I know that I’m narky but I’m not going to change my ways now
IT’S the grit in the oyster that makes the pearl, the detailed streak of devil that turns a competitor into a winner. Just ask any opponent driven halfway to demented by Steven Naismith’s all-action, all-aggro approach to every single minute of every single game.
At this late stage of a career spent barking at team-mates and rivals alike, the Scottish Premiership’s leading scorer is hardly about to undertake some vow of on-field silence.
The 32-year-old always has been a narky wee scrapper with the skill to complement the attitude. Probably always will be.
‘Aye, that’s a given!’ said Naismith, grinning wickedly as it was put to him that he does enjoy noising up the opposition.
‘But it’s all football. It is what it is. I’ve been on the other side, the one being wound up, and I know how it feels.
‘To me, it’s just part of the game. The biggest thing is when you play against somebody — then you go into the national team and they are your team-mate.
‘There’s that awkward moment when you think: “Right, how is he going to take to me?”
‘But look, everybody that knows me and understands what I’m like will know. I think there definitely are two different characters there. But that’s probably just down to a winning mentality and being competitive.
‘It’s not a new thing. It’s maybe just a smaller stadium so you can hear me more!
‘Literally, from my first games at Kilmarnock, there have always been two things you could guarantee. I will ask questions. And I will give information, as much as I can.’
Naismith’s offers of advice aren’t always restricted to team-mates, of course; there are days when he seems willing to share his opinion with the referee at every throw-in.
Objecting slightly to the idea that he’s always pestering officials, the Scotland striker insisted: ‘In fairness, if you look at any of my bookings, not many are for dissent. I’ve got a good relationship with referees, I think.
‘But, no, if I think I can give my team-mate information to help him, I will. That will never change, to be honest.’
Tomorrow at Murrayfield, the former Kilmarnock, Rangers and Norwich striker — definitely not averse to signing for Hearts once his loan expires along with his Carrow Road contract at the end of the summer — will be given the warmest of welcomes by around 30,000 Celtic fans.
‘I’ve had more than that before,’ he said. ‘It will not change how I’m going to play, anyway.’
Hearts fans wouldn’t have him any other way, not merely because he’s scored seven league goals and four in the Betfred Cup. So far.
Naismith so often sets the tone for the entire team, leading the high press and generating energy out of unpromising situations. In a team bristling with experience, he leads from the front.
And now he stands one game away from a major cup final. One small step for a player of his experience. One giant leap for Jambo-kind?
‘It’s a very big moment if you look at Hearts’ recent history,’ he said. ‘They’ve been through so much stuff over the last four, five years and they now have this aura of calmness, time to make the right decisions — to build things and not just plaster over the cracks, if you like.
‘There are more foundations being put down and huge credit must go to the fans, but Ann (Budge) and the gaffer inside the club are the ones that have definitely driven that. The next level is winning something.’
Having arrived midway through last season, escaping his own kind of purgatory at Norwich and helping Hearts recover from the Ian Cathro experiment, Naismith can testify to the nature of a team transformed over the summer.
‘The manager has built a squad that has a lot of hunger in it and, from when I was here last season to this year, it’s about being top of the league and challenging, getting to semi-finals, finals — that is the
next stage,’ he said. ‘We’ve had a lot of moments this season that could have gone one way or the other with the squad.
‘First of all Christophe Berra getting injured, then we have John Souttar and Uche Ikpeazu getting injured, our first defeat at Ibrox... But then we’ve rattled out two good performances and scored some goals and won very well.
‘We have jumped these hurdles every time — and this is just the next one. That air of confidence has been built from pre-season right through until now.
‘That comes from having a group of older, experienced players who understand these situations.
‘Also, the majority of young players here aren’t fazed by anything. They all have their own agenda.
‘Jimmy Dunne, his next step is to do it here and then show that he can play for the Burnley first team. Demi Mitchell is the same with Manchester United. Callumn Morrison is desperate to do well at Hearts and become a regular and then hopefully get in the national team and then whatever.
‘The boys who have come from Australia want to make it in Europe, so Hearts is a good place for them to be at the moment. All these things make up why there is a good team ethic here.
‘There hasn’t been any talk of this being a big cup semi-final match. The players haven’t once said: “This is a semi-final”. It is just the next game for us.
‘For me and all the experience that I have had in football, that is a better way to be than building up a big semi-final. There are no prizes at stake for winning a semi-final.’
As league leaders, Hearts should be confident heading just along the road to Murrayfield tomorrow.
Certainly, there’s a feeling — one liable to be proven wrong in brutal fashion should Celtic click, admittedly — that the reigning champions are no longer quite so untouchable as they were a year or two ago.
‘What has changed is that the teams around about Celtic are better,’ said Naismith.
‘You have now got a core group of six teams who have been consistent since the start of the season.
‘It is a harder job for Celtic now to juggle European games and league and cup fixtures.
‘Recruitment, as well, has played a big part at clubs. Hearts have recruited well and it has worked out for us; others may have missed targets. It has definitely all played its part.’
So has the attitude brought to virtually every game by Hearts. Led by the gritty forward who gets under the skin like few others — and then bangs in the goals, adding injury to insult.
While telling you all about it.