Liam Fox answers the question on whether he will manage again - and outlines a new Hearts culture

Returning Riccarton coach is clear on what demands he will place on the Tynecastle youngsters.

Sitting in a quiet corner inside Tynecastle Park, Liam Fox is pensive when asked about the future. He is beginning a fourth spell with Hearts and might want to research his family for Australian heritage given he comes back here more than a boomerang. This time, he is convinced it is for the long term.

Management stints at Cowdenbeath and Dundee United didn’t work out, and the 39-year-old left a first-team coaching position at Aberdeen just a few weeks ago. His family are settled in the Edinburgh area. He will manage the Hearts B team next season after previously playing for the club, then returning to coach their youths, leaving for Cowdenbeath and then going back to Hearts as first-team coach in 2017.

Fox has worn maroon shirts since childhood and makes no apology for not being able to keep away from the place. It is almost as much ‘home’ as the family house he shares with his wife and kids just a few miles away. He looks content, perhaps even slightly relieved, to be back in football so quickly after exiting Pittodrie.

He was United manager until February this year before being dismissed, and enjoyed working briefly with Barry Robson at Aberdeen. The new role with Hearts B team would be regarded as a fair step down from the Premiership management and coaching positions he held very recently. There is no agitation for Fox who, at 39, is still very much in the infancy of his coaching career.

“I really enjoyed working as assistant manager and manager at United for the last three years. Then I was first-team coach at Aberdeen. They were great experiences for me,” he tells the Evening News. “People maybe look at Aberdeen finishing third and getting guaranteed European group-stage football and think this is a step back for me. I don't look at it that way. This role gives you massive satisfaction, building relationships with players and seeing them develop.

“They either play in the first team here or hopefully have a career elsewhere. It's not about ego and status. If it was, I'd have stayed in my previous job [at Aberdeen]. I'm here for job satisfaction at a club where I have a really good connection. I actually take a bit of pride in the fact I've come back here a number of times. It shows, hopefully, that people rate my work and value me.”

He will almost certainly have another crack at management one day, but not in the near future. “You can never close the door on anything. It didn't end the way I wanted it to [at United] but the experience of it and reflecting on it, I'm actually quite pleased with some of what we did. Ultimately a manager is judged by winning games and we didn't do that enough. There is no hiding from that. This next period of my career is making sure I prepare these young players as best I can to chap on the manager's door.

Liam Fox is back at Hearts and will coach the club's B team next season. Pic: SNS

“The way I'm going to do it is to work on the culture and drive them on every day. They have to recognise the privilege they have at Hearts. I know from experience that your career goes in the blink of an eye. I'm there to help and support but I'm not there to be their mate. I will help them and drive them. Because of my personality, if they are all-in then they will have someone they can trust and rely on for the rest of their careers.”

Hearts issued extended contracts to 17 young players in the last few months and will again deploy their B team in next season’s Lowland League. Fox takes charge after predecessor Steven Naismith’s promotion to technical director. In truth, Hearts could enter an over-40s team in a pub league and Fox would probably still be tempted to get involved.

“Being here is a major pull and it always will be. I'm delighted to be back and looking forward to getting started. I feel I'm walking back in here with a far more experience, a far better coach, older and wiser,” he says. “I'll work with the B team and there will be some coach education stuff with the academy coaches. My priority is making sure the young players work to their maximum to give themselves the best opportunity to reach the first team.

“There is responsibility and pressure but that's one of the things I actually thrive on. We have a group of players that the club have high hopes for. It's up to me and the staff to push them, work them, help them, educate and support them. You can help players in different ways. You can give them a shoulder to cry on, you can listen to them, and you can give them a sharp dose of reality now and again, which is also necessary.

“It's very difficult to go through an academy and break into a first team, especially one as strong as Hearts. That's the challenge. Hearts supporters love nothing more than seeing a young boy break into the first team. There is a pathway there, but nothing is given. The players need to work, make sacrifices and earn it.”

No sooner had he departed Aberdeen than he was in talks with Hearts officials about returning to a development role at Riccarton. “Being adaptable is a huge strength. I love being on a training pitch and this opportunity came up at a club that means a hell of a lot to me. I think I can make a difference and that's why I took it.

“Everyone at Aberdeen was brilliant with me. I had to make a decision based on what is best for me. I spoke to Joe, Naisy and Ann and I was excited by what they wanted me to do and how I could effect things here. It didn't take me long to decide.”