GLOOM AND BLOOM

I'm aboard Tony's title train but Old Firm will take some shifting

- BY RYAN STEVENSON

TONY BLOOM fairly got folk talking with his comments about wresting Scottish football power from Celtic and Rangers.

Let's get one thing straight, I loved it. It's great to hear such ambition. If Bloom's Hearts train steams all the way to the Premiership title in years to come, I will relish every minute of the journey.

But there are a couple of big engines in the way. And I've got to be honest and realistic about the prospect of Hearts getting past them.

Bloom is a man of vision and, more importantly, substance. He's done it, so the words aren't empty. He used the examples of Brighton and Union St Gilloise and adopting methods and analytics to bridge gaps but we are on different tracks here in Scotland. This is a different network.

I don’t want to seem downbeat, or defeatist. I'm not. As I said, I savoured hearing it and I can tell you my Hearts pals were all the same judging by the messages I was getting ahead of Aberdeen. Fans were buzzing and it carried into their support.