Steven Naismith ducked out of attending yesterday’s Hearts AGM.
The rookie boss is deeply unpopular among Hearts supporters who expected an upgrade when Robbie Neilson was sacked soon after back-to-back defeats against Celtic in the spring.
Hearts went in-house to promote Naismith from the B team but under the former Scotland striker they lost out on third place in the SPFL to Aberdeen.
The permanent appointment of Naismith didn’t go down well with Hearts fans with a dismal start to the season seeing the club crash out of the UEFA Conference qualifiers while trailing St Mirren in the SPFL Premiership.
Managers are expected to show face at the AGM for a rare interaction with supporters but anticipating the hostility wee Naisy ducked out of yesterday’s meeting at Tynecastle despite over 10,000 contributors to the Hearts Foundation that saved their club from liquidation in 2013.
The Daily Record reports:
Naismith missed the AGM to prepare the team for tomorrow’s trip to Celtic, but McKinlay vowed to make the 37-year-old rookie boss aware of what was said by shareholders. He added: “You always want to go into an agm off the back of a great win at the weekend, so it was always going to be a day of some difficult questions. I don’t think any were unreasonable.
“He’ll see it. I will sit down with him but he is well aware of the noise that goes on. It’s not as if he ignores it, he understands it. He’s a football person, he gets it. He gets you have got to get the fans on board and give them something they want to get on board with. He fully believes he can do that.”
After his first managerial trip to Celtic tomorrow Naismith’s side hosts St Mirren next weekend before a derby match at Easter Road on December 27.