Michael Stewart fears another Hearts 'disaster' after repeated board failings to replace Robbie Neilson

Hearts' attempts at replacing Robbie Neilson have been a 'disaster' and Michael Stewart fears history may be repeating itself.

The Jambos went down 1-0 to St Mirren with a weak performance in Paisley, with pressure mounting on Steven Naismith as fans become fed up with pedestrian performances. Hearts have scored just four league goals this season and have shown little to suggest they've improved in any areas since Neilson was sacked last April.

Stewart pointed to the first go at bringing in a successor back in 2017 when Neilson left for MK Dons. A series of failed appointments resulted in relegation, before Neilson was poached from Dundee United to get the capital club out of the Championship once again. He did that, then yet again guided the team to a comfortable third place finish after promotion. The Tynecastle board pulled the trigger after a home defeat to the Buddies last spring, with CEO Andrew McKinlay highlighting the importance of finishing third after Aberdeen had been allowed to sneak ahead of them.

Naismith was given the gig until the end of the season but couldn't return the side to best of the rest in the Premiership. Now they languish in sixth and Stewart has demanded more football knowledge on the board after failing to covert themsevles in glory when it's come to life after Neilson.

"If you look at the job that's been done since Hearts came out of administration with Ann Budge at the forefront of that, the work behind the scenes and off the park has been stellar," he told BBC Sportsound. "You think about the stand being built, the infrastructure around the club and the structure on the whole as a business.

"But on the football side of things, there have been many periods of apathy, due to the fact that