Andrew McKinlay said new Heart of Midlothian head coach Neil Critchley "was the preferred candidate from an analytics perspective" as the club embark on a new era.

The Hearts chief executive introduced Steven Naismith's replacement at Tynecastle Park on Tuesday afternoon.

While he admitted that "concurrent discussions" are held with agents, such is the "reality of any modern recruitment process", he claimed the club "didn't negotiate with anyone else" despite strong interest in and talks with Per-Mathias Hogmo.

Hearts used analytics to guide their search and it ultimately brought them to Critchley who had applied for the job. He was announced on a deal until the end of the 2026/27 season.

"Neil was the preferred candidate from an analytics perspective," McKinlay noted. "Also, when we spoke to him, it was very clear to us that he was the right person to work with us, to work with [incoming sporting director] Graeme [Jones], to work with the analytics.

"It would be strange at the start of a strategic partnership if we didn't go into it fully and wholeheartedly. That's where we got to with Neil."

The "main focus" of the analytics was to find a manager with "a track record" of developing and improving players. While the relationship between Critchley and Jones was given significant importance.

"Graeme and I spoke to Neil on a couple of occasions," McKinlay explained. "Then Graeme had further conversations with Neil, so there were several conversations. There also was a conversation that had other members of the board involved. So numerous conversations which then took us over the weekend.

"Very quickly, we got to a deal quite quickly and then we just had to make sure we put the legal niceties to bed. I think I signed the contract late last night electronically, so it's all gone very smoothly.

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"It was also crucial for us that anyone we spoke to was happy to work within a sporting director model. There's been a lot of talk about a lot of people in football, some in this country, some elsewhere, who it's well known don't work within sporting director models."

Hearts are in a unique position where the fans own the club yet it was an appointment that was initially met with scepticism and negativity.

"From my perspective, we're fan-owned and the fans have a privileged position in that they have two positions on our board," McKinlay said. "Therefore, they're fully involved in the process of appointing Neil. That's fairly unique to most clubs.

"You talk about this negativity, I'm actually quite encouraged by quite a lot of what I've been hearing and reading today since we made the announcement. I know our fans will get behind Neil and will wish him all the best. I know on Saturday they'll get behind him. We all want to come together as one and I'm very, very positive. The fans, I think, will be too."