Steven Naismith expects to find out if he’ll be made Hearts manager on a permanent basis within days.
The interim boss guided the Jambos to fourth place in the Premiership and a spot in the third qualifying round of the Europa Conference League ahead of city rivals Hibs. A final day Edinburgh derby draw was enough, although Hearts had to hold on for over an hour with ten men after Alex Cochrane’s red card. Yutaro Oda had put them ahead early, only for Kevin Nisbet to score from the free-kick that followed Cochrane’s dismissal.
Naismith had seven games in the hot seat after replacing Robbie Neilson in April. His tenure got off to the worst possible start, losing 1-0 at Easter Road in what was the club’s first derby defeat in nine games. He then oversaw the best display of the season as Ross County were demolished 6-1 at Tynecastle. Celtic clinched the title at Tynecastle with a 2-0 win. That only came after Cochrane was sent off in that game too, in a match where the hosts were well on top until going down to ten.
