Hearts turned Tynecastle into a fortress last season in coming so close to securing what would have been an incredible, historical title triumph.
Four straight games there over the course of the next month, hyperbolic as it may sound, are now going to decide whether the head coach brought in to build on that achievement will be given anything like the time and space needed to put his mark on the place.
It’s true to say that Wouter Vrancken is still getting his loafers under the table in Gorgie, but this upcoming run of fixtures is already starting to look like a make-or-break series for the Belgian.
Yes, Benfica will be the opposition in one of those games, but that doesn’t really matter any longer as a result of Thursday’s 6-1 loss in Lisbon on Europa League qualifying duty.
Dundee United on Sunday plus the visits of Inverness in the Premier Sports Cup and St Johnstone in the league, on the other hand, are all games Hearts should win. Maybe even must win.
Unbeaten on their own patch on league business last term, the mood and atmosphere at Tynecastle over this impending spell could have such a say on how things unfold going forward.
Hearts manager Wouter Vrancken has endured a tough start to his reign at Tunecastle
Benfica’s Andreas Schjelderup puts a SIXTH goal beyond Hearts from the penalty spot
Vrancken needs to win friends and influence people. He needs to galvanise a club which is, quite evidently, both in terms of players and supporters, finding it hard to recover from the psychological damage inflicted by coming within three minutes of the championship at Celtic Park in May.
He needs to show he is moving closer to identifying the players he trusts. He needs the fans to buy in to what he is trying to achieve.
Europe has been a total write-off thanks to that hosing at Benfica and a six-goal aggregate loss to Sturm Graz, but there were signs of something in that 2-1 loss away to Aberdeen on the opening day.
Hearts weren’t great, but they did have the game under control at 1-0 before losing the plot completely in the latter stages.
The following day, an old, season ticket-holding friend got in touch to compare last term with that infamous final-day failure at Dens Park in season 1985-86.
He believes what unfolded at Parkhead to have been much, much worse and equates the current mood among Hearts fans to something approaching PTSD.
Along with his matchgoing pals, he isn’t sold on Vrancken either and that makes for a potentially volatile vibe.
The 47-year-old needs positive results from these matches at Tynecastle to calm the waters, especially with the first Edinburgh derby of the season at Easter Road waiting at the other end.
Anything else and he will be stepping into the lions’ den in Leith under a suffocating degree of scrutiny.
That’s unfair and it doesn’t take into account the upheaval he’s been forced to deal with in terms of squad reconstruction, injuries and those emotions from last season.
But that’s football. That’s what he signed up to. That’s the reality.
