Hearts

A decade of glory for Heart of Midlothian FC, the period from 1954 to 1963 saw the team win the Scottish League and Scottish Cups on numerous occasions. Tom Purdie tells the story of the best years in Tynecastle history.

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Saturday 23 October 1954 was a dank and dreary, wet afternoon in the city of Glasgow. Dismal it may have been but not for the thousands of Hearts fans standing on the vast slopes of Hampden Park who had just witnessed their team defeat Motherwell 4-2 in the final of the Scottish League Cup, the first major trophy the club had won since defeating Third Lanark 1-0 in the 1905/06 Scottish Cup final. As Captain Bobby Parker held the trophy aloft to the resounding cheers of the Hearts support within Hampden, little did the fans back then know that this was to be the beginning of the most successful period in the club's history, 1954 to 1963, in which Hearts would go on to win the League championship twice, 1957/58 and 1959/60, the League Cup on three more occasions, 1958/59, 1959/60, 1962/63, and the Scottish Cup in 1955/56. They would also be runners-up in the League twice, 1956/57 and 1958/59, and finalists in the 1961/62 League Cup. European football would also come to Tynecastle in seasons 1958/59, 1960/61 and 1961/62. This is the story of Heart of Midlothian's glory years of 1954 - 1963.