“Respect everybody, fear nobody. We’re Heart of Midlothian, we've got some really difficult games coming up but my predominant focus is on us. It's on Hearts, it's on what we do.”

That is Liam Fox ahead of this Thursday’s Uefa Conference League kick-off in Azerbaijan.

The Hearts interim manager would not have dreamed at the start of the season that he would now be leading the club into the competition’s first ever ‘league phase’.

The opportunity has come about due to a catastrophic run of results to the season that led to Steven Nasimith and his coaching staff being relieved of their duties.

Fox deployed an aggressive approach in Saturday’s draw with Ross County, to mixed results.

Now he will lead the charge against Belarusian champions Dinamo Minsk in a neutral venue in Sumgayit.

Fox said that he will tweak his approach in anticipation of what Minsk will do but insists the onus is on Hearts to take the game to the opposition.

“I'd like to make this clear, it's about what we do. Everything's about what we do,” he said.

“Absolutely, we'll be making adjustments, we'll be making difficult wee tweaks here and there, but fundamentally we're going to be what we're going to be for the next week.

“Hopefully I pass [the job] to somebody else who comes in and we're in a wee bit better place, we're a bit calmer with hopefully had a couple of results.

“I feel I've got a good chunk of experience in the bank, I've had some different jobs, different roles, some big responsibilities at some big clubs. I'm looking forward to this week.

“It's a huge privilege, it's a huge honour and it's a week I want us to be really positive with.”

Being part of Jack Ross’s coaching staff that helped Dundee United to an unlikely first-leg win over AZ Alkmaar in 2022 is one experience Fox can turn to in preparation for Thursday night.

The caretaker boss praised the work done by the previous Hearts management team – and the players for last season’s exploits and securing league-phase football on the European stage.

“Everything in football is about adapting and overcoming and evolving,” said Fox.

“The plan’s been put in place for a period of time for going, so we're all clear on that. We know what we need to do.

"Ultimately it's about the game, making sure we turn up in the game.

“There's been a lot of work done. Credit to the previous guys, they've done a lot of work already.

“The players worked so hard last year to earn the right to play in these types of games and these types of nights. So it's one I want us to go after.

“One of the things that I've learned in football is that you're 90 minutes away from a catastrophe or a disaster but you're only two seconds away from a bit of positivity and things flipping.

“It can be a wee simple thing, it can be a simple pass, it can be a tackle, it can be the ball going off somebody's backside.

“It can be anything and things can turn really, really quickly in life. Especially in football, one wee moment can flip it and then everybody's like, ah right, it becomes a wee bit easier.

“Because when you're in these moments, when you're struggling and you're looking for results and form, it can turn really, really quickly.”

The match will be played at a neutral venue and behind closed doors due to ongoing sanctions against Belarus related to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

It means there will be no supporters there for what could be Fox’s only game in charge of Hearts in Europe.

“It would be brilliant to experience that,” he said. “For us all, for everybody because of the effect that, as I've said previously, the effect that the supporters can have on the players, on the team and sometimes on the actual game itself.

Read more

“But listen, that is what it is. We'll need to deal with that. It'll be a different challenge for us, it'll be different. Probably a bit like going back to playing at Covid times.

“It's just something, you've always got a choice what you do in life. You can look at it negatively, you can look at it positively.

“I want us as a playing staff, as a coaching staff, as a club to be ready to go for that.”