By Ryan Stevenson

Copyright dailyrecord

Okay hands up. When I first heard Tony Bloom’s big plan for Hearts I thought the guy had been smoking crack. It was only a few weeks ago when the Brighton owner talked about his ambition to get in between the big two and maybe even make a genuine challenge for the title. And I wasn’t the only one who dismissed it all as a bit of a joke. But no-body is laughing any more. When my old club hit the top of the Premiership on Saturday with a 3-0 win over Falkirk and opened up a two point lead over Celtic , all of a sudden the penny dropped. Along with the realisation that maybe we should have been taking Bloom seriously from the start. Look, let’s not get carried away. That’s been the message from Derek McInnes since day one and he’s absolutely bang on the money . There’s a very, very long way to go before anyone starts handing out trophies and medals. But it’s perfectly OK for Hearts fans to start getting excited because I know that’s how I’ve been feeling since the weekend. I was a bit wary about that game because Falkirk were turning up at Tynecastle with nothing to lose and John McGlynn was returning to his old patch into the bargain – and we all know how these things tend to go. I still thought Hearts would win. But I had this nagging worry at the back of mind all the same. But I listened to every word coming out of the manager’s mouth in the build up to the game and I thought the way he played it was nothing short of unbelievable. He was actually – very intentionally – messing with the heads of his own players and that’s a stroke of genius. He wanted the message out there that everybody wants to see Hearts tripping up. That the world is waiting for them to fall flat on their faces. Now I don’t think that’s true for a single second. Scottish football has been crying out for a club to come along and upset the odds at the top of the table. But Derek wasn’t bothered about what anyone else might have been thinking. I can guarantee you that he was only aiming it at the 20 odd players inside his own dressing room. Nobody else. He was drip-feeding it into the media so when those players got out of bed in the morning that was the headline they saw on their mobile phones: Everybody wants us to get beat. I was doing the same thing myself. I read every article and I was telling myself, ‘He’s right – they’re all against us!’. You know he’s working a magic trick on your mentality. But you can’t stop yourself buying into it. It was a masterclass in psychology very similar to the kind of stuff Sir Alex Ferguson used to come out with when he was in charge at Aberdeen. I’ve been banging on about it for weeks – Del is as close as they come to these old school managers because, like them, he knows all the tricks of the trade. And that’s why, before we go any further into the season, it’s probably time for Tony Bloom to ask him to sit down for a very serious conversation. There’s one thing we all know about the way Bloom does his business. He leaves absolutely nothing to chance. Brighton are always working on plans B,C and D. If they are selling one of their best players they already have two or three replacements lined up by Bloom’s algorithms. The same goes with the manager’s position. Bloom has plans for every eventuality. So it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if he’s already spoken to Derek just to figure out where his head is at. You don’t need to be a genius to realise that Rangers could be on the lookout for a new manager at any point in the next few weeks. The Scotland job could also come up for grabs if Steve Clarke steps down at the end of the World Cup campaign. Now there are two jobs that are made for Derek. Of course his name will come up as a leading candidate. Likewise, if a club currently struggling at the wrong end of England’s Premier League presses the panic button and makes a managerial change over the next couple of months, it’s very possible that McInnes could be a contender. So if I was Bloom I’d want to sit him down for a chat as soon as possible just to find out what he’s thinking and where he sees himself two or three years down the line. And I’d be asking what I can do to make sure that the answer is Tynecastle. That’s my biggest worry right now – that someone comes in and nicks him from under our noses just when Hearts are on such a huge high. I just think it would be very difficult to replace him with a manager of the same quality – even for a diamond finder like Bloom. That’s why the two of them should be discussing a few what-ifs because Bloom will know already that he’s got a gem at the helm and he’ll want Derek there for the long term. The other thing we know about the Englishman is that he has a bit of an ego. And that is no bad thing. If he can do whatever it takes to keep Derek at the club for the long run then, in the shorter term, he’ll also be very likely to come out with all guns blazing in the January transfer market as a show of faith in his manager. That’s why I’m getting excited about what may still be to come this season. If Derek keeps Hearts in first or second place over the course of the next two or three months then I genuinely believe Bloom will throw the kitchen sink at it. And, yes, there will be a bit of ego involved because he will want to show that his model is working all over again, for a different club in another country. He’ll have heard the people like me who were laughing when he said Hearts could split the Old Firm. He will know that very few people thought it was even remotely possible. And he’ll be more than willing to put his money where his mouth is if he thinks Derek can help him achieve his aims in his first season with the club. Yes, he’s been aiming high from the very start but so what? Keep this up and sooner or later even the sceptics like myself will end up becoming Bloom-ievers.