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Let's just take a look at a few of the similarities before we can properly begin...
A Hearts squad rejuvenated by investment from a new major shareholder and riding a wave of optimism at the top of the table under a highly-rated Scottish manager? Check.
A Celtic side struggling to find their top form after suffering a humiliating exit from the Champions League in the qualifying rounds? Check.
A stumbling Rangers team already 11 points off the title pace with the campaign still only in mid-October? Check.
When it comes to history repeating itself, Scottish football’s top flight in 2025 is currently affecting a remarkable impression of 2005.
Hearts supporters, however, will hope that all similarities with the astonishing season they witnessed 20 years ago end right there.
Vladimir Romanov pulled the rug from under Hearts' feet with sacking of boss George Burley
Manager Burley had Hearts at the top of the league table before owner Romanov intervened
Certainly, the early evidence suggests that the thrill ride Tony Bloom and Derek McInnes are taking them on right now should be far more sustainable than the rollercoaster of Vladimir Romanov and George Burley’s brief but intoxicating partnership.
That 2005-06 campaign remains one of the most extraordinary the game in this country has ever seen.
As the Gorgie faithful dare to dream of toppling the Old Firm once again, Daily Mail Sport revisits the inside story of Burley’s stunning impact at Tynecastle - and how it all went wrong.
You Say You Want A Revolution
Those lyrics of Lennon and McCartney were familiar to a young Vladimir Romanov, who sold Beatles bootlegs from the back of his car in his adopted homeland of Lithuania in the late 1960s.
It was the first enterprise of the Russian-born businessman’s career which would lead to his fateful involvement with Hearts.
The club’s support were only too eager to embrace the then 57-year-old’s promises of radical change when he first emerged as a potential saviour in August 2004.
Hearts were in debt to the tune of around £20million to Bank of Scotland, while chief executive Chris Robinson was a deeply unpopular figure as a consequence of his plans to sell Tynecastle Park and either build a new stadium elsewhere in Edinburgh or rent Murrayfield.
Romanov, who had seen previous approaches to Dundee, Dundee United and Dunfermline all rebuffed, offered to buy Robinson’s 20-per-cent stake in Hearts and overturn the sale of Tynecastle. Through his investment company UBIG, Hearts’ debt would also be transferred to their commercial banking arm Ukio Bankas.
Hearts were leaving every other team in their wake, with Roman Bednar here celebrating a winner against Rangers back in September 2005
Paul Hartley is congratulated by team-mates after scoring in a 3-0 win over Dundee United
The deal was completed in February 2005 and Romanov didn’t take long to make his presence felt. Club legend John Robertson was removed as manager three months later as Hearts finished that season in fifth place, a massive 43 points behind champions Rangers.
Robertson’s replacement was regarded as something of a coup for the new regime. George Burley had been England’s Manager of the Year just four years earlier after leading Ipswich Town to a fifth place finish in the Premier League and a place in Europe.
The former Scotland defender cemented his reputation by guiding Derby County to the Championship play-offs before resigning in the summer of 2005 in protest at the sale of key players by the club’s board.
Burley had offers to stay in England but was tempted back to his homeland at the end of June to become the first manager of the Romanov revolution.
History in the making
Since last being crowned Scottish champions in 1960, Hearts’ subsequent flirtations with the title had been cruelly unconsummated.
They missed out on goal average to Kilmarnock in 1965 after losing 2-0 at home to the Rugby Park side on the final day. There would be similar heartache under Alex MacDonald and Sandy Jardine in 1986 when a 2-0 defeat to Dundee at Dens Park allowed Celtic to snatch the crown on goal difference with their 5-0 rout of St Mirren in Paisley.
On Robinson’s watch, they had posed a sustained challenge in their memorable Scottish Cup-winning season of 1997-98 when Jim Jefferies’ fine side eventually finished third, just seven points behind champions Celtic.
Romanov was unequivocal in his stated aim of Hearts topping the pile, declaring he wanted the title within three years, but adding: ‘If we can do it sooner, then so much the better’.
Everything looked great at Tynecastle until 'Mad Vlad', above, decided to sack Burley
Rudi Skacel shows solidarity with Burley on the day manager was sacked prior to game with Dunfermline
As he set about funding a radical revamp of the first-team squad for Burley, there was a sense the timing could be right, with both Celtic and Rangers in uncertain periods of transition.
Gordon Strachan had replaced Martin O’Neill in the Parkhead hot seat, to a less than universally enthusiastic response from Celtic fans, and endured a nightmare start to his tenure with elimination from the Champions League in July at the hands of unheralded Slovakian side Artmedia Bratislava.
Rangers, meanwhile, were entering the end of an era under Alex McLeish who would move on at the end of a season. It would also see owner David Murray first indicate his readiness to sell the club amid ongoing efforts to control its debt.
Building on a solid core of Scottish talent in the shape of Craig Gordon, Steven Pressley, Robbie Neilson, Andy Webster and Paul Hartley, a dizzying signing spree began in earnest at Tynecastle.
Unsurprisingly, there was an eastern European flavour to Romanov’s recruitment policy, but there were no complaints about the initial quality of the new players Burley was able to add.
In a statement of intent, the first to arrive was Czech international attacking midfielder Rudi Skacel on loan from Marseille. He was quickly followed by compatriot Roman Bednar and former Porto star Edgaras Jankauskas. Both strikers wre on loan from FBK Kaunas, the Lithuanian club who were also part of Romanov’s UBIG portfolio.
All three made their debuts at Rugby Park on Saturday July 30, 2005 as the Burley era got under way in swashbuckling style, with Skacel and Bednar both on target in a 4-2 win over Kilmarnock. Hearts were on the march.
Believing the hype
After the impressive start against Killie, Burley did his best to manage the growing expectations of the Hearts fans.
‘I’ve said our aim is to finish third this season,’ he said. ‘Remember how big the gap was between Hearts and the top of the table last season - it’s a big ask.’
Burley lays down the law in a victory over Alex McLeish's Rangers at Tynecastle
Hearts chairman George Foulkes cites 'irreconcilable differences' as the reason for Burley's departure back in 2005
If any of the Gorgie faithful took that narrative on board, it was soon jettisoned again when Hearts welcomed Hibs to Tynecastle for the first derby of the season seven days later.
The Easter Road side had been the best of the rest behind the Old Firm in the previous campaign under Tony Mowbray and were quietly confident of dousing the hype now surrounding their great rivals.
Instead, it reached a whole new level as Hearts sent their supporters into a giddy excitement following a scintillating display of attacking football in the Tynecastle sunshine. If anything, the 4-0 scoreline flattered Hibs who were shell-shocked and completely outplayed.
The pace of new signings arriving at Hearts was equally relentless, among them Greek international defender and Euro 2004 winner Takis Fyssas from Benfica.
Romanov was sanctioning the kind of five-figure weekly wages for players which were previously the preserve of only Rangers and Celtic in Scottish football.
The financial sustainability of such a policy was of scant, if any, concern to Hearts fans getting high on the heady cocktail of top-quality recruits and the exciting football with which Burley had hit the ground running.
Their early pace-setting continued as Dundee United were swatted aside 3-0 at Tannadice before Aberdeen were beaten 2-0 at Tynecastle. Further successes against Motherwell, Livingston and Inverness extended the winning run to seven games, with Skacel scoring in every one of them.
An early exit from the League Cup at Livingston was shrugged off by supporters, whose focus was fixed on the visit of champions Rangers to Tynecastle on September 24.
Hartley and Skacel exemplified the mix of Scottish grit and European talent in George Burley's title-chasing side
Seen as the first acid test of Burley’s side, they passed it impressively as Bednar scored the only goal of the game.
Hearts had also equalled a poignant club record, matching the eight straight wins at the start of a season set by the revered 1914-15 squad, many of whom went on to lose their lives in the First World War after joining McCrae’s Battalion.
No-one could be dismissive of Hearts’ title challenge any longer. They were five points clear of Celtic and 11 ahead of Rangers. What could possibly go wrong?
Mad Vlad shows his true colours
As bizarre dismissals go, the sacking of George Burley by Hearts may just be top of the charts.
There had been some indications that the manager was not always seeing eye to eye with Romanov, who was clearly controlling the club’s signing policy. Among the many successful recruits, there were plenty of others who caused Burley concern.
Brazilian midfielder Samuel Camazzola was one example, pitching up on loan from Juventude in his homeland, with Burley revealing he had never seen him play either in the flesh or on video.
Despite those reservations, Burley continued to steer an unbeaten course in the title race. A 1-1 draw at Celtic Park on 15 October kept Hearts three points ahead at the top. It would prove to be the Scot’s last game in charge.
All had appeared well at the end of the following week when, the day before Hearts faced Dunfermline at Tynecastle, Romanov launched a bid to increase his controlling stake in the club from 55 to 75 per cent.
It became clear that Romanov's meddling in team affairs did not work well with Burley
Hearts fans will be hoping that history does not repeat itself 20 years on, with Derek McInnes' side top of the table and leaving the Old Firm in their wake
‘It’s great news,’ said Burley. ‘One of the reasons I came to Hearts was after going to Lithuania to speak to Mr Romanov. We are all looking to push forward again with financial security.’
Behind the scenes, however, tensions were rising. Romanov was understood to be resentful of the adulation Burley was receiving from the fans, while the manager was becoming more forceful in his desire to have greater influence on the make-up of his squad.
Romanov could contain his autocratic instincts no longer. At around lunchtime on the day of the Dunfermline fixture, it was announced Burley had been sacked, with coach John McGlynn placed in interim charge.
The Hearts fans were stunned, some of them hurling abuse at Romanov when he arrived at Tynecastle for the match. A 2-0 win could not obscure the sense of bewilderment. At full-time, both Skacel and Hartley showed where the players’ loyalties lay as they lifted up their jerseys to reveal t-shirts with the message: ‘For The Gaffer’.
Hearts’ title challenge didn’t end that day, but it was effectively the start of a lengthy descent into chaos and turmoil under Romanov which would lead to the club’s financial collapse and administration in 2013.
Romanov continued to court controversy by replacing Burley with Graham Rix, the former Chelsea coach who had served a prison sentence six years earlier for having sex with an underage girl.
A 3-2 defeat at home to Celtic on New Year’s Day 2006 - after Hearts had been 2-0 up - turned the tide in favour of Strachan’s team who went on to become champions with plenty to spare.
The season was still a successful one for Hearts who, with Lithuanian coach Valdas Ivanauskas replacing Rix in March, finished second in the table ahead of Rangers to clinch a Champions League qualifying spot and also beat Gretna on penalties at Hampden to lift the Scottish Cup.
Hearts fans, however, will always wonder what might have been had Burley been allowed the opportunity to finish what he started.
