Hot on the heels of title heartbreak, the departure of captain and talisman Lawrence Shankland to Rangers is another crushing blow.
This summer was already shaping up to be a major rebuild for Derek McInnes. It becomes much more difficult when you now need to replace your leader, your top goalscorer and, in the eyes of many supporters, your best player.
On a human level, it is not difficult to understand the attraction for Shankland, who grew up supporting Rangers and will earn more money at Ibrox than Tynecastle.
The bigger issue is what his exit – 12 months after signing a three-year deal – says about Hearts’ decision-making. It is a damaging outcome for a club trying to present itself as ambitious and well run.
That is what makes this so difficult to take. Shankland still delivered on the pitch, with 20 goals this season and six assists, and Hearts were entitled to believe keeping him gave them the best possible chance of competing at the top.
But if, as appears to be the case, he has gone for little or no transfer fee, supporters are bound to question how that situation was allowed to develop.
Across his four-year Hearts career, Shankland has scored 88 goals and supplied 29 assists in 171 appearances. That is not routine output to replace and it underlines the scale of the challenge now facing us.
If Hearts genuinely want to go one step further next season, then losing a player of this importance is a major setback. It weakens us immediately and strengthens a direct rival.
His legacy in Gorgie may now feel complicated for some supporters, but it should still be a significant one. He was a hero to many younger fans, wore the armband with authority and gave Hearts some huge moments.
He may not have lifted silverware in maroon, but he scored against every domestic opponent he faced and stepped up as captain in an emotional period after Craig Gordon’s double leg break in December 2022. Those contributions should not be forgotten.
He will also be remembered for the moments supporters love – the seven Edinburgh derby goals, the edge in his game, and even that pie-eating episode at Tynecastle after scoring against Hibs.
I wish him well with Scotland at the World Cup this summer but after that, I hope he suffers the worst spell in front of goal of his whole career!
The bigger concern now is how Hearts respond. If Jamestown Analytics and the recruitment team are as strong as supporters have been encouraged to believe, this is the moment to prove it.
Hearts may need more than one signing to replace the goals, leadership and presence Shankland brought, but a decisive response is now essential.