The quirky new Hearts book full of history and happiness

By Gbam Godwin On Sep 25, 2025

The quirky new Hearts book full of history and happiness.

Tynecastle’s past and present captured in goalkeeping shirts A new Hearts book is available this weekend, as author Grant Young takes his specialised market to a new level.

Young’s second book, We’re In Safe Hands, follows his debut novel 51 Shirts in 2022. It chronicles the Edinburgh club’s goalkeepers through photos of their shirts over the years and is sure to be popular among fellow fans.

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The collection of match-worn goalkeeper shirts honours renowned Hearts goalkeepers and their iconic outfits from the 1950s to the present. The keepers themselves tell the images and stories, which will evoke a lot of nostalgia for anyone who is maroon.

Hearts will launch the book with a special event at Tynecastle Park this Friday evening; tickets are available here: We’re in safe hands. Young, an enthusiastic football shirt collector, spoke to the Edinburgh News about the inspiration behind his latest creation.

“In 2022, one of my friends was moving to London, and he knew I collected match-worn shirts, particularly Hearts ones,” he explained. “I probably have over 400 currently.

He enquired what I planned to do with all of the shirts and recommended I publish a book. I was thinking, ‘Don’t think I could write a book.’ I pondered about it more and sent a couple of draft chapters to some sports publishers, expecting little in return.

“Pitch Publishing responded within three days, saying it was an excellent idea. So they released my first book, 51 Shirts. It was based on 51 shirts in my collection, each with its own little narrative.

The book was released within six months and did exceptionally well. It earned Best Illustrated Book from The Sunday Times despite competing with the England shirt book at the time. “When everything calmed down, I considered whether I could do something else.

That’s when I came up with the idea for custodian shirts. I thought it was a little specialised, but as long as you have a reasonable number of interested people, it’s a good start. You can associate a shirt with a specific goalie, game, or season. Craig Gordon, for example, is almost divided into two parts due to his two spells with Hearts.

There are players like Gary O’Connor and Mark Cairns who only played a few games for the club but have gone on to have successful careers elsewhere.

We got everything together, and Pitch Publishing was delighted to do so. I spent a lot of time with the keepers, and they all seemed like a really kind bunch. “This has been a work of love for me.

As a fan, it’s really exciting to get down with someone like Zander Clark and hear him ramble on about his shirts. When I was seven, I started attending to Hearts games with my father. I acquired a wide range of items, not simply football-related items.

My wife purchased me a sponsorship for Ricardo Fuller’s shirt for Christmas one year, and I received it at the end of the season [2001/02].

When I received it, I became obsessed. Shirts were available for extremely inexpensive costs on Ebay and other sources at the time. It’s becoming more expensive as more people collect.” Young recorded the sales data for his first book since publishers were required to create three separate editions.

“The original print run of 51 Shirts was 1,000, which sold out. The second print run was approximately 750 and sold out. They’re on their third print, so it’s likely sold 2,500 to 3,000 copies,” he said.

“Hearts has exclusive on this new novel till November. You can acquire it in the club shop starting Saturday.

The book will then be released to the general public, with the hope that it will sell well before Christmas. A book about goalkeeping clothing is really narrow, but it’s incredible how many people out there collect football shirts.

I’ve received positive response from non-Hearts fans who enjoyed the concept in the first book. I had messages on X from individuals asking how to get a book published, therefore I believe I helped a few people. It’s all about taking the leap and going for it.

For me, it was always about the photos. Duncan Olner, the person who illustrated this for me, did an excellent job. I had a distinct vision of opening a page and seeing the stitching on vintage shirts. It’s almost as if you could feel or touch it. It turned out just how I had hoped, and I was really proud of it.”