How Steven Naismith wants Hearts to produce academy talent

It has been a bone of contention for some time now. The lack of homegrown talent making the breakthrough at Tynecastle Park. Whether it is individuals who impress and are then sold on for significant sums or those who become first-team regulars for several seasons.

Aaron Hickey may go on to have one of the most successful careers, both in terms of transfer fees and Scotland caps, but he is someone who is not fully considered to have been developed by the club due to the time spent with Celtic. His transfer to Bologna in 2020 did not quite net the club the money it really should have done either.

The last batch to emerge was the young team that were relegated in 2014. Gary Locke had to manage the club with not so much his hands tied behind his back but with all limbs tied up and duct tape across his mouth such was the financial difficulties at Hearts around that time with the club in administration. Of the 21 players who featured in the 2013/14 campaign, 17 were between the ages of 16 and 21, including Brad McKay, Kevin McHattie, Billy King, Callum Patterson, Jamie Walker, Sam Nicholson, Jordan McGhee, Jason Holt. Those named would contribute to the Championship-winning season and go on to have good careers. But it was far from the ideal environment for them to be introduced at first-team level to begin with, it came out of necessity due to a transfer embargo.

READ MORE: Steven Naismith: Hearts recruitment role, squad evaluation and 4 transfer categories

Naismith has used both Aidan Denholm and Macaulay Tait this campaign, while others from the academy have been included in matchday squads. He wants to change how the club utilises young players. He wants to change the culture. He wants to change their mindset and how they are viewed.  And he provides an example using Denholm's emergence as a first-team player this season.

'Learn every day'

He explained: "There has been a culture at the club since I’ve been here, loads of young players have come through, probably too early at times, probably underused, probably overused, probably not been managed properly. Hence why none of them have made the club any money.

"I’ve found when I took over it was a case of: Young player in the first team, has his period in the first team, when he comes out the first team should I go on loan? That’s the totally wrong way to be.

"Aidan Denholm is an example. Brilliant through the summer, does really well, has a great high, has a couple of wobbly moments and has to be taken out. That’s not the end of his Hearts career, it’s the beginning. What he needs is time to be in the background, work away and deal with it, then he will come back like he has done.

"He came to me and asked ‘should I be going on loan because I’ve not had game time’. You are learning every day. For the month before he played for Scotland 21s I had been putting him as a centre-back in training, right wing-back in training, No. 10 in training, moving him about positions. One because of personnel but two it gets him an understanding of that position. The month after playing right wing-back he goes and plays right wing-back for Scotland

"So changing the mindset about here, you are here for the big picture. Every day is a learning day. It’s not ‘I'm not playing, when am I going to play next?’ Learn every day. You are constantly learning. How to get young players into the first team is a big one that we need to get better at."

READ MORE: Inside Hearts academy: Why change in recruitment, best signing, ex-player importance

Naismith doesn't have a blueprint of what the ascension of young players from the club's 18s and B team should look like. It's not the case of 'do X and then get to stage Y'. The common consensus is that you need to be around the first team at 16, 17, 18 but it is a case-by-case basis. For example, Ethan Drysdale has missed two years due to injury. He's playing catch-up in his final year of 18s but has impressed with his progression.

The Hearts head coach wants to help and assist youngsters on their journey, including dealing with the pressure. Whether it be the pressure of joining in first-team training where the standards are higher or just the pressure and demand of playing for Hearts, noting it is naturally easier for the likes of Motherwell, St Johnstone and Kilmarnock who often have smaller squads and, in general, less pressure and focus.

'Survive and go unnoticed'

"With the young players, the disadvantage that Hearts have got is the demand," he said. "Denholm has seen it. At Dundee, he is probably the third safety valve in the goal that went wrong. Slaughtered. Dealing with that is so tough for the player, nine times out of 10 they’ll crumble. In the past, we have not had an environment to explain that to the players. To go ‘forget it, trust us, stay here, develop’.

"I took five away in pre-season training. I’ve got a great relationship with all the kids which gives them a wee bit of security when they come and train with the first team. The first conversation, I said to them ‘your job this week is to survive. I don't want to see flicks, brilliant dribbles, just survive, go unnoticed, that’s all I want to see'.

READ MORE: The importance of Hearts B: Pathway, periodisation, investment and its future

"See if you go unnoticed, everybody is going to go 'those sessions all ran brilliantly, we had five youngsters in there’. Inevitably some do struggle through pre-season. They don’t destroy the session but affect the session and it makes it all the tougher for them to get back there. They need to get over that part first.

"Get in the first-team environment and survive. Don’t do anything special, just be there, consistently be there and show you can be there."

The basics

The focus should be on developing talent within the academy and then, when they are getting ready for the final step, to prepare them as best they can for dealing with what they are set to encounter. The coaching of teenagers is another culture change Naismith has strong feelings over, not just with Hearts but football in general. Essentially, get them the basics so they can thrive in any football environment.

"We’ve got good players in the academy but I think the academy over the years has gone too much into coaching patterns," he said. "Get that in the bin. Get them the basics, get them to be able to handle a ball under pressure, get them to understand if it is high up the pitch we can go and press or if not we need to get a bit of shape. We don't need a rotation that they are doing at under-14s that they are never going to use in the first-team.

"I’ve got an issue, not at Hearts, just in general, of young coaches coaching for them, ‘I want to get a first-team so I’m going to do this, this and this here’ and it’s not about the kids. We need to get back to that. That will give us a better chance of getting kids through."

Playing with a forcefield

There are so many factors to take into account when a young player is making the step into the first-team environment. A common phrase amongst fans will be 'sink or swim'. What if a player, making his debut or appearing for the first team regularly, starts to sink? Before you know it, they are being written off. To carry on the swimming analogy they've effectively drowned. That is exactly what Naismith is trying to prevent. That short-term thinking. He wants to make sure he provides a lifejacket or, at the very least, some armbands.

He gave the example of one youngster who was part of pre-season training. It was apparent that if used in the Premiership he could be easily bullied which would result in him being judged as not being up to the standard despite being a teenager making his first steps at first-team level.

"Now, he is going to look weak, I did when I was at Kilmarnock," Naismith said. "I said to him ‘you need to work out how to never get close to somebody. You need to play with a forcefield around about you’. Because anytime they get close, bullied, ball off him.

"We need to keep him around the first team but he can’t be involved in games because he is not ready. If you put him in too early two games later he is rubbish and you’ve killed him. There is that whole dynamic. There is navigating your way through that."

READ MORE: The Hearts season so far: Naismith, Shankland, Celtic, banners and progress

It is a drip-feeding process, whether it is being part of first-team training or the first-team squad on a matchday. It provides a carrot to the players in the B team and under-18s, plus an element of competitiveness. Every game of both the B team and 18s a member of the first-team coaching staff can attend they will be there. It is a common sight on a Friday night at Ainslie Park when the B team are at home to see either Naismith, Gordon Forrest and/or Frankie McAvoy watching over Liam Fox's side. Or at the Oriam when the 18s are playing.

It sends an important message to the players. Firstly, the first-team management care. And, secondly, that they are being watched, analysed and assessed all the time. Whether it be their performances or attitude and character. If they impress they have a chance of being involved with the first team. If they don't, they have to work harder to be included.

Naismith wants to collate all information from all sources, whether it be club doctor or sports scientists, while the club also use psychologists as well. 

"If we we need two players, it might be position specific but within that, if I’m not happy with the way he’s been playing, he’s not getting in, we'll pull someone else," he said, giving an example of the dynamics that are at play.

"Sometimes in the B team they might go ‘why is he going, I’m higher than them?’. So there is that to deal with."

The B team have been going great guns in the Lowland League, their second season playing at the level. The latest win came on Friday night when they wiped the floor with the University of Edinburgh, winning 12-0. A game that saw Finlay Pollock get some much-needed minutes following injury and he has clearly worked on his physique, now possessing a similar build to Scott McTominay.

There has been an even greater connection between the B team and first team in terms of tactics and shape, and to an extent the under-18s as well, this campaign. It's something Naismith has called a "learning curve" as he realised it was important for the young players when making the step up and being involved around the first team. Last season he didn't think it was manageable due to the size of the squad.

Information and detail

"I didn’t think personnel-wise we could play the same system," he said. "So when I sat down with the academy and Foxy, we have clear principles of what needs to happen, whether it is where we need to be on the pitch, how we press, whether we are going straight after it, are we getting our shape, what our 6s do within the team, what our full-backs or wing-backs do within the team.

"The more we have trained and the more I’ve been around the first team I don’t think we are giving the young players enough detail. We do a lot of 11 v 11 early on in the week which is a mixture of B team and first team. We are asking young players to come into our system in those games but they don’t understand how we press in that shape.

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"Very much now, especially the B team, we’ve changed because they really need to be on the same path as the first team. If that compromises some players’ positions or who we are playing in those positions we need to accept that because we need to give the players all that information every day so that when they get into the first team it’s giving them the best chance. We’ve changed that but that’s been a learning curve for me."

Hearts B sit second in the Lowland League after 22 games and they are currently averaging three goals a game. A marked improvement from last season. The players have learned through experience as well as adding more physicality through gym programmes. They have also developed an edge and are no longer as soft a touch.

The B team's involvement in Scotland's fifth tier is massive for the club and for Naismith but it is all focused on the end goal: Providing the first team with players.

'Massive difference'

"The biggest thing from the academy to first team, there is a bit of ‘what is this, I’ve not experienced this, I’ve only been in an academy’," he said. "I think you have seen it from some of the English players who have come up here on loan and it’s their first loan.

"My first 10 games for the B team last season, I think we lost a goal, at least one goal, through naivety or being outsmarted, an experienced striker with a wee bump, defender calls for a foul. No, it’s not, get up, goal. Or overplaying at times. Or going long when you could play. We lost goals and it lost us points. You are not seeing it this season. There has been a massive difference in our young players.

"The amount of 16-year-olds that played last year was brilliant. In a game against Tranent last season, in the first half we battered them. They understood, just pump it long it’s 16, 17 years old. They bullied us and won 3-2. What we got out of that game was so valuable. We need to watch in the years to come that that progression from all our young players is there and I think we will continue to get better and better so what’s next? That’s going to be on the horizon at some point."

He added: "When I was at the 18s and B team it was all about trying to make the players better, it was not about winning. From the outside people look at it and see the B team are nearly top of the league. See if the B team win the Lowland League five years in a row but we don’t produce a player it’s failed."