Robbie Neilson admits Hearts are still 'four or five years' off Rangers' level as his plans for next season start NOW.
The Jambos have had a stunning domestic season finishing third in the Premiership and reaching the Scottish Cup Final.
The capital club came up short in the showpiece, losing out in extra-time to Rangers after strikes from Ryan Jack and Scott Wright.
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Hearts will play guaranteed European group stage football next season after qualifying for the Europa League play-off round.
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Victory in that and they will reach the group stages but defeat would see them drop into the Europa Conference League proper.
Looking ahead to next season, Neilson is determined to cut the gap on Rangers and Celtic as he set out his plans for the new campaign.
And says recruitment is now underway as they bid to strengthen the current squad.
He said: “The boys come back on June 21 and now it’s all eyes on recruitment.
“We need to develop the squad. It’s important that we bring quality players in.
“I think against Rangers, the changes that Rangers could make, we didn’t quite have that level.
“We need to try and get that. We need to get a group of players that after 80 minutes you can change things and we can have a right go.
“Yeah we can be extensive in our recruitment, but we’re not going to get to that level.
“It will take four or five years to get there and that’s where we need to be realistic on it and say ‘what’s the next step?’
“The next step is ‘can we play in Europe on a Thursday night and can we win on Sunday? Can we rotate our squad?’
“If we can do that and we can get back into Europe, again and again, then we start to get what we need.
“We’re trying to get players in but these things take a while.”
On his targets for next season, he added: “Next season, we fight to get third again, we fight to get Europa League and we fight to win this competition.
“Everybody will be gunning for us, but we’re not looking below us, we’re going to try and get as close as we can to the teams above us.
“We finished 13 points clear in third, the aim is: can we beat that? If we can beat that, can we get closer to Rangers and Celtic as well?
“When you play for Hearts, you’re always a target. Everybody ups their game.
“We’ve had a brilliant season."
