Eagle-eyed Hearts fans spotted a clue Hummel will be making their kits next season – with the club cleverly teasing the switch in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment in Sander Kartum’s announcement video.
Things are looking up for the Jambos at last after a dreadful first half of the season with attacking midfielder Kartum announced as Neil Critchley‘s fourth January signing on Friday. He joins Michael Steinwender, Jamie McCart and Elton Kabangu, and amid the excitement of his arrivals, fans almost missed the cheeky tease over who the new manufacturer will be.
The short 25-second clip shows Kartum unveiled in a Hearts shirt before slapping a sticker, featuring a cryptic QR code, on the wall outside Tynecastle, before taking to the pitch to show off his skills on the ball. But some punters noticed the arrows around the code were strikingly similar to the Hummel icon. And after CEO Andrew McKinlay confirmed they are set to part ways with Umbro for a new manufacturer, eagle-eyed punters put two and two together.
The Jambos will be moving to Hummel from next season when their eight-year partnership with Umbro comes to an end. A formal announcement to that end is expected to follow after chief McKinlay teased they were ‘very excited’ about the change.
He said in an address to fans last week: “I’m very excited by (the change of manufacturer), and I think we’re all very excited by it, and I think it will be something that hopefully the fans are excited by when we announce it soon.”
Using the Danish manufacturer would see the Jambos come full circle, 20 years after they first sported Hummel kits. Hearts first famous chevrons in the 2005/2006 campaign – the first full season of former owner Vladimir Romanov’s reign. The Tynecastle club started on fire under George Burley, going unbeaten in their first 13 games and looked like serious title contenders.
Romanov then pushed the self destruct button however, sensationally sacking Burley and replacing him with Graham Rix. The disgraced former Chelsea coach wouldn’t last the season though, and Valdas Ivanauskas eventually got them over the line in second place while also claiming the Scottish Cup along with Champions League football.
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