In Graeme Jones, Heart of Midlothian have appointed a sporting director who helped modernise the Scotland international set-up.

The Dunbar-native and former season-ticket holder at Tynecastle Park has spent nine years at the SFA. Last week was announced as the man to replace Joe Savage at Hearts after he stepped down earlier this year.

Jones is expected to start the Hearts role in November after the next international window, once his notice period is served, and will be a “big miss”, according to manager Steve Clarke, who called him an “integral part" of his staff.

His nine years with the national set-up means he will already be familiar with Hearts manager Steven Naismith, who was a Scotland regular before working on the coaching staff under Clarke.

Hearts' statement said he will "oversee all aspects of the club’s football department, leading on performance, recruitment, academy and supporting both men’s and women’s team footballing matters".

Jones was in higher education in Edinburgh, where he is now based, before completing a Master’s in Sports Medicine at the University of Glasgow. By then, he was head of sports science at Raith Rovers and would go on to work at the Hampden Sports Health and Injury Clinic.

Brought into the Scotland fold, initially in 2015, under then-performance director Brian McClair, Jones started off at the SFA as head of football science and medicine – the first role of its kind at the organisation.

McClair was replaced by Malky Mackay at the end of 2016 and, within a year, Jones was promoted to head of high performance.

Now with a broader portfolio and more responsibility, Jones was sent on information-gathering missions to some elite English Premier League clubs to determine best practice before tailoring what he’d learned for an international set-up.

He brought in analysis tools such as GPS, meaning Scotland finally caught up with the other home nations in using tracking technology. There was also modernisation of approaches to medicine and recovery techniques.

One program Jones is particularly proud of implementing is the scheduling app Kairos which allows players and coaches to see, amend and communicate about their training plan with ease.

These methods – implemented in both the men’s and women’s games across age groups – pleased the players as it allowed them to track their fitness and hit established goals. Although Jones did find Scotland boss Alex McLeish to be more receptive to the methods than previous manager Gordon Strachan.

Relationships with clubs also improved.

(Image: SNS Group)

Increasingly, clubs expect such information from international sides. At the beginning Jones was reacting to situations as and when they arose, Scotland are now more proactive in such matters.

That stems from another aspect of Jones’s approach: getting the basics right. For all the modern methods he has introduced, the main focus has always been on the fundamentals. Things like nutrition and accommodation, ensuring that preparation is of the highest quality.

It wasn’t all plain sailing. Jones’s most famous – or rather infamous – moment can amid the Kazakhstan disaster in 2019. Ahead of the match, in what became a viral clip, Jones – speaking in a very enthusiastic manner – spoke about his novel method for dealing with the impact of travelling across six time zones.

Players were kept in a UK time “bubble” and clocks were removed from rooms, phones confiscated. The amount of light and noise players were exposed to was managed.

Come game night, Scotland were 2-0 down within 10 minutes and the 3-0 defeat spelled the end of Alex McLeish’s second spell at the helm.

Jones’s interview was unfairly tagged by some as a window into the ‘sixth floor at Hampden’ and everything that is wrong with the ‘balzers’ who populate it.

Hearts' incoming sporting director takes a self-deprecating approach to the episode and in an interview in The Times at the start of this year, he took all the flak on the chin. He was forced to do the same in 2022, though this time from the Scotland squad, after updating Kairos in the wee hours amid some wild celebrations after Scotland ended their 22-year wait to qualify for a major tournament.

The fact is that, despite that unfortunate interview, under Steve Clarke, Scotland have qualified for consecutive European Championships, ending that excruciating wait for a generation of fans to tick off their bucket list by finally scratching that itch to see their nation play at a major tournament.

And while Jones wouldn’t take any direct responsibility for the players’ performances in that time, he has helped bring the national set-up into the 21st century and foster a better environment for the decision-makers.

Jones in the past also spent three years as a non-executive director with Scottish Squash and more than five years on the UEFA CORE programme to coach future elite referees in physical and psychological preparation. Last year, he was promoted to SFA performance director.

Filling the gap left by Mackay three years earlier, the new performance chief was tasked with leading on “sports science, medicine, analysis, data, scouting and talent identification, for all international teams” across the men’s and women’s games and throughout the age groups.

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At the time of his appointment, Jones said: “It is important we have an overarching strategy and philosophy, but it is essential that it is data-led and player-informed, to make sure we have can provide a tailored approach for each individual and to give clubs the comfort that their players have the best experience possible while on international duty.

“The football department at the association and the network of specialists we call upon from clubs will be integral to our future success and I look forward to supporting them as we seek to continue to raise the standards of performance on and off the field.”

There are worries among some in the Hearts support that Jones lacks experience in certain areas of his new role, but that is the consequence of promotion to a role that covers so many areas of a football club. It was also the case when Savage took up the role in 2021. 

Later this year he will get to work making an impact at Hearts having done just that with the Scotland national team.