Hearts are no Mickey Mouse club but Europe has to be more than a tourist jolly this year - Ryan Stevenson

Nothing stops in football and Hearts must have all eyes on Europe.

Lessons from last season must be learned. These aren’t just big days out, it’s an opportunity to gain much-needed credibility. Hearts went to Fiorentina and the supporters had a great time in Florence but it annoyed me it was just about a great experience. That’s what Mickey Mouse clubs do when faced with the type of challenge that arrived in Italy. It has to be so much more this time.

As a club, improvements have to be made and strides taken and that’s what I want to see from Steven Naismith and his players when it all starts again in August. It will begin with a Europa Conference League third qualifying round against an unseeded side and if the draw is kind then it’s all about targeting the group stage. That has to be seen as an achievable aim. For far too long Scottish clubs have been nowhere near good enough when asked to perform on the continent.

We need our teams to start taking big scalps and shed the reputation of being the minnows. When we were hammered by Spurs I remember the talk around those games and the expectation it was always going to happen.

Where is it written anything is a formality in football? What has to happen for Hearts is they build on last season. It has to become the norm that year on year they are in Europe. More than that, they need to make an impact.

Sustainability and staying in Europe is the target rather than the notion of it being a novelty and a chance for the fans to have a bit of fun and travel. I’m not saying Hearts approach ties with a Mickey Mouse mindset but I don’t like the perception built over recent decades that it’s a bonus to perform on this stage.

I know that won’t be the case with Naismith leading the