In six weeks since Hearts narrowly missed out on the Scottish Premiership title they have lost their captain and several other players, signed seven new ones, and now recruited a head coach to replace the departed Derek McInnes.
It has been a rollercoaster period for fans of the Tynecastle club, but when 47-year-old Belgian Wouter Vranckin sat down to answer questions for the first time in his new role it signalled a fresh chapter.
Tony Bloom and his analytics company have had an influence on Hearts for well over a year now, but Vranckin replacing McInnes means it is now full speed ahead on the club’s data-driven vision.
Trust in recruitment process
Sporting director Graeme Jones said the former Sint-Truiden and Genk boss was “a standout” in the data as they set about their head coach search.
Vrancken’s repeated ability to get his clubs punching above their weight in Belgium clearly rated highly.
However, he also appears a perfect fit for Hearts’ strategy and vision. Unlike McInnes, Vrancken says he has always operated as a ‘head coach’ in a collaborative recruitment structure.
Just as well, because seven players have arrived before he did this summer.
Vrancken is also friends with Chris O’Loughlin, sporting director at Union Saint-Gilloise, another club Bloom has a stake in and against whom he competed in Belgium.
“I always wanted to look behind the curtain, actually,” Vrancken explained. “So maybe this is an opportunity to do it.
“I have a lot of confidence or trust in the way the recruitment works because I was confronted with it in Belgium. And now from the other side, I want to be part of it.”
‘I like to have the ball’
Vrancken’s sides in Belgium developed a reputation for aggressive, attacking football. He admitted having only four weeks to prepare the team before his first game, a Champions League qualifier against Sturm Graz, is challenging.
But he says he will go “as fast as possible” to bring the same style to Hearts, which he believes suits Scottish football too.
“I like to have the ball,” Vrancken explained. “I like to have it positive and constructive and also a lot of joy in the game.
“So I think always players, when they want to reach their full potential, they have to enjoy the game and enjoy what they’re doing.
“We try to create this with a positive kind of play, as offensive as possible, with a lot of pressure, with a lot of intensity, energy.”
More signings to come?
As was expected when Bloom came in, the turnover of players at Hearts continues to be high.
Key players from last season’s title-chasing squad like captain Lawrence Shankland and Beni Beningime have gone, while Cammy Devlin is yet to decide if he will sign a new contract.
Michael Steinwender and Frankie Kent are also among the departures and fellow defender Craig Halkett will miss the start of the season, while reports suggest Claudio Braga and winger Alexandros Kyziridis could be next to be sold.
Vrancken is comfortable with that situation and did not rule out adding more to a big squad. But he already sees attributes he can work with to play his own style.
“It’s already a good, big squad and they did very well last year,” he said.
“So I don’t think it’s needed for me to change a lot, just to have maybe other talents for the players that I need more than the previous coach, who did really great.
“You respect a lot the work that he did here, it’s incredible. But you’re never the same, two coaches are never the same, working on other things.
“I saw also with the squad who was playing last year that there are a lot of qualities that I can use in my way of playing.”
Can Hearts go again?
With all this flux and not a lot of time to bed everything in, the question is whether Hearts can push on again at the top of the table.
Vranckin was clear the remit was to do just that, and in his first job outside of Belgium he appears to relish that challenge.
He can also sympathise with what Hearts went through last season, losing the title in the dying minutes of a thrilling campaign.
The same thing happened to Vrancken at Gent in 2023, when a late Royal Antwerp goal on the final day denied his team the title.
“It takes time [to get over] for sure,” he said.
“But with aiming on the new season and working for the new goals, that’s the only way to get over it and to work for it.
“I hope that we’re on the good side of the story, let’s say, the next time. I think it’s just putting the energy in it and what’s left to come and not looking back too much.
“The best clubs to work in are those that have ambitions. I think this is a good ambition, it’s a good point of focus, a good goal to have. And then we have to work for it and aim as high as possible and then we’ll see where we’ll end.”
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