Andrew McKinlay claimed Naismith was holding Hearts to ransom but he should have said these 5 words instead - Ryan Stevenson

Hearts are in Baku for what should be a showpiece European tie this evening.

But unfortunately for supporters locked out of the clash with Dinamo Minsk the game is being overshadowed by matters closer to home as the club continue the search for a new manager. Where Hearts turn next is anyone’s guess but one thing’s for sure - the pressure is on the Tynecastle hierarchy to get this one right after blundering their way through the last few months. Fair play to CEO Andrew McKinlay for addressing punters after sacking Steven Naismith. But I’m afraid all his statement said was ‘don’t blame me’. And that’s not good enough.

McKinlay basically claimed Hearts were held to ransom by Naismith and his coaching staff when explaining the new deals they were handed 44 days before being given their P45s. He argued that because they were in the last year of their deal they’d be in danger of losing them to other clubs.

Well no disrespect to the coaches but if they think they can do better than Hearts then off you pop. My words to Naisy would have been ‘your first job in management is Heart of Midlothian - what an opportunity that is’.

Surely the sensible thing to do was to get through Europe, get through the first part of the season and then sit down at the turn of the year with five months of the season left to sort out contracts.

I found McKinlay’s statement very backhanded in the fact he was trying to justify every action that’s been taken over the past few months. I’d much rather he had just come out and admitted ‘we have got this wrong’.

He tried to defend the recruitment by saying he never heard people complaining about signings during the summer but again that was wide of the mark. It actually felt like it was aimed at this