# 2009–10 Heart of Midlothian F.C. season

The 2009–10 season was the 129th season of competitive football by Heart of Midlothian, and their 27th consecutive season in the top level of Scottish football, competing in the Scottish Premier League. Hearts also competed in the Scottish Cup, Scottish League Cup and the UEFA Europa League.

## Season Overview

Hearts first four SPL games of the 2009–10 season were announced as Dundee United away, Rangers at home, newly promoted St Johnstone away and Kilmarnock at home.
On 13 August 2009, Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo announced the appointment of midfielder Michael Stewart to the role of club captain, replacing Robbie Neilson after his move to Leicester City. Central defender Marius Zaliukas was appointed vice-captain. On 17 August 2009, Stewart was sent off against Dundee United in a 2–0 reverse at Tannadice.
Despite a poor start to the season Hearts recorded a 1–0 win over Celtic in the League Cup at Parkhead with a Michael Stewart penalty.
Jim Jefferies first game in charge was against St Mirren in the League Cup. He did not enjoy a successful start as Hearts crashed out of the League Cup, losing 1–0 to St Mirren, with Billy Mehmet the only scorer. Jefferies' first league game in charge saw his team lose 2–0 to Celtic.
Shortly after the Celtic away defeat, Hearts some form under Jefferies. Three wins in a row against Falkirk, Hamilton and Aberdeen saw Hearts move to 6th place in the league. Although, the winning streak ended at Dundee Utd away, losing 1–0, which saw them only 7 points ahead of 7th placed Aberdeen, with Aberdeen having a game in hand.
Hearts' win over Kilmarnock on 10 April 2010 confirmed their place in the top six for the SPL late-season split.

### Remember Shirts

On 21 October 2009, Umbro released a limited edition Hearts shirt for the weekend game against Falkirk. The shirts had a poppy sewn into the left side of the shirt and a picture of the Hearts memorial statue sewn into the right. The memorial statue commemorates when the whole Hearts team enlisted themselves into the Great War, the first team in Britain to do so.

### Bosnian Fundraising

On 23 October 2009, Hearts supporter Gary Gray gave over £4,500 to two Bosnian children's charities after raising the money himself.

## First team player statistics
### Squad information

    Last updated 9 May 2010
During the 2009–10 campaign, Hearts used thirty-three 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 | Europe | Europe |
| Number | Position | Nation | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | HUN | János Balogh | 19 | 0 | 16+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | POL | Dawid Kucharski | 15 | 0 | 10+4 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | SCO | Lee Wallace | 36 | 1 | 32+0 | 1 | 3+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | ISL | Eggert Jónsson | 32 | 3 | 27+1 | 3 | 1+1 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | POR | José Gonçalves | 23 | 2 | 19+0 | 2 | 2+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | ESP | Rubén Palazuelos | 31 | 0 | 26+1 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | ESP | Suso Santana | 31 | 6 | 21+6 | 6 | 1+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | SCO | Ian Black | 31 | 1 | 17+9 | 1 | 2+1 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | GHA | Laryea Kingston | 14 | 0 | 10+4 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | SCO | Andrew Driver | 14 | 3 | 11+1 | 3 | 2+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | LTU | Marius Činikas | 3 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 13 | MF | UGA | David Obua | 37 | 3 | 30+2 | 3 | 2+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 14 | FW | FRA | Christian Nadé | 28 | 2 | 15+8 | 2 | 2+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 15 | FW | AUT | David Witteveen | 11 | 1 | 5+5 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | SCO | Ryan Stevenson | 11 | 0 | 9+2 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | LTU | Arvydas Novikovas | 14 | 0 | 5+8 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | ENG | Jamie Mole | 7 | 0 | 5+2 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 20 | DF | SCO | Jason Thomson | 17 | 0 | 15+1 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | ALG | Ismaël Bouzid | 32 | 1 | 26+0 | 1 | 3+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 |
| 22 | FW | SCO | Calum Elliot | 13 | 0 | 6+7 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | SCO | Michael Stewart | 31 | 8 | 24+1 | 5 | 3+0 | 2 | 1+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 1 |
| 24 | MF | SCO | David Templeton | 17 | 2 | 7+9 | 2 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 25 | GK | SVK | Marián Kello | 17 | 0 | 14+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | LTU | Marius Žaliūkas | 27 | 3 | 21+1 | 2 | 2+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 1 |
| 29 | MF | AUS | Rocky Visconte | 3 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 30 | GK | SCO | Jamie MacDonald | 9 | 0 | 8+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 32 | FW | SCO | Ryan Wallace | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 36 | FW | SCO | Gary Glen | 22 | 2 | 10+8 | 1 | 1+1 | 1 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 37 | MF | SCO | Jonny Stewart | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 39 | MF | SCO | Paul Mulrooney | 6 | 0 | 3+3 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 44 | FW | SCO | Gordon Smith | 11 | 1 | 2+6 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
| 46 | MF | SCO | Craig Thomson | 23 | 0 | 15+5 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 |
| 55 | MF | SCO | Scott Robinson | 14 | 1 | 7+6 | 1 | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 |
* Last updated: 9 May 2010
* 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 9 May 2010
| Place | Position | Nation | Name | SPL | League Cup | Scottish Cup | Europe | Total |
| 1 | MF | | Michael Stewart | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 2 | MF | | Suso Santana | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 3 | MF | | Andrew Driver | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | DF | | Marius Žaliūkas | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | MF | | David Obua | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | DF | | Marius Žaliūkas | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | FW | | Gary Glen | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | DF | | José Gonçalves | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | FW | | Christian Nadé | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 | MF | | David Templeton | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | MF | | Ian Black | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | DF | | Ismaël Bouzid | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | MF | | Scott Robinson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | FW | | Gordon Smith | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | DF | | Lee Wallace | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | FW | | David Witteveen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | 35 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 40 |

## Team statistics
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 4 | Hibernian | 38 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 58 | 55 | +3 | 54 | Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round |
| 5 | Motherwell | 38 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 52 | 54 | −2 | 53 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round |
| 6 | Heart of Midlothian | 38 | 13 | 9 | 16 | 35 | 46 | −11 | 48 | |
| 7 | Hamilton Academical | 38 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 39 | 46 | −7 | 49 | |
| 8 | St Johnstone | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 57 | 61 | −4 | 47 | |

### Management statistics

Csaba László was sacked on 29 January after a 3–0 home loss to Aberdeen. Jim Jefferies was appointed shortly afterwards to the job, for a return to Tynecastle.
    Last updated 9 May 2010
| Name | From | To | P | W | D | L | Win% |
| Csaba László | 30 June 2009 | 29 January 2010 | 27 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 037.04 |
| Jim Jefferies | 29 January 2010 | 9 May 2010 | 17 | 6 | 2 | 9 | 035.29 |
* ↑ Win% is the percentage of matches won rounded to two decimal places.

## Transfers

Heart of Midlothian made five signings over the summer break: Ian Black, Dawid Kucharski, Ismaël Bouzid, Suso Santana and David Witteveen. Before the January transfer window was closed, Jim Jefferies signed Ryan Stevenson from Ayr United for a five figure undisclosed fee.