AXED STEVEN NAISMITH still believes he could have turned Hearts fortunes around.

The ex-Scotland star was jilted by the Jambos in September after their loss at St Mirren, their EIGHTH straight defeat.

It’s a decision he had no issue with given the Gorgie club’s wretched run of form.

But Naismith, speaking for the first time since his sacking, revealed he was convinced their form would turn.

The 38-year-old appeared as a guest with Derek McInnes on The Warm-Up, William Hill SPFL’s weekly preview show.

He said: “I don’t think you know, or I certainly didn’t know.

“I understood that you look at results and you go: ‘Right if we can get a result here, if we don’t that builds the pressure’.

“Inside I was probably thinking you’ll get to the international break because it was three games there and they were probably games that you’re more likely to look at and go right – we should win.

“Ross County at home, the European game and then a big one is going to be Aberdeen.

“But even after the St Mirren game when we get beat 2-1, I’m sitting there really still believing that we can turn this around and I can make this better.

“Then when you have the phone call the next day that is what it is but I don’t think there’s a structure or a set way for it to happen or how it comes, the conversation’s had.

“And I think if you’re honest it’s the best way you can go about it all.”
Naismith led Hearts to third place and Europe during his first full season in charge.

He then brought in a number of players in the summer including Yan Dhanda and Blair Spittal in preparation for the Conference League.

And despite their difficult start to the campaign he believes the Jambos WILL come good.

He said: “I loved every minute of it. I thought we did a good job but at the cold end of it success and pressure and demands are there and if you don’t hit them you’re gonna lose your job and that’s what happened so I’m comfortable with it all. 

“I’ve reflected on a lot of the decisions you do learn a lot.

“As a player you think you know it all, you go into coaching and then there’s other bits you go: ‘That’s different to what it was like as I thought as a player.’

“When you become a manager, it’s different again but I loved it, loved every minute of it.

“I love the intensity of it and just disappointed because I thought we had, Hearts do have a good squad and I think they will come good this season.”

He went on: “It’s disappointing, there’s a bit of frustration there because you do believe, we worked so hard over the previous year to bring success at the start which we managed to do.

“And then the reward of that is European football, you get to develop the squad a bit. I thought we did that.

“Nobody complained about the recruitment over the summer.

“But then, as a young manager, you sign players and you think at the start of a season: ‘Brilliant, we’ve got this option, that option’.

“But probably the bit you can’t judge is how much time players are going to take to settle, especially when for nearly every player we signed, Hearts is a bigger club from where they came from.

“Now my experience of going to Rangers from Kilmarnock, it’s sink or swim time at moments. So, there’s probably any element of that.

“Our first game against Rangers was excellent. All that was missing was the goal and then from there, you lose a couple of games, some bad decisions from me, individual error cost us a lot and before you know it, you’re trying to stem that tide.

“A lot of people spoke about how big the job was before I took it.

“As a person I’ll evaluate everything, what are the pros and cons of going into any job? It was a big risk for me personally going in as a younger manager.

“The two things you need to do is – one – get success but then when you do that, you need keep it there because if you don’t pressure comes and you’re going to lose your job.

“That’s inevitably how it came about.”