel both departed Tynecastle in a disastrous season
- The Jam Tarts want to make an immediate top-flight return under Robbie Neilson
Heart of Midlothian have became the latest club to film a behind-the-scenes documentary series, as camera crews gained exclusive access behind the scenes during their catastrophic 2019-20 relegation season.
High-profile English clubs including Manchester City, Leeds United and Tottenham Hotspur have done their own documentaries, as did Scottish league champions Celtic after Brendan Rodgers guided them to successive treble-winning seasons between 2016 and 2018.
This latest documentary sees Hearts chairwoman Ann Budge feature prominently as the team look to build on a 2018-19 season that saw them reach the semi-finals and the final of the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Cup respectively, where they lost to Celtic both times, as well as finishing sixth in the league.
Hearts chairwoman Ann Budge had a lot of tough decisions to make during a terrible season
Hearts’ fly-on-the-wall documentary follows Tottenham’s All or Nothing series on Amazon
Manchester City also gave a glimpse into life at the club in a documentary series in 2018
However, after a defeat to St Johnstone in late October 2019 saw Hearts level on points with basement club St Mirren, former Scotland manager Craig Levein’s two-year tenure at Tynecastle was up.
Ex-Barnsley boss Daniel Stendel then took up the post in December following the brief caretaker spell of Austin MacPhee.
Stendel inherited a side that were only being kept off the bottom of the division by goal difference, but things got no better under his stewardship.
The team were outright last when the season was unexpectedly halted due to Covid-19.
Their relegation was announced in May after it was concluded that the season’s fixtures could not be completed, with Budge mounting a proposal to temporarily restructure Scottish football and expanding the top flight, giving Hearts a reprieve.
However, this failed and a clause in Stendel’s contract that stated he was to be let go if the club got relegated was activated, with the German leaving in June to be replaced by fans’ favourite Robbie Neilson, who led just led Dundee United to the Scottish Championship title.
The series follows Hearts during their woeful 2019-20 campaign, which saw them relegated
Craig Levein was sacked as manager in October last year after more than two years in the job
Daniel Stendel was brought after his record at Barnsley but things got no better at Tynecastle
Meanwhile, Hearts had not finished contesting their relegation, but the Court of Session found that the decision was fair.
The Neilson era has started positively, with three wins from three in the league so far this term.
They also have a Scottish Cup final to look forward to on December 20 against Celtic at Hampden Park, as the competition was carried over from last season after being paused due to Covid-19, with the team facing Neil Lennon’s men after upsetting top-tier Edinburgh rivals Hibernian 2-1 in the semi-finals on October 31.
The first episode of This Is Our Story: Inside Hearts airs on BBC One Scotland on Monday 9 November at 9pm.