Hearts CEO Andrew McKinlay urges fans to get behind the team as they search for new manager

Hearts CEO Andrew McKinlay has urged the support to get behind the team and “give them full backing” as they search for a new manager.

Steven Naismith was sacked at the weekend following a run of eight consecutive defeats and 11 competitive games without a win going back to the end of last season.

They currently sit bottom of the Premiership with just one point from six league games.

McKinlay revealed they will be working with an analytics company to help them find Naismith’s replacement and appeared to rule out interim boss Liam Fox being handed the role on a permanent basis.

Speaking to Hearts TV he said: “I think we know that the football over the last few weeks has been difficult.

“We had been hoping, the fanbase and all of us, that we could turn this around but it became evident to me, and to others, at the weekend that we just weren’t seeing signs of it turning around.

“I went into these two fixtures, St Mirren and Ross County, feeling that we needed, at the very least, four points and hopefully six.

“We had a very average second-half performance (at St Mirren) and that, unfortunately, left me in no doubt that we had to look at making a change.”

On B-Team Fox being handed the reins on the short-term, McKinlay said: “I’m thankful to Liam and his guys for stepping in at this difficult time.

“I think that he was the right person to bring forward, given the work he’s done with the B Team but also he has his European Pro Licence, he has experience managing a team at Premiership level so I think he’s the right person for this interim period.

“He is also aware that we are looking externally for the longer term and he fully understands that and appreciates the reasons why we’re doing that.

“I have the utmost respect for Liam, I think he’s a very good football coach and I think he’ll do well for us for as long as he’s in this role.”

McKinlay insists he still believes in the team as he asked the support to stay behind them as they look to “turn a corner”.

He said: “I would just ask, please get behind the team and please give them your full backing.

“I said to them when I spoke to them that yes, they might’ve let people down but I believed in them and believe that they are a good football team and they showed that last year.

“If we can get together as one we can turn the corner and we will hopefully just look back on this period as a blip.”

McKinlay also revealed that “analytics will be a very important part of the process” of identifying their new manager.

The Tynecastle club are close to finalising a deal with Brighton owner Tony Bloom that will allow them access to the English businessman’s renowned data-led recruitment software.

McKinlay was unwilling to go into specifics of the impending Bloom agreement for “confidentiality and commercial reasons” but did admit they will lean heavily on “an analytics company” for guidance in the search for their new boss.

“The timelines is a difficult one, I’d love to be able to bring a manager in as soon as possible but I would never speak to anyone about the manager’s job until such time as there’s no manager in place,” the CEO said in an interview with Hearts TV.

“But we do always have lists of people that we update on a two-three-monthly basis, and we’ve been doing that recently.

“Where we are now is that we’ve had our own lists and we’re also working with an analytics company. Now, what does that mean? Does it mean that they will just tell us who we should have as the manager? No.

“What it means is that they will be part of the process and they will have some views on some individuals and we will also feed them any individuals we think might be right and any applications we might have had, and we’ve had a significant amount in the last 48 hours.

“They’ll all be fed into that analytics and that will give us an idea of a ranking of managers. But that ranking is just based on analytics, you then have to take that and look at those individuals.

“There are various factors. Are they within our ability to get them? Are they in current roles or not? Will they fit into our culture? what style of football will they play?

“You can go on and on, and the analytics won’t give you all those answers. You have to do a lot of your own work and that’s the same as when it comes to recruiting players through analytics as well. But the analytics will be a very important part of the process.”

McKinlay clarified that there are no plans for Hearts to become a feeder club or become part of a multi-club organisation when the Bloom deal is finalised.

He stated: “We will not have a formal link with any other football club,”.