Martin O’Neill believes a Hearts title triumph in the coming years would provide a major lift for Scottish football.
Hearts spent much of last season at the top of the Scottish Premiership and came within minutes of ending a 66-year wait for the league championship.
But O’Neill’s Celtic denied them on the final day, bringing a remarkable and controversial campaign to an extraordinary conclusion.
Hearts investor Tony Bloom said earlier this week that he remains convinced the Tynecastle side can win the title within the next decade.
Hearts are now in their second season working with Bloom’s Jamestown Analytics company and have made another encouraging start to the campaign.
They are third in the table ahead of tomorrow’s grudge match against Celtic, which will take them back to Parkhead for the first time since the infamous final day last May.
O’Neill has praised Hearts’ progress and agrees with Bloom that the Edinburgh club could become Scottish champions at some point during the next 10 years.
O’Neill lifts the Premiership trophy after Celtic defeated Hearts on the final day of last season
Callum Osmand completed Celtic’s comeback as wild celebrations erupted at Parkhead
Asked if he believed Hearts could win the league, O’Neill said: ‘I do, yeah, I do. I think their recruitment has been really good. What they’ve done has put pressure on Celtic and Rangers. They are a definite challenge.
‘They kept going throughout last season. It was a huge effort. They stayed in the fight and took it right down to the final couple of minutes. Are they capable of doing it? Yes.’
He added: ‘I think they have a system in place at the moment that has been used at Brighton. They have applied it there and are now scouring the European scene for similar opportunities.
‘In the opening game of this season against Aberdeen, I thought there might have been a little hangover from what happened last season.’
O’Neill continued: ‘I think they’ve put that behind them and have come roaring back. I believe they are capable of winning the league even sooner than that.
‘From a neutral perspective, it can only be a great thing for Scottish football that the Old Firm is being challenged in such a significant way.
‘And rightly so. That’s how it should be. Hearts have embraced that challenge and I think they are here to stay.
‘I have a great deal of admiration for what they are doing. I really do. I admire the way they continued to compete throughout last season.
‘They spent so long at the top of the table. When you’re up there, looking down, you start to think, “Oh gosh, could it really happen?” They kept going right until the end.
‘They have lost their manager, Derek McInnes, as well as a couple of players, but I genuinely believe they remain a strong challenge. That can only be positive.
‘They came so close. Inevitably, they were going to lose a couple of players. You only have to look at the big centre-forward, Lawrence Shankland, who has moved to Rangers, and situations like that.’
‘But I think they’ve recruited really well and I just think they’re physically very strong, again, which they were last season. Yeah, they are definitely challengers.’
Tony Bloom’s investment and analytics have helped make Hearts into title contenders
Following Celtic’s title win on the final day last season, O’Neill came under fire for comments he made about the subsequent pitch invasion.
He and Bloom were locked in a war of words at one point over allegations that some of the Hearts players had been assaulted.
O’Neill was asked whether his views on it all had changed in the months that have passed or whether he stood by what he said at the time, despite the widespread condemnation of the pitch invasion.
It was confirmed last month that Police Scotland had charged a man over an assault that took place at the match, with another Celtic fan also handed a two-year ban for accosting Shankland.
Asked for his own reflections on it all, O’Neill said: ‘I’ve often said about how it finished and the answer is I’m happy how it finished. Listen, we won it. We won it.
‘And Derek’s comments when the sound thing was picked up, he said he told the referee to blow it up.
‘So I was asked by Jim White “did it tarnish things?” Well, not for me. It didn’t, honestly. I thought it was fantastic.
‘We cleared the pitch. People thought it was half an hour before we cleared the pitch but it was in less than three minutes at the end of it all.
‘If I turn around and say to you one more time, if this is the last time that the crowd invades the pitch for a moment like that, anywhere in the world, I’ll be really surprised.’
Celtic fans invaded the pitch at full time but O’Neill defended them afterwards
Pressed on the fact he took criticism for his comments on the pitch invasion, O’Neill replied: ‘I don’t care. I couldn’t care less.
‘I think I say too much at the end of the day. But absolutely not. If Hearts had won and their fans had come onto the pitch – I’m telling you now, and it’s easy for me to say this – I would have accepted that.
‘Because it’s the first time they would have won the league for years and years and years and the euphoria of doing that there would have been there. Of course.
‘And would we have been disappointed? Absolutely, to lose on your own pitch as well. All of those things.
‘But if you take the bigger picture at the end of the day, if they had won – and they were very, very close to doing it – and their crowd had come on to celebrate with their players that is something I would have accepted. It’s easy me saying that, but that’s how I feel.
‘I think it was one of the great days. Listen, whatever happens this year, you can’t take that away. It was fantastic and to me it was up there with any moment in my managerial time.’
Celtic will be wounded on the back of a 4-1 thrashing against Benfica in the Europa League in Lisbon on Thursday night, with Hearts drawing 1-1 at home to Nordsjaelland in the Conference League.
O’Neill was determined to take the positives from an improved showing in the second half, despite the fact his team were 3-0 down after little more than half an hour.
O’Neill insisted he has no concerns over Kasper Hogh’s form after the £11million striker endured another difficult night.
Hogh hit the post from close range against Benfica as his struggles continued
Hogh has been a disappointment so far and missed a glorious chance at the back post against Benfica when he hit the post from barely a yard out.
‘It was always going to be a difficult game,’ said O’Neill. ‘We could have crumbled and we didn’t. I take encouragement from that.
‘I really do, genuinely, from the way the side played in the second half. It was more like us. It was tough. I knew it was going to be a tough game.
‘It’s not bravado, I just feel as though we can still make it, if we win our home games.
‘It would have been nice if he (Hogh) had scored that goal. Because at the end of it all centre-forwards or strikers live or die by goals. They really do. And if you’ve not scored for a while and you miss the opportunity…
‘That was a good chance to score on Thursday night. But overall, over the course of the season, I think he’ll be absolutely fine. At this minute, he just needs a goal because it does give you a big boost of confidence.’
