Revealed: Hearts squad held 'players only' meeting after loss to St Mirren

Hearts held a ‘players only’ meeting inside the dressing room following Saturday’s 2-0 loss to St Mirren – less than 24 hours before manager Robbie Neilson was sacked.

Neilson had been saying for weeks hat they need to move possession quicker, fight for loose balls and tighten up defensively, but the problems were still there on show against St Mirren, who are now just a point behind Hearts in fifth place.

After Neilson and his coaching staff addressed the players in the dressing room following Saturday’s defeat, the players themselves decided it was best to air some home truths as they dream of qualifying for the group stages of European competition for the second year running begins to fade.

“We had a wee meeting in the changing room after but to be honest, these things need to change, the penny needs to drop,” said a frustrated Stephen Kingsley. “We thought we had been through that spell and trying to get things sorted for this game and get the win but it seems like it’s the same mistakes again so there is only so much you can say about it.

A helpless Hearts defence watch on as Mark O'Hara's shot is deflected into the back of the net off Alex Gogic. Picture: SNS

“I think everything needs to stay in-house in the next couple of days, a couple of things that need to be addressed and we need to go and win, there is nothing else that can be accepted next week now and then we’ll push on from there.”

“A bit of both,” replied the Scottish international when asked if it was players and management, “initially everyone together and then after a while it was a bit quiet and the players had a meeting ourselves for a good 20, 25 minutes.

“Hopefully it makes a bit of difference in the coming days when we actually get things said and off our chest. But things need to change, words are words aren’t they? You can talk all day but at the end of the day things need to change. The club doesn’t deserve to go on a run of six losses out of seven, fans don’t deserve that.”

Saturday’s defeat saw Hearts slip from third to fourth in the table for the first time in 2023 and continue a dreadful recent run which has seen them lose six of seven games.