Alan Forrest can't detect Hearts poison and speaks from experience of dressing room disharmony amid Snodgrass fallout

They were supposed to be the Honest Men of Ayr but Alan Forrest mostly remembers a Somerset squad full of disharmony and distrust.

The Prestwick-born Hearts ace spent the first seven years of his career with his local club, racking up almost 250 appearances and winning two promotions. But there were also darker times when Forrest saw for himself what a divided dressing room looks like after a “poison” was allowed to seep into the camp. And that’s why the Gorgie winger can confidently say there are no such problems at Tynecastle. The subject has come into sharp focus this week on the back of axed Jambos ace Robert Snodgrass’ apparent swipe at the togetherness of the team he’s just been binned out of. But Forrest is adamant the capital club remains a solid collective.

He said: “Have I ever experienced a divided dressing room? Maybe at Ayr when I was a younger boy. Looking back now, I see there was friction. That’s why I know it’s not like that here. It’s nowhere near what Ayr was like when I was coming through. How did that affect the team at Ayr? There was a bit of poison in the dressing room but it’s nowhere near like that here. We’ve got a good group and everybody is pulling in the same direction.

“I feel as if everybody’s got good intentions and everybody wants to get back on it. That’s why I feel as if it’s got to turn for us.”

Snodgrass kept his own counsel after being dumped by caretaker boss and his former Scotland team-mate Steven Naismith last week before taking to social media on Thursday to bite back.

He has vowed to blow the lid on his shock departure when the time is right. But he also aimed a thinly veiled swipe at a squad that allowed dreams of another third-place finish to crumble after losing six of the