Liam Fox believes new Hearts boss will be taking on 'a brilliant job'

Hearts interim boss Liam Fox believes whoever is appointed as head coach will be taking on a “brilliant” job, and meeting a group of players who are already eager to impress.

The Tynecastle club are working towards appointing a successor to Neil Critchley, who was sacked last month, with a number of names already linked with the job.

Fox will remain in charge until a decision is made, and will be in the dugout for Saturday’s match against Motherwell.

Asked what attributes the new boss would need to bring to the club, Fox said that results were paramount but that whoever was appointed would be walking into a good place and a great role.

“Well, they need to win games of football, first and foremost,” he said. “I know that sounds really simple.

“It’s not for me to sit here and decide what a Hearts manager is. The club are going through a process and they’ll pick the right person that they think has the quality that they need to lead the football club.

“What I can say is that it’s a brilliant job and a brilliant football club with a great set of supporters.

“There’s really good staff members around the building and brilliant facilities.

“It’s a brilliant job for whoever gets it.”

A new head coach will inherit a squad that’s underperformed this season but Fox believes they are going all out to show what they can do and how they can be a part of the future.

He said: “I think that’s true but I think in an ideal world you want players to be like that every day and trying to impress, to improve and get better. But we’re all human.

“There’s definitely an element that they’ll be aware that the new guy or whoever comes in is watching and will be aware and look back.

“So every opportunity when you play for this football club is a chance to impress people.”

On player who has impressed him is Barrie McKay, who will be in this weekend’s squad after impressing in training.

McKay was out in the cold under Critchley but his attitude has caught Fox’s eye.

“From Barrie’s point of view, I just thought the way that he trained last week was really, really good,” said Fox.

“There’s no doubting Barrie’s quality on his day. I just felt, having not scored consistently over a period, he might just give you something a wee bit different.

“Like I said to the players last week, there’s a clean slate so it’s up to you to go and impress and train properly. Barrie did that, and he caught my eye.

“We’re going to have difficult decisions again this week to leave players out. We’ve got a couple of players back from injury as well. So I say to them all the time, ‘Don’t miss an opportunity. Don’t make it easy for me to leave you out of the matchday squad’.

“I think Barrie has been around the block, and he’s of an age where he’s had different experiences.

“So, how you handle those moments is down to the individual. All I can say is, from the period that I’ve been in interim charge, Barrie has actually been really good, and his quality’s never been in doubt.”