David Watson excited to discover who will succeed Derek McInnes at Kilmarnock

David Watson is excited to discover who Kilmarnock will appoint as their new manager after Derek McInnes sealed his move to Hearts on Monday.

It became clear last week that the 53-year-old was heading to Tynecastle after three-and-a-half years in the Killie hotseat.

Tony Docherty, who was previously assistant to McInnes at Rugby Park, has emerged as a contender to fill the vacancy in Ayrshire after being sacked by Dundee, while Steven Naismith, Stuart Kettlewell and Liam Fox are all out of work after leaving Premiership clubs over the past season.

Under-18s coach Chris Burke, who stepped up on a caretaker basis for the final league game of the season against Hearts, has been mooted.

Asked if it was an uncertain period for the Killie players as they headed off for their summer break without a manager, homegrown midfielder Watson said: “I don’t think it’s an uncertainty.

“I think it’s more of an excitement to see who’s going to come in and how they’re going to work and to learn from a new manager.

“I’ve only done it once obviously with going from Tommy Wright to Derek McInnes but it’s an exciting prospect of somebody else coming in and seeing how they view football, even this last week working with Chris Burke and Craig Clark, who I’ve worked with before.

“It’s quite exciting to see how we’re going to play and how we’re going to set up and how we do things differently or how it compares to other managers.”

Former Scotland international Burke, 41, who oversaw a 1-0 defeat at home to Hearts in Sunday’s final William Hill Premiership clash is open minded about what the future holds for him.

“I’m still new in my (coaching) journey, which is good,” he said. “So for myself, I need to make sure that if anything like this did happen at anywhere in any club, then I’d have to make sure that I’m ready for it.

“I need to have the best version of myself.

“At this moment in time, I’ll need to think, is that me just now? I couldn’t tell you what the next step is. I couldn’t tell you my next journey in football. It’s crazy.

“I was video analysis watching under-18s teams and then before you know it, I’m video analysis watching Hearts’ first team and you’ve got Lawrence Shankland on the team.

“It’s crazy. Football is as mad as it is and it turns around very, very quickly.”