Shop is a new goal fur Hearts

GARETH EDWARDS

IT will be a whole different ball game for the Jambos. Hearts' heroes may be threatening to usurp the Old Firm on the pitch this season.

But, not content with that, the Gorgie club is also planning a fresh assault on the Glasgow giants' dominance in a completely different arena - high street shopping.

While Celtic and Rangers have had dedicated stores in the city centre for more than a year, neither Edinburgh club has had a similar presence.

But Hearts are now planning to change that by opening a city centre superstore before Christmas.

And one of the first best-sellers is set to be "Russian-style" furry hats - to honour the club's new owner, Lithuanian Vladimir Romanov.

Similar hats became a hit with Chelsea fans following the take-over of their Premiership club by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

Fans at Tynecastle are already wearing T-shirts bearing the legend "Romanov's Army" in cyrillic-style writing.

Sales of replica strips, DVDs and other merchandise - including jewellery - have also been hitting record levels in recent weeks.

Now Hearts are hoping to make the most of the "feelgood factor" by launching the new store and new merchandise.

A Hearts spokesman said the club hoped the hats would be as popular in Gorgie as in west London. He said: "We saw this kind of thing with the whole 'Chel-ski' feeling in London and it is definitely something we feel could be popular.

"We want to challenge the Old Firm off the park as well as on it. We have been looking for a location for a Heart of Midlothian superstore in the city centre and we are very hopeful of having one open in time for the Christmas market. The hats could be one of our biggest sellers, as they are very practical for Scotland in the winter, and football has always been about fashion and about humour, so it really is a perfect product."

Heart of Midlothian communications director David Southern said: "Certainly off the pitch we realise there is work to be done to drive the commercial business of Heart of Midlothian Football Club. We are looking to ensure we can meet the demands from fans for everything from merchandise to tickets for games.

"We've recently appointed the commercial director Alasdair Russell and a couple of sites have been identified for potential expansion. As part of this we would expect to open a store preferably in the city centre, before Christmas, while our range of merchandise will also hopefully be expanded before then."

Across the city, a Hibs spokesman said: "We are currently expanding our superstore and we have put out a small range of merchandise to coincide with our matches against Dnipro and to celebrate our return to European football which have been very popular with the fans."

The facts

HEARTS' move to sell Russian-style hats in honour of their new owner is the latest in a long line of fashion accessories which have followed celebrated figures in the game across Britain.

Chelsea are among the most famous examples, and long before they began selling Russian-themed gear to tie in with their billionaire owner, Roman Abramovich, their club shop was doing a brisk trade in Ruud Gullit wigs.

Tottenham have also been following the trend this season, with replica Edgar Davids sunglasses doing a roaring trade.

Scotland has seen more than its fair share of football tie-ins as well, with the blonde wigs worn by Dundee fans in honour of Claudio Caniggia among the most memorable.

Sales of beachballs and sombreros went through the roof in Glasgow when Celtic made it to Seville for the Uefa cup final two years ago.

Hibs cult hero Jimmy Boco's eye-catching afro led to massive sales of Boco wigs to fans, and there was even a song released by the Jimmy Boco Experience. A few years later, a trend was set by Dirk Lehman, who inspired fans to wear tape on their ears after he did the same thing to protect his earrings during games.

Perhaps the least inspiring example were the false beards briefly worn by Arbroath fans after Danny McGrain was appointed manager in 1993.

Taken from the Scotsman