The 2004–05 season was the 124th season of competitive
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...
. Hearts also competed in the
UEFA Cup
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
Over the course of the season Hearts had 4 Management teams. They started the season under
Craig Levein
Craig William Levein (born 22 October 1964) is a Scottish professional association football, football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Scottish Premiership club St Johnstone F.C., St Johnstone.
During his playing c ...
who left the club on 29 October to join
Leicester City
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...
. His assistant
Peter Houston
Peter Houston (born 19 July 1958) is a Scottish football player and manager who is assistant manager of the Scotland under-21 side.
Houston played as a striker for Airdrieonians, Livingston United, Albion Rovers, Falkirk, Dumbarton and East ...
took charge as care taker manager for 1 game before John Robertson took on the role for 7 months before a fall out with
Romanov
The House of Romanov (also transliterated as Romanoff; , ) was the reigning dynasty, imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after Anastasia Romanovna married Ivan the Terrible, the first crowned tsar of all Russi ...
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 Association football, player who played as a centre back. He is currently the head coach of club Dundee F.C., Dun ...
and
John McGlynn
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second Ep ...
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, also known as Tynecastle Stadium, is a association football, football stadium in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh, which is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Heart of Midlothian F.C., Heart of Midlothian ...
for domestic fixtures and
Murrayfield Stadium
Murrayfield Stadium is a rugby union stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The stadium is owned by the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) who has its headquarters based at the stadium, and is the national stadium of the Scotla ...
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 ...
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
) as referee, against
Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
. 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
Craig Sinclair Gordon (born 31 December 1982) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Heart of Midlothian and the Scotland national team.
Gordon started his career with Currie Boys before joining Heart of ...
. 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 fro ...
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
Dennis Wyness (born 22 March 1977) is a Scottish retired footballer. He played either as an attacking midfielder or as a striker.
He has previously played for Aberdeen, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Hearts, St Mirren, Queen of the South, D ...
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
Christian Jürgen Gross (born 14 August 1954) is a Swiss football manager and former player. He played as a sweeper and central midfielder.
Gross was manager of Basel from 1999 to 2009, winning four Swiss Super Leagues and four Swiss Cups.
As ...
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 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.