Alan Pattullo: Hearts tweet after thrashing Dundee could return to haunt them

If a print-out of the tweet sent out by Hearts so soon after Friday night’s 6-2 defeat of Dundee is not already pinned up inside Dens Park somewhere then Dundee fans have even more reason to worry.

Andy Halliday (L) celebrates with teammates after scoring Hearts' sixth goal in 6-2 win over Dundee on Friday night (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

It would confirm what the thrashing suggested: even at this early stage of the season, their team are not up for the fight. One suspects, however, that the tweet has been at the very least carefully bookmarked. Sent out at 10.14pm, the post was someone at Hearts’ take on the recent “How it started/How it’s going” meme that has swept Twitter, when two images designed to show the extent to which someone’s circumstances have changed are juxtaposed.

In Hearts’ case, they contrasted a headline reporting Dundee’s imminent U-turn in the SPFL vote to curtail last season, an act which helped condemn the Tynecastle club to relegation, with the then Championship table. It of course showed Hearts at the top with Dundee at the bottom.

To call this premature would be an understatement; no other club had even played a game. Naturally, Hearts are hurting after the events of the summer. It’s clear the ill-feeling is unlikely to dissipate anytime soon. Why Dundee were permitted to alter their vote after casting it is something the SPFL have never adequately explained, likewise Dundee’s reasons for doing so.

But in the end 35 out of 42 clubs voted yes in a democratic vote. Hearts fans are well within their rights to have sport at the expense of Dundee’s feeble performance, and many did. Stephen Kingsley’s free-kick strike for Hearts’ fourth goal prompted an amusing comment from former Hearts TV commentator Mark Donaldson. “Seems that getting something past the Dundee firewall is not so difficult after all,” he wrote.

However, the club’s official account might be expected to take a more considered view before sending out a tweet mocking their opponents, even given the healthy number of guaranteed hits – at the last count, the post has been liked well over 17,000 times.

It’s not so long ago they were burned by a tweet following the appointment of Daniel Stendel, who, Hearts noted somewhat provocatively, had led Barnsley to promotion from League One ahead of “Jack Ross’s Sunderland”. Jack Ross’s Hibs duly won the next Edinburgh derby at a canter.