Vrancken

With all this flux and not a lot of time to bed everything in, the question is whether Hearts can push on again at the top of the table.

Vranckin was clear the remit was to do just that, and in his first job outside of Belgium he appears to relish that challenge.

He can also sympathise with what Hearts went through last season, losing the title in the dying minutes of a thrilling campaign.

The same thing happened to Vrancken at Gent in 2023, when a late Royal Antwerp goal on the final day denied his team the title.

“It takes time [to get over] for sure,” he said.

“But with aiming on the new season and working for the new goals, that’s the only way to get over it and to work for it.

“I hope that we’re on the good side of the story, let’s say, the next time. I think it’s just putting the energy in it and what’s left to come and not looking back too much.

“The best clubs to work in are those that have ambitions. I think this is a good ambition, it’s a good point of focus, a good goal to have. And then we have to work for it and aim as high as possible and then we’ll see where we’ll end.”

Hearts are moving closer to appointing Belgian football’s manager of the year, Wouter Vrancken, as the club’s new head coach.

The 47-year-old left hometown club Sint-Truiden this summer after leading them to third place in the Belgian Pro League – their highest finish in 60 years – in his first full season in post.

Derek McInnes departed Hearts for Rangers last week after taking the club to second place last season, missing out on a first title since 1960 on the final day to Celtic.

Hearts are now close to confirming his replacement. Vrancken is set to take charge of a first club outside his homeland after impressive spells at Sint-Truiden and Genk, whom he took to the brink of the Belgian title in 2023.

Having started his coaching career in Belgium’s lower leagues, his return to the top flight was as assistant at another of his former clubs, Kortrijk.

He took over as boss of Mechelen in 2018 and led them to promotion and the Belgian Cup in the same season before three top-eight finishes in the top flight.