Steven Naismith says 'nothing has changed' on return as Hearts head coach

Steven Naismith says "nothing has changed" following his appointment as Hearts head coach.

He therefore become technical director, with Frank McAvoy as head coach. Following Hearts' Europa League exit, Naismith is back in charge.

"It's more a paper thing than anything else," he said.

"Obviously, there were discussions going on way back to last season in what the options were to move forward. We found a solution to that and we went with that.

"Nothing has changed behind the scenes from the time we took over for the seven games [of last season] until now. It will be much more of the same."

• Visit our Hearts page for all the latest news, analysis and fan views
• You can now get Hearts news notifications in the BBC Sport app - find out more

A Uefa study revealed more than 760 managers lost their job in the last year.

And Naismith commented: "Do I understand it and expect it? Yes. If you are a coach and having thoughts on becoming a manager and wanting to lead a team and a project you have to think about all the outcomes and what could happen.

"Do I think it's right? It probably isn't. The thirst for success and instant success is in football. Every year the revenue goes up, the money getting spent is higher, the expectation becomes greater but the one thing that's probably been consistent is there are not many teams that have from gone wanting to be successful and that happening overnight.

"I am pretty comfortable and calm and believe in what I do, what we want to do as a club to be a success and I believe that we will be successful over time."

Meanwhile, Naismith revealed defender Alex Cochrane took a knock in training and will be out for around six weeks, with winger Barrie McKay facing a similar length of time out.

• Our coverage of Hearts is bigger and better than ever before - here's everything you need to know to make sure you never miss a moment
• Everything Hearts - go straight to all the best content