How Steven Naismith's 'self doubt' is driving Hearts charge as he tells real story behind his management rise

Steven Naismith had a vision.

Getting up at the crack of dawn to do his deliveries. Driving around Stewarton’s streets in his van, taking in the East Ayrshire sights. A game of golf before relaxing for the rest of the day. For a moment, it felt like Utopia. The answer to all of the fears that followed him throughout his career. But was it really him?

This firebrand of a footballer, who would kick his own granny if he thought it would get his team three points. A guy who has been immersed in the game since he first kicked a ball at the town’s Lainshaw Primary. No, surely this wasn’t Naismith’s calling after deciding to hang up his boots? But it might have been. Because he HAD to do something. For the last 20-odd years, it’s a thought that never left his head. What would he do after football?

In many ways that question has been the catalyst for his success. It still is, even now. The Hearts manager has led the club to third in the Premiership. Before Saturday's defeat at Ibrox they’d gone 12 games unbeaten, having won eight on the spin.

It’s early days but, as a gaffer, he’s shining. And he won’t be buying a delivery van any time soon. In an exclusive interview with Record Sport, Naismith said: “Throughout my career, my biggest worry – and what drove me – was: ‘What do I do when I stop?’.

“If I needed a job I didn’t have any qualifications. I could turn my hand to certain things but what would I do?

“As a kid at Kilmarnock, I saw Stevie Murray getting a new contract on £500 a week. I thought: ‘I need to get that’. Until the end of my playing career, all I could think about was: ‘I need to make enough money so I don’t need to work’.

“I used to think about my uncle who stayed in Cornwall and took early retirement. He