When Hearts’ dream season turned sour

In 1986, Edinburgh football club Heart of Midlothian, known as Hearts, came within touching distance of glory.

Just a few years earlier, the club had been in serious trouble, both on and off the pitch. But under manager Alex MacDonald, Hearts mounted an extraordinary challenge in a league long dominated by Glasgow rivals Celtic and Rangers, the Old Firm.

Reena Stanton-Sharma tells the story through BBC archive interviews with midfielder Gary Mackay and striker John ‘Robbo’ Robertson, as they remember the joy, pressure and heartbreak of a remarkable season.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive and testimony. Sporting Witness is for those fascinated by sporting history. We take you to the events that have shaped the sports world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes, you become a fan in the stands as we take you back in time to examine memorable victories and agonising defeats from all over the world. You’ll hear from people who have achieved sporting immortality, or those who were there as incredible sporting moments unfolded.

Recent episodes explore the forgotten football Women’s World Cup, the plasterer who fought a boxing legend, international football’s biggest ever beating and the man who swam the Amazon river. We look at the lives of some of the most famous F1 drivers, tennis players and athletes as well as people who’ve had ground-breaking impact in their chosen sporting field, including: the most decorated Paralympian, the woman who was the number 1 squash player in the world for nine years, and the first figure skater to wear a hijab. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the tennis player who escaped the Nazis, how a man finally beat a horse in a race, and how the FIFA computer game was created.

(Photo: Gary Mackay (centre) runs with the ball as Stewart McKimmie (left) of Aberdeen chases during the Scottish Cup Final match at Hampden Park in Glasgow in 1986. Credit: Allsport UK /Allsport)