Earlier this month, the club announced, ‘The Hearts Way’, a new strategy to develop more homegrown talent across both the boys’ and girls’ academy.
With a focus on providing a clear, club-wide approach to player development that reflects our values and long-term vision, we can now reveal how we will be implementing the next strategic step.
From season 2026/27, the club will make a progressive pathway change that will, we believe, give us the best opportunity to capitalise on both internal and external factors.
This season has seen the introduction of Club Cooperation Agreements (CCAs), an initiative that allows greater flexibility than the previous domestic loan system. Players who are eligible to play for Scotland national teams between the age of 16-21 can join a lower-league club on loan but are able to move between parent club and loan club throughout the season.
Widely utilised across Scottish football, our CCAs are currently in place with St Johnstone, Montrose and Spartans, and already the game in our country is seeing the benefits. A recent Scottish FA Report has highlighted a 50% increase in playing time for young players.
This early exposure to senior men’s football has another benefit to Hearts, and Hearts only, through Jamestown Analytics. Although the public focus on JTA predominantly centres around the first team, its methodology extends to our younger players too. Put simply, the more these young talents play in Scotland’s professional leagues, the more they become aligned with JTA, which strengthens our ability to identify, nurture and progress them effectively.
Given the success of CCAs and the importance of JTA in our future direction, the club has made the decision that the B Team will no longer operate beyond the end of this season. Our club academy will continue to nurture and develop young players all the way up to U19s, and from there we will stretch and challenge these players early in their careers through CCAs and other loan opportunities.
We firmly believe this is the best way to accelerate the development of younger players and prepare them for the demands of senior football, while at the same time, through JTA, ensuring we are in the best position to make informed and objective decisions regarding our top talent.
