Steven Naismith Believes He Could Have Turned Hearts’ Fortunes Around

Steven Naismith, the former head coach, maintains his belief that he could have reversed Hearts’ declining performance given additional time. The former Scotland striker, 38, was removed from his position in September following Hearts’ eighth consecutive loss, which left them at the bottom of the league table. In the preceding season, his first full term as manager, Naismith had guided the club to a third-place finish. Appearing on The Warm-up, the SPFL’s weekly preview show, Naismith stated: “I don’t think you know, or I certainly didn’t know.” He acknowledged the pressure stemming from results, saying: “I understood that you look at results and you go ‘Right, if we can get a result here, if we don’t that builds the pressure.'” Naismith revealed his internal expectation of reaching the international break, anticipating three upcoming matches: “Inside I was probably thinking you’ll get to the international break because it was three games there and they were probably games that you’re more likely to look at and go, ‘Right – we should win. Ross County at home, the European game and then a big one is going to be Aberdeen.'” He added that even after the 2-1 defeat against St Mirren, he maintained his conviction: “But even after the St Mirren game when we get beat 2-1, I’m sitting there really still believing that we can turn this around and I can make this better.” The subsequent phone call confirming his dismissal was simply “what it is.” Naismith indicated he was “comfortable” with the conclusion of his tenure, despite his personal disappointment, but expressed confidence that Hearts’ performance would have improved once his summer signings had acclimated. He remarked: “There’s a bit of frustration there because you do believe,” and continued, “I thought we did a good job but at the cold end of it, pressure and demands are there and if you don’t hit them you’re going to lose your job and that’s what happened, so I’m comfortable with it all.” He also noted, “I think nobody complained about the recruitment over the summer.” Naismith elaborated on the challenges of player integration: “You sign players and you think at the start of a season, ‘Brilliant, we’ve got this option, that option’, but probably the bit you can’t judge is how much time players are going to take to settle, especially when for nearly every player we signed, Hearts is a bigger club than where they came from.”