This is Our Story

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About the Book: 

Imagine if your club, the love of your life, was about to play its last ever game. The club you’ve cheered on as a child, which your family has supported for generations, whose colours you have dressed in every Saturday. How would you feel? 

This is the story of Heart of Midlothian, Edinburgh’s oldest football club, and the 8,000 heroic fans (or Jambos, as they’re affectionately known), who donated their own money to help rescue ‘the boys in maroon’. Former Chair of the Foundation of Hearts Ian Murray here chronicles the unprecedented story of the turmoil and uncertainty that the club battled in the fight against liquidation. This book honours Hearts fans and their sheer determination to rescue their beloved club from the brink of extinction and raise it back up to the top of Scottish football.   

This is our story, this is our song... 

If it wasn’t for Ian – for this man’s determination and drive – we’d be dead. Without the fans digging deep and providing the club with their hard earned money we would have sunk, simple as that. Not only that, they got Ann Budge involved, an experienced businesswoman and a big Hearts fan who would allow a longer term transition to fan ownership. John Robertson

About the Author:

IAN MURRAY was born in Edinburgh in 1976. He attended his first Hearts game in 1985 whilst at Dumbryden Primary School. He left Wester Hailes Education Centre at the age of 16 to study Social Policy, Politics and Law at the University of Edinburgh. After graduating, he briefly worked in financial services before starting his own event management business, 100mph Events Limited. He ran one of the largest events at the Edinburgh Festival and was an innovator in broadcasting on the internet. He also owned and ran a hotel and two bars in Edinburgh.

Alongside running his own businesses, he was elected to the City of Edinburgh Council in 2003 for the Alnwickhill ward and was re-elected in 2007 for the larger Liberton/Gilmerton Ward. As a Councillor, he specialised in economic development and planning.

In 2010, Ian was elected as the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South. He was appointed Shadow Minister for Trade, Industry and Employment until the General Election in 2015 when he was returned to Parliament as the sole Labour MP from Scotland. He was promoted to Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland in 2015 and held the position until he resigned in 2016. He was re-elected with the largest majority in Scotland at the snap General Election in 2017 and currently serves on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.

In 2013, he was appointed independent Chair of the Foundation of Hearts and served on the Board of Heart of Midlothian Football Club 2014–15. He is a Trustee of the McCrae’s Battalion Trust.

Ian is a lifelong Jambo and has always lived in Edinburgh. This is Our Story is his first book.