The 2004–05 season was the 124th season of competitive
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...
. Hearts also competed in the
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
,
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,League Cup and the
Festival Cup
The Festival Cup was a Scottish football tournament played in 2003 and 2004. Designed to tie in with the Edinburgh Festival, on both occasions when competed for it consisted of a single match between Edinburgh's two professional clubs, Heart of ...
.
Managers
Over the course of the season Hearts had 4 Management teams. They started the season under Craig Levein who left the club on 29 October to join Leicester City. His assistant
Peter Houston
Peter Houston (born 19 July 1958) is a Scottish football player and manager who is currently assistant manager of the Scotland under-21 side.
Houston played as a striker for Airdrieonians, Livingston United, Albion Rovers, Falkirk, Dumbarton a ...
took charge as care taker manager for 1 game before
John Robertson John, Jon, or Jonathan Robertson may refer to:
Politicians United Kingdom politicians
* J. M. Robertson (John Mackinnon Robertson, 1856–1933), British journalist and Liberal MP for Tyneside 1906–1918
*John Robertson (Bothwell MP) (1867–1926) ...
took on the role for 7 months before a fall out with Romanov who dismissed him after he refused to accept a demotion to assistant head coach created a vacancy once again.
Steven Pressley
Steven John Pressley (born 11 October 1973) is a Scottish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a centre back. He was most recently the manager (association football), mana ...
and John McGlynn jointly took the role of care taker managers for the final two games of the season.
Stadium
Hearts used two stadiums over the course of the season
Tynecastle Stadium
Tynecastle Park is a football stadium in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh, which is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Heart of Midlothian (Hearts). It has also hosted Scotland international matches, and been used as a ...
for domestic fixtures and
Murrayfield Stadium
Murrayfield Stadium (known as BT Murrayfield Stadium for sponsorship reasons, or popularly as Murrayfield) is a Rugby stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has a seating capacity of 67,144 making it the largest sta ...
for international fixtures. This was due to Tynecastle not meeting Uefa requirements for holding international fixtures.
The Campaign
One of the most important matches in the clubs campaign this season was in the UEFA Cup group stage. On matchday three they played away in
St. Jakob-Park
St. Jakob-Park () is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. "Joggeli", as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity w ...
in front of 21,650 spectators, with
Kristinn Jakobsson
Kristinn Jakobsson (born 11 June 1969) is an Icelandic football referee. He has been a FIFA-listed referee since 1997, but did not referee his first UEFA Champions League qualifying match until August 2001, when he took charge of a second quali ...
(
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
. Hearts had lost their first two games in the group. Basel started well into the game and their striker Christian Giménez slashed a hard shot towards the far corner of the goal in the opening minutes, which needed a good save from keeper Craig Gordon. The young goalkeeper blocked the shot into the field, but
Julio Hernán Rossi
Julio Hernan Rossi (born 22 February 1977) is an Argentinian former football striker.
Football career Early years
Julio Hernán Rossi began his professional career at Argentinian club Club Atlético River Plate in July 1995, as he advanced fr ...
was not able to reach the rebound. Basel dominated the game, they restricted the visitors immensely and Hearts were only able to entered the Basel penalty area from set-pieces. Following a free-kick and a near miss from Michael Stewart, just minutes later Hearts took a surprise lead. A set-piece and Hearts surprisingly played the ball low, three quick passes, Dennis Wyness found room and the striker slotted the ball beyond goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbühler for the first goal of the game. The home team were now forced to be more committed with their attacks and they put Hearts under increased pressure, responding well to the conceded goal. Only some desperate last-ditch defending denied the hosts from obtaining their equaliser. Basel then started the second half as they had ended the first period, pressing forward. Basel's head-coach Christian Gross changed his attackers midway through the second half and his substitutions quickly paid out.
César Carignano
César Andrés Carignano (born 28 September 1982) is an Argentine retired footballer who played as a forward.
Career
Club
Carignano started his children’s football in the local club in the town of Freyre in the San Justo Department, Córdoba ...
slotted home the equaliser. Basel pressed hard for the winning goal as the time ticked on. Hearts' last-gasp winner, in the 89th minute, was more a speculative attack and was made only to relieve the defensive pressure, but it paid off as
Robbie Neilson
Robbie Neilson (born 19 June 1980) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian.
Neilson, who played as a right-back, started his senior career with ...
pushed his shot under the body of goalie Zuberbühler with only seconds left on the clock, his first ever goal for the club. Basel versus Hearts 1–2 end result.