‘Good fit’: Derek McInnes excited by Hearts appointment

Derek McInnes revealed he always fancied a crack at managing Hearts after he sealed his switch from Kilmarnock to Tynecastle on a four-year contract.

The 53-year-old former St Johnstone, Bristol City and Aberdeen boss, who has brought his assistants Paul Sheerin and Alan Archibald with him from Rugby Park, plans to make the Jambos the “biggest animal” they can be.

“The opportunity to manage Hearts was just everything I wanted,” said McInnes as he faced the media on Monday afternoon. “I’ve always felt this was a club I wanted to manage. I think it’s a good fit.

“I think they can match my ambition, what I want, and equally, hopefully I can give them what they want. The intention is to try and deliver silverware, bring sustained success on the pitch and just be the biggest animal we can be and try and meet the expectation that’s there from everybody.

“I’ve obviously managed before a similar-sized club at Aberdeen where there’s similar expectations but I feel as though there’s so much going for us here at Hearts that there’s a real excitement about being the guy to take it on.

“With the structure there behind us, the support network, I feel as though it’s something that we can really get our teeth into and do well here.”

McInnes is particularly excited to land the Hearts job at a time when the club are embarking on a new era in partnership with the renowned Jamestown Analytics data service used by Brighton, Union Saint-Gilloise and Como.

“For me, having the Jamestown support network as a manager is vitally important and I think it does give us an added advantage over other teams,” he said.

“It is so exciting and a system I believe will work. I think we’re fortunate to have that at Hearts and I’m fortunate to have that as a manager.”

McInnes believes Hearts must use the tight confines of Tynecastle to their advantage.

“I think we have to tap into what Tynecastle offers,” he said. “I think of the best Hearts teams that I’ve come up against as a player and as a manager, whether it was Jim Jefferies’ first team (in the 1990s), George Burley’s team (in 2005), Craig Levein’s team (in the early noughties).

“When you come out here, you got hit between the eyes pretty quickly, both physically and with the aggression, the pace and intensity. But sometimes I feel when teams come here now, it’s sometimes a bit sanitised.

“Once the kick-off goes, teams enjoy it, bed themselves into the game; I’d like it to be the opposite. I’d like players to think they don’t like going to Tynecastle as much as they have previously because it’s such an intimidating place.

“For that, we need to have our players enjoying the atmosphere and thriving on that as well, because not every club has got the fanbase we’ve got here. It’s important we try and tap into that. Let’s use everything we’ve got to get positive results.”