Hearts arrange another friendly to add to their pre-season schedule

Hearts have added another friendly to their pre-season schedule after Wouter Vrancken declared he wanted more games. The Tynecastle side will visit Arbroath on Tuesday, 14 July, for Colin Hamilton’s testimonial match. It kicks off at 7.30pm and should attract a good crowd in honour of the home club’s co-manager.

Vrancken stated at Hearts’ pre-season training camp in Spain this week that he wanted his new-look side to play more matches before they face Sturm Graz in a Champions League qualifier on 21 July. The Tynecastle side play Livingston in West Lothian on Friday, 10 July, in Scott Pittman’s testimonial, and then host Spanish side Rayo Vallecano a week later in their final warm-up fixture.

The trip to Arbroath gives Vrancken an extra chance to work with his squad as he strives to implement his high-tempo gameplan. The Belgian head coach was appointed last week and knows he does not have much time to instil his ideas before the first competitive game in Austria. That will start an demanding period of European and domestic assignments as the 2026/27 campaign begins.

Hearts played their first game under Vrancken on Wednesday night at the Pinatar Arena in Spain. They beat fellow Scottish Premiership side St Mirren 3-1 with goals from Norwegian midfielder Sander Kartum, Ugandan winger Rogers Mato and Scottish forward James Wilson. Vrancken was pleased with that workout and said afterwards that he felt players were absorbing his ideas quickly.

“It’s always good to have a win but I have to say that the feedback of the players, they want to learn, they are eager to get the feedback also and are open for new things,” he explained. “It was important because you need the players to push, but until now it's really good. In the game, we saw that they tried to do the things that we did in the sessions already. Sometimes it was with too much thinking, but this is a good sign because it means that the intentions are good, that they are thinking over, that they are trying to read situations, stuff like this.

“Now, in two weeks, I have to get rid of the thinking and just that we can do it without thinking. When you come in as a coach half a season or in the middle of a season, you have to also try to have your message as soon as possible into the team. We have some weeks. And when the players have a reaction like this now, like quick pushing, also they want to have the information as quick as possible and they want to do something with it. This is the thing you need and then we'll see every game what it brings. We hope to be as ready as we can against Sturm Graz because this is the first real test.”