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Hearts defender Harry Milne is preparing for one of the most extraordinary nights of his career as he leads the club into Champions League qualifying action.
The left back has climbed every rung of Scottish football, from the Highland League with Cove Rangers right up to Europe’s most prestigious club competition.
Milne’s seven-year journey has taken him through League Two, League One, the Championship with Partick Thistle, and the last 18 months in the Premiership with Hearts.
New Hearts manager Wouter Vrancken has confirmed the 29-year-old will captain the side for his first competitive game in charge, with club captain Craig Halkett unavailable through injury.
Milne admitted the scale of his journey still feels almost surreal, reflecting on just how far he has come since winning the Highland League title with Cove Rangers in 2019.
He said: “It’s exciting. I feel like if you’d said to me a year and a half ago that I’d be coming here to play in the Champions League, it would’ve seemed a bit of a stretch.”
Milne acknowledged that his rapid progression has been relatively rare in the game, but credited the coaches and teammates around him for helping him develop at each level.
He said: “I don’t think many players do it, or do it as quickly as I managed to. But I’ve always felt that each year I’ve progressed in the right way and adapted to each level.”
The defender still keeps in touch with former Cove Rangers teammates, including Jordan Brown and Mitch Megginson, who both recently held testimonial matches to mark their own careers.
He said: “Obviously we’ve gone down different paths, but we’ve been equally successful.”
Milne drew on personal memories of watching the Champions League as a child, recalling staying up late to catch the one weekly broadcast on ITV featuring commentator Andy Townsend.
He said: “The Champions League is special. It’s the biggest competition we’ve got here in Europe. So it’s nice to be part of that competition now.”
With nine new players arriving at Hearts over the past two months, and experienced figures such as Craig Gordon, Lawrence Shankland, Cammy Devlin, and Frankie Kent all having departed, the burden of leadership has shifted to senior players.
Milne, alongside Craig Halkett, Stephen Kingsley, and Jamie McCart, knows that settling the new arrivals quickly will be crucial to Hearts hitting the ground running in Europe.
He said: “There are a lot of new guys and a lot of new faces coming into the squad, so you feel a responsibility to help them settle in — not only into the team, but into Scotland as well.”
Vrancken has had just three weeks to implement his ideas ahead of the tie, but Milne is confident the squad has responded well to the intensity of the pre-season preparation.
He said: “Anything the manager or his coaching staff have tried to get across, everyone’s been willing to listen and do their best to implement it.”
Over 1,300 Hearts supporters have made the trip to Graz, and Milne is determined to reward their dedication with a positive result in the first leg.
He said: “We’ve got a good travelling support coming, so we want to show them that this year we’re going to go about our business in the right way. I feel like we’ve got a really strong chance and a strong squad going into this game.”
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