Neil Critchley was today unveiled as the new Heart of Midlothian head coach.

The 45-year-old was announced as Steven Naismith's replacement on Tuesday morning and spoke to the media for the first time at Tynecastle Park.

He discussed the team's immediate aim, how he is encouraged by the squad, expectations, fan reaction and more.

Read or watch everything he had to say below:

Neil, how excited are you?

Yes, super excited. I'm very honoured to be in this position. I know it's a huge responsibility at a fantastic football club, but I'm super excited to get started and get going. Yes, it's a challenge, but there's plenty of points and plenty of games to play. We know where we're at. We know what we need to do in the immediate. That started this morning, ready for our game on Saturday. I concentrate on the things that I've got responsibility for and what I can control. 

How encouraged are you with the squad?

Yes, from seeing them this morning, more encouraged than I was beforehand. I've also watched all the games because I've had a little bit of time on my hands recently. I've watched all the games, but it's always good to see the players first-hand. Getting to know them, speaking to them and then seeing them train. Sometimes when there's change, you can get that, but there was a good energy, a good vibe about the group this morning. I'm really looking forward to working with them in the short term and the long term as well.

Neil, how pleased are you to come to a club like Hearts and how surprised are you at where the club are just now, given where they were last season?

Yeah, obviously they had a fantastic season last season, finishing third and qualifying for Europe. That's credit to Steven [Naismith] and the staff. Obviously, it's not gone the way anyone would have wanted so far this season. That can happen sometimes. It's not for the want of trying. I've had experience of that myself. From what I've seen, what I've studied and analysed, from what I've seen this morning, even though it's only one training session, I'm encouraged by what we can still try and do this season.

What are the expectations for Hearts this season?

My immediate aim is to win games of football. We've not won a [league] game of football so far this season. My focus is solely on St Mirren on Saturday. The rest will hopefully take care of itself in the future, but like I say, there's plenty of points to play for, plenty of games. Hopefully, over the next coming weeks and months, we can gradually climb and let's see where we can get to. 

The fans' reaction so far doesn't appear to be so positive. How do you cope with that, particularly given that the fans and the foundation of Hearts are the owners of the club? 

I think whoever were sitting here, it's always going to divide opinion.  When you've got a big supporter base like we have, then some people will agree, some people will be sitting on a fence and let's give them an opportunity, some people might think differently. It could be anybody sitting here, but I've been given this opportunity and it's one I intend to give everything that I can to make this football club successful.

What do you feel has to change?

I don't want to give you too much information because that might give a little bit away what we might be doing for the weekend, but I think there's some cold, hard facts. If you look at both ends of the pitch, I think we've conceded practically two a game and we've only scored maybe six goals so that's the reason. If that trend continues, then inevitably it's only for one thing that happens. Quite simply, games are decided at both ends of the pitch and we need to do better at both ends of the pitch.

How do you feel your experience in the past can help you in this role?

I've had similar experiences and you learn from all of them, good and bad. You reflect on them and I'll use that to hopefully make me better in the future. That saying, for adversity you gain strength and I think that's really true. You learn more about yourself and I think I'm in a far better position now from what I've been through. I hope to use that to my benefit that ultimately transfers to the people I have responsibility every day for, which is the staff and the players.

You've been at Blackpool twice and QPR once. How would you summarise those three spells, just for supporters who are maybe looking in to say why did the first spell at Blackpool work, why did the second one not go as well?

I have a different opinion on that because obviously the first spell, we got promoted in our first season and then sustained our championship status in the second. Then when I came back to the club it was after a relegation and there's been a lot of change at the club. Lots of players left, I think there were 17 players left last summer and we built a new squad. From changing a team that was losing and having the mindset of losing to a team that was then expected to win, to get to 73 points and only missing out on the last day of the season to get to the playoffs. To get to the semi-final of the EFL Trophy, one game away from Wembley and to take Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup third round to a replay an extra time, I didn't see it as a negative at all, I thought it was positive.