Bloom should be sitting down with Del and asking what it would take to stay for long haul

OK, hands up. When | first heard Tony Bloom's big plan for Hearts | thought the guy had been smoking crack.

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The Brighton owner talked about his ambition to get in between the big two and maybe even make a genuine challenge for the title.

And I wasn't the only one who dismissed it all as a bit of a joke.

But nobody is laughing any more.

When my old club hit the top of the Premiership on Saturday with a 3-0 win over Falkirk and opened up a two-point lead over Celtic, all of a sudden the penny dropped. Along with the realisation that maybe we should have been taking Bloom seriously from the start.

Look, let’s not get carried away. That's been the message from Derek McInnes since day one and he’s bang on the money. Theres a long ‘way to go before anyone starts handing out trophies and medals.

But it's perfectly OK for Hearts fans to start getting excited because I know that's how T've been feeling since Saturday.

I was a bit wary about that game because Falkirk were turning up with nothing to lose and John McGlynn was returning to his old patch into the bargain. We all know how these things tend to go.

But I listened to every word coming out of the manager's mouth in the buildup and I thought the way he played it was nothing short of unbelievable. He was - very intentionally - messing with the heads of his own players and that's a stroke of genius.

He wanted the message out there that everybody wants to see Hearts tripping up. That the world is waiting for them to fall flat on their faces.