Steven Naismith bares all over Hearts sacking and owns one thing he couldn't control over summer signings

Steven Naismith is adamant he could have turned things around at Hearts and admits the axe fell earlier than he expected.

The 38-year-old was sacked at Tynecastle after a run of eight consecutive defeats having guided the Gorgie club to third place in the Scottish Premiership the previous season.

Naismith has since been replaced by Neil Critchley in the hot-seat and on his sacking, which came after defeat to St Mirren, the former Scotland striker told The Warm-Up, presented by William Hill: “I don't think you know, or I certainly didn't know. I understand that you look at results and you go ‘right if we can get a result here, if we don’t that builds the pressure’.

“Inside I was probably thinking you'll get to the international break because it was three games there and they were probably games that you're more likely to look at and go right – we should win. Ross County at home, the European game and then a big one is going to be Aberdeen.

“But even after the St Mirren game when we get beat 2-1, I'm sitting there really still believing that we can turn this around and I can make this better. And then when you have the phone call the next day that is what it is but I don't think there's a structure or a set way for it to happen or how it comes, the conversation’s had and I think if you're honest it's the best way you can go about it all.

“It’s disappointing, there's a bit of frustration there because you do believe, we worked so hard over the previous year to bring success at the start which we managed to do and then the reward of that is European football, you get to develop the squad a bit. I thought we did that.

"Nobody complained about the recruitment over the summer. But then, as a young manager, you signed players