Exclusive: Steven Naismith opens up on life at Hearts - his likes, dislikes and how the job has changed him
The head coach has just completed his first year in management
There is a definite change in Steven Naismith. From touchline to dressing room to media room, he is a different animal now compared to 12 months ago. Strangely, the stresses of managing Hearts seem to have relaxed him. He is certainly a more placated character after his first year in the job, and doesn’t mind admitting so.
Naismith was fiercely passionate and aggressive as a player, two attributes which helped him reach the top level in Scotland and England whilst winning 51 international caps. He emerged as a similar ball of energy in the Hearts technical area when named interim manager in April last year. That appointment later became permanent as he stepped up from coaching the club’s B team.
It may well be that Naismith is maturing as a person at the age of 37 and is less tense as a result. Or, perhaps he was simply anxious to impress the Hearts hierarchy during that interim period last year. Alternatively, finishing third with a 12-point cushion and securing European league-phase football in his first season in charge at Tynecastle Park could have given him all the necessary confidence to just, well, chill a bit.
Whatever it is, the composure is unshakeable. He feels a better manager for it. “I would say I'm calmer. I'm calmer in how I think about things and how I watch the game,” he tells the Edinburgh News. “I think I can see things clearer, I'm not in a rush to change things. I'm not in a desperate need to get it perfect right now. I understand the process. Again, that comes with experience. It's really enjoyable, really rewarding, but it's hard work.”
He always looked cut out for the relentlessness intensity of top-level football management. Some people crumble under pressure, others just manage to cope, but Naismith is the type of guy who thrives on it. No matter the difficulties during Hearts’ 2023/24 campaign, he has reacted without agitation to make sensible and measured decisions.
By and large, the first year of his senior management career has been what he envisaged. “Most of it, yeah. Over the years, all the stuff I've asked and collected and all the knowledge I've taken from different people has definitely stood me in the best possible stead for going into management,” he explains. “There are elements that you can't really get any experience from. That's just being a human, being a good person and an honest person. I think those things just come with experience.
“Whether you are leaving somebody out of the squad, whether you are having difficult conversations, or whether somebody has come to you with a personal issue - those things happen. You need to deal with them as best you can. I think I've dealt with them well but you definitely get that from experience.”
Naismith knows he is still at the beginning of a very long and at-times steep learning curve. He is the Scottish Premiership’s youngest permanent manager. Across Edinburgh, David Gray is a year younger but still in an interim role with Hibernian at the moment. Naismith knows that situation well having seized the opportunity given to him by the Hearts board.
He devised a plan last summer and set about executing it with the help of coaching staff Frankie McAvoy, Gordon Forrest, Paul Gallacher and Mikey Williams. It hasn’t all gone smoothly, witness calls from some Hearts supporters last autumn for a change of manager amid inconsistent results. Naismith’s belief was steadfast, however, that he and his assistants would succeed.
“I enjoy coming to work every day,” he says. “We had meetings pre-season and you can watch them back now and say: 'I can see a lot of that in our team.' I enjoy that. I also enjoy the fact we have academy players coming through. It's those small things I like.
“There are some games where you enjoy the result or the performance but I think it's the small things. We are in a better place now than we were a year ago. We have a stronger squad now than we did. That's not with recruitment, that's because the players have developed into better players.
“Thinking about being in the moment, the last-minute goal at Easter Road [in December] is brilliant. Coming back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 [against Dundee in January], that initial feeling is amazing. That's just football and that's why we are in the game. You think afterwards why you really enjoyed it. Those moments make you better.”
Like everyone else at their work, there are certain things about his job Naismith does not enjoy. The biggest is something of a surprise. “Matchdays. I'm not a big fan of matchdays, if I'm honest,” he says. “There's a lot of just sitting about before the game. You are thinking about the game and what could happen. Then the game is on. When things are going well it's good, but you lose an element of control when the game starts. You are on the side of the pitch and I don't really enjoy that.”
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