What can hearts choose in a continuous summer of injury?

Before Devlin left, there was a new head coach. The process of appointing Vranken was swift and early signs were promising.

He was the same man who was named Belgian manager of the year, led Racing Genk to the title within minutes and had links with Anderlecht and Burnley.

As well as a glittering CV, his previous playing style in Belgium stood out. It’s not called full-on attack, but it’s definitely a style football fans want to see.

When explaining his tactics in previous fan forums, the man himself said he wanted “chaos in structure.”

His first match was mostly chaos, not much structure.

However, the 4-0 scoreline did not seem to reflect the game accurately. The attacking statistics showed that Hearts were in no way behind their Austrian hosts.

Although they created two chances in the first half that should have been buried, Pierre Landry Kabore shot straight at the keeper and Alexandros Kyzyridis was met one-on-one and the shot went wide.

By the time he came to create more, they were already 4-0 down. Ineffective in the attack, cracked behind. It was a nightmare start.

“Early impressions are that Hearts have got a really good manager. At the same time, with everything that’s happened, there has to be some patience,” Hearts Standard editor Joel Skade said on the Scottish Football Podcast recently.

He’s impatient with football these days. For every Ange Postecolgou, there is a Wilfred Nancy. Ask for every Yance Berthel, Russell Martin.

It’s too soon to tell which camp Vranken falls into, but for the most part, Hearts fans are cautiously optimistic.

They’ve been through it all in the last couple of months, nothing can surprise them. Not even this.