Heart of Midlothian F.C. (most commonly referred to as Hearts) are a football club from Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded in 1874 they are one of the two principal clubs in the city, the other being Hibernian. They are reputedly named after a popular local dance hall, which in turn took its name from the novel The Heart of Midlothian by Sir Walter Scott.   Hearts were the only east coast team invited to join the inaugural Scottish Football League competition in 1890. They had considerable success in the early years of the Scottish Football League, winning the league championship in 1895 and 1896. They also won four Scottish Cups in a 15 year period from 1891 to 1906.  The club then went from 1906 to 1954 without winning a major trophy before enjoying a decade of success between 1954 and 1963 under the managership of Tommy Walker. During this period Hearts won the League twice, in 1958 and in 1960,  the Scottish Cup in 1956 and the Scottish League Cup four times, in 1954, 1958, 1959 and 1962. This glorious period for the club contained many legendary players including  Alfie Conn, Sr., Willie Bauld, Jimmy Wardhaugh, John Cumming, Dave Mackay and Alex Young.  From the mid 1960s Hearts went into decline as many of their best players were tempted away by English clubs. After the advent of the ten-team Premier Division in 1975, Hearts were subsequently relegated for the first time in 1977. Promotion followed in 1978, but several seasons were spent yo-yoing back and forth from the Premier League to the First Division. 

In 1986  Hearts narrowly missed out on the championship, losing out on goal difference on the final day of the season and were beaten Scottish Cup finalists. Hearts became established at the top of the Premier League, regularly finishing in third place and competing in the UEFA Cup. The wait for a trophy ended in 1998 when Hearts beat Rangers 2–1 to lift the Scottish Cup.  A new era arrived when Lithuanian banker Vladimir Romanov became the club’s major shareholder. Although it seemed that Hearts might challenge for the SPL title the club frequently made the news headliners because of the number of high-profile managerial casualties.   Nevertheless, they regularly challenged for third place in the league and won the Scottish Cup Final in 2006 beating Gretna after a penalty shootout and in 2012 beating their rivals Hibernian 5-1 in the first all-Edinburgh final for more than a century. Increasing financial instability led to the club entering administration in June 2013 resulting in a 15 point deduction before the start of the 2013-14 season which ensured relegation.  In a second tier that also contained Rangers and Hibernain, Hearts were crowned champions and returned to the SPL at the first time of asking. They were a mid-table team for the next three seasons, but were relegated again in 2020. Once again they returned to the Premier League after one seaon and established themselves as one of the stronger teams in the top flight.