Steven Naismith on Hearts contracts and target conversations

The Hearts head coach spoke about the conversations he has with transfer targets, fan demand, Scott Fraser, Craig Halkett and more. 

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There are certain games in the calendar you always mark out, Hearts v Aberdeen is one of them?

I think at the start of the season, the aims and the demands of the clubs are similar but to be honest it is just the next game. The biggest thing I have realised over the years of being in football is you don't really care about anyone else, it's about what we do. We've done really good work up until now and every time we win it just puts pressure on everyone else. That's all we can do, we don't want to be looking at it as an individual fixture so Saturday will be the exact same. We will go out and try to start as we played in the second half [against Dundee] and cause them more problems. That's it. The first week back, the biggest thing is getting back in your stride, getting back into where we left off, we made harder work of the first two games than we should have but there are some positives to take from those two games.

Have you seen something new in the players?

We've seen it throughout the whole season. You see the different stats, like we are breaking the norm of away wins, all those wee details show that we have improved. Tuesday night is a big one because of where you are at and how the second half goes, how we played with a freedom. It probably taught us a lot in terms of how to engage with the fans, how to get the crowd going because it was a toxic environment at half-time. We learned a lot, you look at the two games, we are through in the cup, if we can finish off with another win it is a great comeback after the break.

Does it foster an even greater unity if you are coming back from two goals behind?

It does but as a group, we are really good at recognising when somebody is doing well and giving them recognition and also when someone is not doing well to keep them at the level. That is not just as coaches, it is the whole surroundings. Throughout times this season, especially when the injured boys have come back, the group have gathered around them at times and given them the praise when they needed it. The other night, Macaulay comes on and does really well, even after the first goal, the amount of bodies that are going around him to give him the confidence. We are a good group, they all have the desire to be better and improve and getting the most out of their football career as they can and as football coaches that's all you want. It's a big driver for us all.

Does Tuesday give the new players an indication of the demands?

It puts it in their face, yes. But it's a big thing I talk to every player when they come into the club. The first conversation I have with any player is you need to realise the demand here is unforgiving. It's amazing, it's really good when it's good but you are not getting 15-20 games to get going. The judgement is being made within the first few games. If you are on the wrong side of that it is hard to pull it back. The mentality is a big, big thing to play here. It's the first conversation I have with every player we try to sign or comes into the building. Tuesday night gives them all that in front of their face 'this is what he is talking about' type attitude.

How does what happened last season with Aberdeen focus the mind?

It's there but I don't have too much of that detail into the players. It's all-new, the way we work is new, the way we want to play is different. For me, as someone who has been a coach to now leading it, I want to instill what I had as a player and what we want and demand and I think will be successful because ultimately that is inevitably why you become a coach. You want to have a lot of your own traits within your team and that's more what we focus on rather than the past, Yes, the stats are good to say 'it's been so many years since we've won at Celtic Park' as that is not acceptable. But 'last season this happened' is irrelevant. We are a different team, we are a different unit. We're probably a different squad.

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Did Tuesday demonstrate the team's flexibility and that they deserve more trust from the fans?

In five, eight years and we are sitting saying 'we don't change for anybody' because we are unbelievable at what we do but very few teams in world football get to that point. At this early stage, you need to compromise on a lot of what you actually believe in. I've found as a coach, if any manager comes into a job, the biggest thing that will give you time is winning games. If you get that done it buys you time to move and implement and within that, in the background, you are still trying to change loads about how we work, what your mindset is but you need to make sure you get results because if you don't you'll be out a job. I like the versatility, it’s kept us in good standing throughout the season. 'It doesn't work', well it's worked for the last two months. It will work again. There’ll be some games we need to change and we take more risk but it’s not as straightforward as going ‘that was rubbish in that game, we need to change it’. You need to factor in what players you have available, what you’ve worked on, how much time you have had to work on other details of the game, so it’s a gradual thing. The way I've coached, the way I've managed, the way I prepare for things is at a nice pace, we are not to be reactive to anything.

Is there anything more on the ins and outs in terms of any bids for players?

No bids, no interest. There has been no registered interest for anybody. In terms of Scott, unfortunately, Charlton are changing manager which is making things much more difficult and awkward. That’ll run as long as it does so we’ll wait and see, but our hope is still we can sign him before the end of the window.

Is there a point where you cut on that?

I don't think so. It’s not reactive. We’ve identified him as somebody who interested us in the summer, he's somebody I think we can bring to the club short-term and hopefully longer-term. If it happens it happens, if it doesn't we'll see what happens come the summer. But it is not going to be one where if we don't get him signed by tomorrow it’s not happening. You are just going to get into conflict. That one will be what it will be and the rest will be if players want to go and I don’t imagine many will, but if anybody does we might replace. 

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If you don't get him would you get somebody else or is it because you are keen on Scott?

I think it's the whole package. He’s at a really good age, his main characteristics as a player are attacking, he’s got great quality in the final third, his goals and assists. We’re a bit immature at the top end. If we don’t get him, do we look for someone else? We won’t be being reactive to find somebody. If there’s somebody there that maybe is in the longer-term plans we can do, we’ll maybe try. But I’m comfortable with the squad we’ve got. I think we've got a good squad. 

Was Craig Halkett someone you wanted to extend as soon as you took over?

In general, clubs aren’t the best at rewarding players at the right times. Players get the raw end of the deal in terms of contracts running down. We need to get in a position where we identify who we think is valuable and who is really good for the club, and if they deserve a reward then we reward them, it doesn't matter how long they’ve got left. If we are going to offer them a new contract we do it at the right time which will give you goodwill short term but it also sends a message to everyone else about the kind of club we are and how we want to work. Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, there will be a fair few announcements of players on new deals. That’s all the way through the professional side of the club, the 18s, the B team, and the first team. We’re constantly monitoring - if someone’s done loads of hard work to get a new contract then they deserve it. It teaches the younger ones to work harder to get that. All the way through is to identify the players we want to keep and try to sign new deals. Halks was last week and I'm hoping in the coming weeks there’ll be a few more.

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Was it important to keep Halkett with his know-how of Scottish football and to help with the continuity in the squad?

You want to keep the ones that bring value. The age of someone or where they are in their career is irrelevant, it’s what they bring short-term, medium and long-term. We have a great group in terms of the older ones knowing their roles and probably having patience with the younger ones. The amount of young players that train with the first team can be frustrating for an experienced player but our group have brought them with them and we've seen the rewards in recent weeks.

What's the injury situation?

The only two that are still out are Boycie and Cammy. Cammy's progressed to the next level in terms of he's joined in parts of training. Boycie is still at that level where we aren't comfortable pushing him. There is not a timescale on that. Everybody else who was impacted on Tuesday has trained today [Friday] so everybody is fit.

How long is Cammy likely to be?

Normally, when they get the first part of training that will go on for a couple of weeks then after that he will be in full training and it will be a week or two from that point, all going well, that they will be back involved.