# 2008–09 Heart of Midlothian F.C. season

The 2008–09 season was the 128th season of competitive football by Heart of Midlothian, and their 26th consecutive season in the top level of Scottish football, competing in the Scottish Premier League. Hearts also competed in the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup.

## Season Overview

Hearts began the campaign with a new manager, Csaba László, at the helm. The club began the season with a home win against Motherwell and had a good run in the early stages of the campaign, climbing as high as second in the table in late September. The good start looked under threat when it was revealed that players wages had not been paid, although the problem was blamed on a "technical hitch" with wages to be paid on Friday 26 September. However, in April 2009 the club was able to announce a £6 million reduction in their debt level.
Hearts entered the Scottish League Cup at the second round and were given a tough game by First Division side Airdrie United, being defeated on penalties after a 0–0 draw.
After a run of poor results in October, the club set off on a run of five league wins in a row starting with a 1–0 away win over St Mirren and culminating in a 2–1 home win over Rangers that left them third in the table. However Hearts' strike force had only managed to score 2 goals in 19 games and was looking ineffective. After a 1–1 draw at Celtic Park, there followed a draw at home against Dundee United, a defeat at Pittodrie and a goalless draw against Hibernian.
The club entered the Scottish Cup in the Fourth Round where they faced Edinburgh derby rivals Hibernian at Easter Road. Hearts won the game 2–0 with goals from Christian Nadé and Gary Glen to set up a Fifth Round tie with Falkirk. They were then eliminated by Falkirk following a 1–0 home defeat.
Hearts boosted their chances of a third-place finish and qualification for the Europa League with a 2–1 win over 5th-placed Aberdeen, Christian Nade cancelled out Darren Mackie's opener on the stroke of half time before Andy Driver scored the winner in the second half.
On 28 February Hearts beat fellow 3rd place hopefuls, Dundee Utd 1–0 at Tannadice with Michael Stewart's second half strike. This moved them 5 points clear in 3rd place, following which Hearts then defeated Motherwell 2–1 at Tynecastle with a last minute goal from Ruben Palazuelos.
Hearts visited Easter Road on 14 March and lost 1–0 through Steven Fletcher's goal. Hearts then took themselves to Ibrox where they found themselves 2–0 down at half time but a spirited second half changed the course of the match with Christos Karipidis and Ruben Palazuelos both netting to make it 2–2.
Hearts then followed their success with a terrific 3–1 over Kilmarnock at Tynecastle. Hearts lost an early goal from Danny Invincible but a Calum Elliot brace and a Bruno Aguiar strike made Hearts comfortable winners, securing a top six finish, which they failed to achieve the previous season, the only time in the club's history.
After success against Kilmarnock, Hearts faced Celtic in the second last game before the split. Hearts lost a goal inside the 1st minute from Venegoor of Hessilink but equalised before half time from an outstanding freekick from Bruno Aguiar, gaining Hearts another point from the Old Firm. This left only an away game at Falkirk before the league table split. Despite a 2–0 loss to Rangers and a 1–0 loss to Hibs, Hearts beat Dundee United 3–0 to finish in third place in Csaba Lazlo's debut season. Their final game, a 0–0 draw with Celtic, ensured that the Glasgow club missed out on the title.

## Results and fixtures
### Pre-season / Friendlies

In Laszlo's first game in charge Hearts drew 1–1 with Northern Irish side Glentoran (losing 6–5 on penalties.) Two days later Hearts travelled to Dunfermline Athletic where they lost 1–0. On the same day Hearts set out on their 10-day pre-season tour of Germany.

### Scottish Cup
## First team player statistics
### Squad information

    Last updated 24 May 2009
During the 2008–09 campaign, Hearts used thirty players in competitive games. The table below shows the number of appearances and goals scored by each player.
| Number | Position | Nation | Name | Totals | Totals | SPL | SPL | League Cup | League Cup | Scottish Cup | Scottish Cup |
| Number | Position | Nation | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ENG | Steve Banks | 1 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | SCO | Robbie Neilson | 28 | 0 | 25+2 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | SCO | Lee Wallace | 37 | 2 | 34+0 | 2 | 1+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | SCO | Christophe Berra | 25 | 0 | 23+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | GRE | Christos Karipidis | 37 | 2 | 34+0 | 2 | 1+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | ESP | Rubén Palazuelos | 26 | 2 | 18+7 | 2 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | LTU | Saulius Mikoliūnas | 13 | 2 | 6+6 | 2 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | POR | Bruno Aguiar | 27 | 7 | 26+0 | 7 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | DEN | Mike Tullberg | 7 | 0 | 2+5 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | GHA | Laryea Kingston | 21 | 3 | 15+4 | 3 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | SCO | Andrew Driver | 31 | 5 | 29+0 | 5 | 0+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 12 | GK | HUN | János Balogh | 21 | 0 | 18+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 14 | FW | FRA | Christian Nadé | 38 | 3 | 20+16 | 2 | 0+1 | 0 | 1+0 | 1 |
| 15 | FW | FIN | Juho Mäkelä | 4 | 0 | 0+4 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | POL | Adrian Mrowiec | 10 | 0 | 6+4 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | UGA | David Obua | 30 | 2 | 21+6 | 2 | 1+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | LTU | Deividas Česnauskis | 15 | 0 | 2+11 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | ENG | Jamie Mole | 15 | 1 | 8+6 | 1 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 20 | DF | SCO | Jason Thomson | 11 | 0 | 8+3 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | ISL | Eggert Jónsson | 33 | 3 | 27+3 | 3 | 1+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 22 | FW | SCO | Calum Elliot | 13 | 2 | 8+4 | 2 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | SCO | Michael Stewart | 37 | 4 | 33+1 | 4 | 1+0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 25 | GK | SVK | Marián Kello | 14 | 0 | 13+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | LTU | Marius Žaliūkas | 31 | 2 | 28+0 | 2 | 1+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 29 | MF | LTU | Audrius Kšanavičius | 10 | 1 | 4+5 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 30 | GK | SCO | Jamie MacDonald | 7 | 0 | 6+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 37 | MF | SCO | Jonny Stewart | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 42 | MF | SCO | David Templeton | 3 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 51 | FW | SCO | Gary Glen | 10 | 1 | 2+6 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+1 | 1 |
| 73 | MF | LTU | Arvydas Novikovas | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
* Last updated: 24 May 2009
* Source: Match Reports
* Ordered by Squad Number.
Appearances (starts and substitute appearances) and goals include those in the Scottish Premier League, League Cup, and the Scottish Cup.

### Goal scorers

Last updated 13 May 2008
| Place | Position | Nation | Name | SPL | League Cup | Scottish Cup | Total |
| 1 | MF | | Bruno Aguiar | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 2 | MF | | Andrew Driver | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 3 | MF | | Michael Stewart | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 | DF | | Eggert Jónsson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | MF | | Laryea Kingston | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | FW | | Christian Nadé | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | FW | | Calum Elliot | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | DF | | Christos Karipidis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | MF | | Saulius Mikoliūnas | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | MF | | David Obua | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | MF | | Rubén Palazuelos | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | DF | | Lee Wallace | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | DF | | Marius Žaliūkas | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | FW | | Gary Glen | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | FW | | Jamie Mole | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | FW | | Audrius Kšanavičius | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | 40 | 0 | 2 | 42 |

## Team statistics
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Rangers (C) | 38 | 26 | 8 | 4 | 77 | 28 | +49 | 86 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Celtic | 38 | 24 | 10 | 4 | 80 | 33 | +47 | 82 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 3 | Heart of Midlothian | 38 | 16 | 11 | 11 | 40 | 37 | +3 | 59 | Qualification for the Europa League play-off round |
| 4 | Aberdeen | 38 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 41 | 40 | +1 | 53 | Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round |
| 5 | Dundee United | 38 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 47 | 50 | −3 | 53 | |
* ↑ Teams played each other three times (33 matches), before the league split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last five matches.

### Management statistics

    Last updated 24 May 2009
| Name | From | To | P | W | D | L | Win% |
| Csaba László | 30 June 2008 | 24 May 2009 | 41 | 17 | 12 | 12 | 041.46 |
* ↑ Win% is the percentage of matches won rounded to two decimal places.

## Transfers

Lazslo's first signing came on 20 July 2008 when he signed Ugandan international, David Obua. On 11 August 2008, Mike Tullberg signed a one-year loan deal with Hearts, becoming Laszlo's second signing, but his career in Edinburgh was set back by recurring injury problems.
During the January transfer window the club lost Christophe Berra to Wolverhampton Wanderers in a deal worth around £2.5 million. Robbie Neilson was handed the captain's armband following Berra's departure.