I'm pleased with Hearts route under Steven Naismith as it reminds me of simple Jim Jefferies question – Ryan Steveson

Jim Jefferies stood me outside Tynecastle when I signed for Hearts and asked me one simple question. It was: Do you know just how important this club is?

I thought I did. But I really didn’t. I’m an ambassador for Hearts now, I went there last Saturday and said in hospitality that, when I joined, I just wanted it that 10 years down the line after you were finished playing, people still knew who you were. It means something. When you go to the stadium or walk down a street and someone says: You were good for Hearts.

The supporters still treat me well and I feel I gave for them because I knew what it meant to them for the team to do well. With that in mind, it pleases me to see Steven Naismith go down the route of hungry young Scottish boys and guys with experience of the Premiership being signed up. Pre-contracts for Blair Spittal and James Penrice and the interest in Yan Dhanda. They all fit the criteria.

At any big club, you need boys who understand what is needed and demanded and can transfer that onto lads from different cultures and countries. One, understand the league and, two, understand the values of the club and what it means to people. You need that Scottish core. I have banged the drum about that forever, basically.

When I first went into Hearts, it was broken because a lot of boys were earning big money and didn’t really care. First six weeks were an eye-opener for me. I was going up the way in my career and it meant everything to me. I’d played for Hearts at 11/12 years of age and understood it, but my first day training, there were a lot of boys whom it didn’t really matter to, in my eyes.

Some of the foreign lads would just get on a plane and go home after a bad game. I lived it. The gaffer signed myself,