Craig Fowler: 9 reasons to get excited about the new football season in Edinburgh

Hearts’ difficult second album

Hearts were by far and away the third best team in the cinch Premiership last season and, with John Souttar their only major deserter this summer, smart money will be on them finishing in the same position again. But continuity is such a rarity at the Scottish top-flight level when it comes to league position beyond Celtic and Rangers. Derek McInnes did it at Aberdeen, having them in the top four for eight consecutive seasons, but otherwise we’ve typically seen teams drop down after a third-place finish over the last 30 years.

Any element of surprise will be gone, while opponents will be gunning to knock Hearts off their perch. With the added distraction of European football (more on that soon) it’ll be interesting to see how they handle it all.

Hibs under Lee Johnson

The Hibees have a new manager and a new style of football. There have only been two friendly matches so far, viewed through the lens of one camera, but it’s already evident things will be different than they were under Jack Ross or Shaun Maloney. It does appear supporters are going to get the expansive, attacking football they craved under Ross, but played at a pace which doesn’t put them to sleep, as it often did during Maloney’s tenure. Whether that leads to an improvement in results, which is the real acid test, remains to be seen.

Hibs’ new boys

Hearts are making moves to bring in some new players also, but it’s still likely that seven or eight out of the 11 in the strongest starting XI will be players fans are already familiar with. That’s unlikely to be the case at Easter Road. Seven new additions have arrived thus far and with the exception of Momodou Bojang, the rest would fancy themselves of having a chance to start