Stunned Joe Savage blasts back at Hearts critics as he reveals two Celtic transfer close calls

Joe Savage is as stunned as anybody the Hearts squad he helped to build and take into the European group stage is currently sitting bottom of the Scottish Premiership.

The former Gorgie sporting director vigorously defended his time at Tynecastle where he faced a grilling on Hotline Live. He stepped down in the summer after a spell where the Jambos had risen from the Championship to two third place finishes, a fourth and twice into the group stage of European football.

Savage has backed new boss Neil Critchley to steady the ship and get Hearts back up the table. And he revealed the club were in for two big players – only to be beaten to the punch by Celtic. Savage said: “If you had said to me back then that Hearts would struggle this season, I would never have believed you. Not with the quality of the squad they had and how we had performed last season.

“I never saw it coming and Stevie Naismith and a few other staff members ended up losing their job. They’ve had to bring in Neil Critchley and a new sporting director in Graeme Jones. It is incredible. They shouldn’t be in this position but they are in this position for a reason. They haven’t been good enough, have they?

“At the moment, Hearts are the worst team in the league because they are sitting bottom. It is a fact, it is not nice to say. I don’t think it is where they will end up this season but they all need to do better. I know most of the staff and they will be fighting and doing everything they can to get up the league.”

The biggest criticism of Hearts this season has been a lack of goals, after Lawrence Shankland has, so far, failed to replicate his red-hot form of last season. Savage admitted before he left that Stevie Naismith had another striker on his