Naismith Hearts Q&A - Celtic prep, injury plans, tickets

The Hearts head coach discussed the international break, Scotland success, the injury situation, Celtic challenge and the away ticket allocation debate.

Here's everything Naismith said:

Have you enjoyed the last couple of weeks on the training ground?

From my point of view I find these weeks when you are not building to the intensity of a game, the pressures of a game, it's a slightly more relaxed environment. It gives you good time to work on specifics without having an opposition to say 'we need to guard against this or this is how we are going to break them down'. It's more our principles, this is what we can do better. That's what it is really good for.

How does the preparation change for a Sunday game?

Coming off the back of the international break it has helped. You get the boys back later and as a player you are back, one day in training and that's you into the game. It has helped us in that respect to give us an extra day. And you've got the two weeks to build up to what we want to do. There is a lot that doesn't change for each game for us and what we try to do. That's something we consistently work on. The extra day does help for the boys who have been away.

READ MORE: Hearts injury update - Who is out and when willl they return

That's especially big for Kenneth Vargas. You must be happy with him scoring two goals and coming back confident?

It's been a good international break all round in terms of Zander [Clark] making his debut, Alex continuing on that growth, Aidan Denholm getting called up for the 21s, Lewis Neilson getting minutes and Kenneth going away and scoring as well. It's been a good international break in that respect. Going back to the extra day, even though they might not do much on the training pitch, getting them here for our meetings and the detail we are going to go into, that's the important part.

Zander must be flying with confidence. You could see how much it meant to him.

100 per cent. Him and Liam [Kelly], they've done the hard yards. It is a cliche to say 'it's a privilege [to go on international duty]' but it is taxing on you to go away and not get a cap, camp after camp after camp. Summer camps are eating into your summer holidays and personal time family, it is taxing. So for both to get their reward for making their debut is brilliant. Not only their interviews about how proud they are but the rest of the squad and how they've spoken about them both shows they are valuable to the group. It is not just about the guys on the pitch and that's what they are really good at so delighted for them and then the qualification gives them all a target for the summer. They can all try as hard as they can to do as best as they can to be in that squad.

Does that help you as a club manager?

Definitely. For Craig Gordon coming back from injury, Zander obviously wants to be in that squad, Shanks missed out on the last Euro group. It helps massively. If you are not going to be willing to fight to be in a Euro squad, as much as it is two in two, they are hard to come by. I grew up watching them and never had a chance to go in my whole career, then two on the bounce. I've made that point to them all, make sure you give yourself the best opportunity. 

Is there any jealousy that you are not going to be a part of it?

There’s jealousy for sure that I’m not going to be part of it. But that was in my thought process when this opportunity came around. Nothing ever happens on time in football. Loads of moves that I’ve made have happened at the wrong time for one reason or another, whether that be professionally, family life. But this was too good an opportunity for me to turn down. What we can do here was massive but what I lose out on is being part of a Euros squad and still learning under a great manager and some really good coaches. There’s definitely a jealousy that Mozz [James Morrison] has jumped in and he’s got into a Euros squad. But I’m delighted all round because I knew they could do it. I had the belief that the manager had that they could do it — not maybe as well as they eventually did it. But they made light work of it and it’s brilliant.

Is there any way you could have combined the roles?

No. This is far too big a club to be able to do that. There’s too much going on and if you really want to try and build something long-term and develop young players then your full focus needs to be on Hearts. That’s the decision I came to. I would not have even considered combining them.

Have you tapped up Steve Clarke or the coaching staff for tickets?

Not to them. It’s the people that really matter about the tickets, the office and the squad manager that deals with the tickets. I’ve dropped a few texts.

How delighted are you Craig Halkett is back?

‘The international break on a whole has been really good for the boys who were away but injury-wise [Alex] Cochrane and Yutaro [Oda] came back into the squad and they trained all week. They are part of the squad. Halkett has come back into the squad and he’s done bits of training. As a coach that’s the first time you really go: ‘there is light at the end of the tunnel.’ Now we can start thinking bigger term. Finlay Pollock is the same, Craig played in the game and got 45 minutes so he’s progression. So on that front it’s been really good. Halks is a leader. He’s the loudest on the training pitch and that’s been noticeable. And he’s got real qualities. But I’ve been there myself and that first week back is easy. It’s just being on the grass and you get the buzz. It’s when you’re three weeks in and toiling, he will go through that phase like everybody does. It’s important that he’s back on the grass.

READ MORE: Joe Savage on pressure of Hearts sporting director role, abuse and desire for success

Is it important to organise games for Halkett and Gordon to get them back to match fitness?

It’s big but on top of that we’ve got Atkinson, McKay coming back and some of the boys have not played loads of minutes so we will definitely get games because we need to. The amount of injuries we have had we could fill a team with guys who could be doing with a game.

Are you at the stage yet where you can put any dates on first-team comebacks?

Craig’s played 45 minutes but we’ve given him a good bit of time for him to consistently train. He’s played 45 minutes and he will need to build that up to 90. Then can he go consistently 90 minutes, a full week then 90 minutes again then maybe even a midweek. So there’s still that last period and however long it takes him to do that — it is what it is. The same with Halks, to an extent. Atkinson and McKay, there’s not a date on them but I can’t imagine them being fit before December.

Have you noticed a big difference between Ange Postecoglou's Celtic and Brendan Rordgers' Celtic?

Not a big difference, but there are differences. Partly because of changing manager and the recruitment, when other players come in the dynamic between them all takes time. I think you can see they are starting to understand the new signings but there are some small changes within the way they play. That's what we've worked on for the past two weeks to understand those changes and how we deal with them in and out of possession.

Is the message to the players to be brave and trust the process against Celtic?

The biggest difference against the Old Firm is that, if you make one mistake, it inevitably costs you because of the quality they have and players they entice to the club. It's about being disciplined and comfortable in those moments, when to risk the ball in the right areas. Against any team, if you are not willing to have times when you have got possession, you are just trying to survive. You are just hoping for a set-play or counter-attack or mistake which gets you a goal. Then you will try to survive. We can't be like that. We want to be better than that. In possession, you need to be comfortable when they press you and how you deal with it.

Recent record against Celtic not great but no better time to change it?

Definitely. In all the games last season, we showed we can compete. It's now about getting results. It's small margins at times. That's why you need to focus all the time. They can hurt you if you switch off. Within the game, we need to hurt them as much as they hurt us.

READ MORE: Analysis: Why Hearts are struggling with attacking set-pieces

What is your view on the ticket allocation debate?

We will firstly look at our fans. If we have built a following that is continuing to grow, we need to give them the opportunity to watch hopefully a successful Hearts team. The question is not individually to each club, it's about the collective: Are you willing to make a change to better Scottish football? We could learn a lot from other leagues but we tend not to. It tends to be individual agendas. When I was at Rangers, there was congestion of fixtures when we got to the UEFA Cup final. This season, every team struggled through the start with Europe but the league don't help you. That's not the league's fault, it's everybody in Scottish football's fault. Whether it's been what happened at Covid, how you just stop leagues and teams are just relegated. In every aspect, there are areas we could do better. Do we want to or do we not?

One of the things suggested is a percentage for an away support idea. What are your thoughts on that?

The back and forth between fans when a goal is scored, the elation and the anger among the fans, it does bring something. At this moment in time, with the structure as it is, it isn't going to change. That's why we, as a club, need to look after Hearts. Whatever the solution may be, everybody needs to be willing to make that sacrifice to get it better. Over 20 years that I've been involved, it doesn't seem to happen.

Is that why it works with the derby with full stands of away fans?

There is an understanding there that it does create a much better atmosphere and the intensity is there. The spectacle is a better thing. Nobody can say that just having home fans is good for the game. It's not. But until everybody accepts that and comes to a collective, it won't change.

From a playing perspective, does it help having so few Celtic fans?

I don't think the difference in numbers helps overly. The derbies are a prime example. That gives it an unbelievable atmosphere. But then, there will be more said about the viewing platform for away fans at a lot of grounds. Being papped in corners, can't see for pillars and stuff like that. There is a bigger argument.

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