Joe Savage to leave Hearts as sporting director calls time on Tynecastle tenure

Hearts sporting director Joe Savage is set to step down from his Tynecastle gig.

Record Sport understands the 39-year-old has intimated to Gorgie chiefs that he intends to resign from his position after three-and-a-half years at the club. Savage joined the capital outfit in December 2020 having served as chief scout with Hamilton, Norwich and Preston. He faced criticism from the Jambos faithful at the club's AGM last December as many of Hearts' new signings struggled in the early parts of the season.

But his stock among supporters had soared in recent months as the recruits he helped unearth eventually found their form, impressing as Stevie Naismith's men finished well clear in third place to guarantee themselves European group stage action next season. Savage – whose own playing career involved stints at Montrose, East Stirlingshire and Arbroath – has been attracting attention from several Premier League clubs recently but it's understood that as things stand, he has no new post lined-up.

Savage departs having helped secure the pre-contract signings of Yan Dhanda, Blair Spittal and James Penrice, who will join up with Naismith's squad this summer. After assisting Robbie Neilson in building a squad to get Hearts out of the Championship at the first time of asking, the pair then put together a team that finished third in their first Premiership season back up and reached the Scottish Cup Final.

That summer saw them sign Lawrence Shankland, who has fired the Jambos back into Europe for a third successive season. However, the club's top scorer only has a year left on his contract and is yet to reach an agreement to extend his stay in the capital.