Heart of Midlothian can confirm a change to the club’s coaching structure.
It was always the intention that, once we had only domestic football to focus on, our management team would revert to the structure that was in place at the end of last season.
Accordingly, Steven Naismith shall become Head Coach on a permanent basis with Frankie McAvoy returning to the position of Assistant Coach.
Speaking to the Official Hearts Website, Chief Executive Officer Andrew McKinlay said: “Firstly, I’d like to place on record my thanks to Frankie for all of his hard work over the past few months. He remains an important member of our coaching team, is well-liked amongst the players, and his experience of top-level football has been invaluable around the training ground.
“It is important that we now put all our energies towards targeting the top end of the league and qualification for European competition for a third year in a row which would be a first in the history of the club.”
Steven Naismith said; “Of course, this is a proud moment for me, but I’ve long said that Frankie, Gordy, Gal and I are a team. We work together, tirelessly, and today’s announcement doesn’t change that. Job titles have changed but the core of what we’re trying to achieve has not. We want to build this team up to play attacking, front-foot football that wins games. That attacking football was in evidence at the end of last season although we would obviously have liked more wins to go with it.
“I have also seen some signs of that over the past month, but I want to see more. We all know the last few results have not been what we expected, but we now have the international break to work on the training pitch and put it into practice at Tynecastle on our return.
“I’d also like to thank the fans for the support they’ve shown the team as well as Frankie and me. It’s very much appreciated, and rest assured that we will do everything we can to put on winning performances that they can be proud of.”
