Steven Naismith is sick of playing his part in Hearts' “hard luck” stories and plans to write his own, a different one if he's appointed manager.
The interim boss expects to hear whether it’s a yes or a no from the Tynecastle board after seven games in the dugout following Robbie Neilson’s sacking. Chief executive Andrew McKinlay said at the time that he wants a new boss with a track record of winning. Naismith can’t claim that after such a short time in the hot seat, but his style of play appears to have won a section of the fans over at least.
Next on his agenda is a mentality change. The Jambos finished third last season, but saw an 11-point lead over Aberdeen evaporate this term and had to settle for fourth. They also lost the Scottish Cup Final to Rangers after extra-time last May, while Naismith has been around for two Hampden defeats at the same stage to Celtic as a player. He rates the ability at his disposal. But wants to see a shift in attitude to bring tangible success.
“Over the last two years, I think Hearts have shown they have a really good squad. So that is there already,” said Naismith. “This season overall probably hasn’t been as good as it should have been, but the ability is there.
“I’ve done a lot of work on mindset, mentality, what we accept and what we don’t accept. That’s evident every day on the training pitch, in the gym, in recovery, working off the ball when you are out of possession, all these things.
“The mindset needs to change. There have been too many years of hard luck and nearly stories. We got to four semi-finals and two cup finals in my time [as a Hearts player] and came away with nothing. That’s the part I feel needs to change. The squad is good, we need to keep developing, but overall there is lots of real potential here. We just need to maximise what we can do.”
After Saturday's Edinburgh derby descended into chaos at full-time, with just about everybody becoming involved in a brawl following the 1-1 draw that saw Hearts finish fourth ahead of Hibs, Naismith was keen to take the positives.
Namely, that his players will stick up for each other. And they’ll stand up when they see something they don’t think is right happening to one of their own, which on this occasion from a Hearts perspective, was Naismith after a confrontation with opposite number Lee Johnson.
"We went a man down against Hibs and we were fighting to see it out,” Naismith told the Edinburgh Evening News. “Then we are standing up to anything that we don’t believe is right and is disrespectful [at full-time]. The scenes at the end show it.
“Everybody is united at the club. The fans stay with us till the end. All the players and staff are right behind each other. What will be, will be. People will get punished, the clubs will get punished, but overall there are some positives from it – to have that fight as one group.”
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