There is only one football team named in the bible.

Such is the claim anyway.

The relevant quote comes from Matthew 12.42:-

“The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it:”

Notch one up for Dumfries’s finest.

In my present reading, Walter Scott’s The Heart of Mid-Lothian (which itself by way of a dance hall provided the name for another football team,) there is much talk of religion and quotation from the Bible. An explanatory note had this reference from Proverbs 17.3 which casts doubt on the declaration in the first paragraph of this post:-

“The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but the Lord trieth the hearts.”

Granted the relevant noun would need to be capitalised to make the abbreviation truly apposite but then so does the QoS one. At any rate I’m sure many Jambos (see nicknames in the link’s sidebar) would concur with the sentiment.

Home of Heart of Midlothian FC, otherwise known as Hearts – aka the Jam Tarts or Jambos.

Main Stand from outside:-

Side of Roseburn Stand:-

Wheatfield Stand from Roseburn Stand:-

Gorgie Family Stand from Roseburn Stand:-

Main Stand from Roseburn Stand:-

So Heart of Midlothian FC may be playing its last game on Saturday.

This could be the consequence of a winding-up order by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Taxes – or the Inland Revenue as it was once called.

It’s not the first time Hearts have been down this road and it has several times in the last few seasons not paid its players on time but up to now the club has always managed to find funds from somewhere despite its owner, Lithuanian Vladimir Romanov, trying to offload the club (without any success.)

The club web site has put out a plea for fans to buy shares and attend the next home game (and also, somewhat contradictorily if a demise is imminnent, buy tickets for subsequent ones) to get round the immediate problem.

This must be scary stuff for Hearts fans. But if it’s so apocalyptic who in their right mind would buy shares? That could be throwing good money away.

Go to the games certainly – that’s merely what a fan might be doing anyway – but a wider investment?

It’s a cruel irony that Hearts main shirt sponsor is the betting firm Wonga.

I do hope those Rangers fans who wanted demotion (actually elevation since their club no longer existed) to Div 3 so that Premier Div clubs would suffer “without us to keep them going” don’t get their wish.

I’ll be supporting my club on Saturday (at Cowdenbeath.) I urge all Hearts fans – especially armchair ones – to do the same for theirs.