What has pleased Steven Naismith most about Hearts run

He spoke about fan demand, recruitment, being honest and the next steps for this Hearts team.

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In the run that you are on, what has pleased you the most?

Probably the different types of wins. At a club like Hearts, where we sit in terms of the Old Firm and the rest of the league there is a demand from the fans. In my time at the club, I've played there and coached there, that is the biggest thing the players need to deal with. The players that come in can have good ability but the demand of having to win is probably the biggest part to deal with. That is something I have used quite a lot during the season, to make when the crowd are tense, the crowd are nervous, it's nothing each at home and there are 70 minutes gone, you need to have a calmness, you need to stick to the plan and understand opportunities will come and inevitably when chances do come you need to take them and we've got good players who will take them. And we've built on that a lot. We've come from two down to win games, we've had to be patient and score late on in games and you have had the big performances where you have played against the teams at the top and got results there as well.

Is that demand from the fans in the games against Rangers and Celtic?

Yeah, there is a minimum of you must compete, you must show that you are having a go. You can't sit and defend for 90 minutes and hopefully score from a set play. That's the demand of the club, a club that wants to grow. It's a good club to be at, I enjoy the demand, I've had it during my career. In Scotland, the Old Firm have it. When I was in England at Everton, a prime example of having it, no matter where they are the fans demand, [Aston] Villa are another club that comes to mind that have that. There is a minimum requirement and that's what's expected. 

How big was keeping Lawrence Shankland in January, was it a bit nervy? 

It wasn't nervy at all. I think I'm quite realistic in every part of the job. Every player at our club, if somebody comes in with the right money you have inevitably got to sell them to reinvest it and build. Where we sat in terms of the value, what the club were willing to do, I wasn't under any real strain to think we were going to lose him. He's been big for us. Yes, his goals have been really big but leadership skills, he has turned into an all-round centre-forward from years ago being a good finisher. It was important that we kept him but that's just football. He's carried a lot of our goals and at times we have played well for him to score those goals but his leadership skills and the Euros are probably a big driver for him as well.

You are just 37 years of age, you've been in the job nearly a year now, how are you finding that and what would you say your key philosophies are for your team?

In all honesty, the job came quicker than expected. When I was coming to the end of my career, I was always someone who was interested in coaching and I asked questions of every coach I had throughout my career. So I had an interest and an understanding of when you retire there is a big void in what you do. I wanted to coach. I had a good setup. I was taking the B team at Hearts, I was part of Steve Clarke's national team set-up, learning brilliant things from him and this opportunity came along, probably quicker than I expected, but too good an opportunity to turn down. And, deep down, I believed that the last five years of my career I had been building what the main things are you need to be as a manager if I want to be successful. As much as it is what you do on the pitch, most of the games we'll have more possession than the opposition and it's about the structure of the team. In the Premier League in England it is really fine details, in Scotland there is probably a bit more to coach and understand that you don't need to go towards the ball and frantically run about. It's about your structure and then how you kill teams off. So we work a lot on that and it is more about us than much else. Being honest with players. The best managers I had, I didn't enjoy them telling me I wasn't playing or they didn't want me in the squad but as long as they were honest. I look back now and every manager who was honest with me, I understand the footballing decision. Daniel Farke at Norwich. I was over-30, he wanted to change the dynamic, I trained really hard, good attitude but he was honest, the club were honest with me saying they were going in a different direction. That's what I want and that's what I try to deliver as a manager and coach. I also get a buzz from improving players. Ultimately, hard work and putting the hours in on the training pitch, lots of review meetings and clips to drip feed that learning to players to make them better.

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Do you relish the challenge of a sporting director talking like that (Joe Savage's comments about winning the league)?

It's ambitious. It's really ambitious. You just need to look at the budgets of the Old Firm and the rest of the league. They have got six times the income and revenue to ourselves and we are a really well-run club that's got good income streams. You've got to understand it is a big jump, a big gulf. I think it is about taking it in steps. We first need to be finishing consistently in third. If you look at the league table just now and over the last few weeks, we have been closer to the Old Firm than the teams below us. That for me is a realistic aim, season on season. Then if you add into the mix, European group stage football you've got to carry the demand of when you are fatigued and tired for the weekend's game and you are at home, that demand is still the same. Everyone still expects you to go and win the game. You then need to find a way, the players need to have that motivation to go and go. That for me is the next step for us. Further down the line, we keep progressing, we have got to be looking at cup success at times. It's about putting it into perspective, short, medium and longer term. But it's a big ask. You have got to take the next step before looking beyond that.

The club have signed players from Australia, Japan, Costa Rica, how much of that is a challenge to integrate different cultures, different behaviours into what you want?

The Scottish accent is the hardest! Get three or four of us talking and they won't have a clue what's going on! With recruitment, we can't compete with the Old Firm. You have got to be creative. You have got to find guys who have maybe had a good start in their career, dropped off and have something to prove or... this season two of our signings from the summer, a Cost Rican who has been really good, brilliant ability but he is young and we have had to work with him a lot and he's got a bit of consistency now. And another is Calem Nieuwenhof, an Australian. First time he ever left Australia and he's coming to us. The first two months of the season he settled fine but really struggled with the demand of the club and on the pitch, the speed of the game. Arguably the last month he has been one of the best players in the league. You have got to be creative, they are not all going to work but you have got to work hard to research players and inevitably pick the better ones.