Hearts fans hailed as 'different class' by Robbie Neilson for ticket initiative

Between now and the end of the season there will be Hearts fans attending home games they may not have been able to make if it wasn’t for the generosity of their fellow supporters.

In recent weeks, the club’s fanbase has provided an incredible response to an initiative started by supporters Rab Lockhart and Liam Anderson, and backed by Liam Corbett of the This is My Story podcast.

The trio were simply hoping to raise money for some tickets for the upcoming Premiership encounter with Livingston at Tynecastle Park.

What the idea morphed into, none of them could have expected.

Hearts fans have been labelled as "different class". (Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group)

Fellow supporters, some from all over the world, some who are fans of other teams, donated thousands, as did current and former players.

In total, an incredible £7,500 was raised which was matched in the form of tickets by the club, allowing 100 briefs for each of the remaining league games, starting with tonight's match with Aberdeen, to be given away to supporters who otherwise couldn't afford to see the team they support in action.

The club’s manager Robbie Neilson paid tribute to the trio who kickstarted the fundraising and to all those who donated.

"It's absolutely different class from the people who started off organising it,” he said.

"Everyone else has got involved and it just shows the character of the club. I think it's absolutely outstanding.

“We are going to get a lot of people coming to games who otherwise wouldn't be able to come. Hopefully they enjoy the experience and we can help them at this time.”

It’s the second time Hearts fans have provided tickets for fellow supporters.

Corbett spearheaded a similar campaign at the end of 2021 for the Rangers game at Tynecastle.

"Normally before Covid if you weren’t going to the game you wouldn’t really care if nobody used your season ticket or nobody went," he told The Scotsman at the time. “Now there seems to be a bit of a move for people to be like ‘right, I’m not going to the game this week but who wants me season ticket?

"I’ve been seeing it more and more coming into prevalence with the fanbase that folk are looking out for each other.”

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