Hearts are on the road to success but talk of splitting Celtic and Rangers is premature - Ryan Stevenson

There’s no better game for Hearts to be playing in this weekend. Saturday lunchtime at 12.30, Rangers coming to Tynecastle knowing if you beat them you can go second, it’s set up to be absolutely brilliant. That goes for the Rangers players as well. If you’re sitting in that dressing at 11 o’clock knowing you can go ahead of Rangers, you don’t need help getting up for that.

Listen, it’s a hard game but I think the squad that Hearts have now, they’re more than capable of winning. It’s going to be difficult with Europe this season and there will be blips but on their day, they can do it. That being said, even if they do, it’s still way too early to be talking about splitting the Old Firm. You can’t get carried away because it will only be another three points and even then, it’s a big ask. Even if we get to February/March time and Hearts were close to splitting them, I still wouldn’t be sure that we could.

For Hearts, all they need to try and do is beat where they were last season, get back into Europe and just keep trying to build. This isn’t just a quick fix or chasing short-term success. I feel the club is in the right hands and is on the right journey. Hopefully over the next three, four or five years, it just keeps getting better and better. Then eventually they hopefully can split the Old Firm, but it’s a big, big ask to do that.

The distance they’ve come since Robbie Neilson came back is frightening. That’s not just down to him - he’s been brilliant - but their recruitment department as well. They’ve brought the right players in who have gelled with the fans. You can see everybody is in it together and if you’re a Hearts fan, you’re counting the days to Saturday every week.

When you can bring in a goalkeeper