Macphee says focus is putting soul into Hearts
Austin Macphee last night insisted he was relaxed about his future. The Hearts interim manager is one of a number of candidates to replace the departed Craig Levein, who was sacked after a run of poor results.
Also in the mix are Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson, Jack Ross – also a leading contender for the vacant Hibs post – and Ian Holloway, who was linked with Hearts more than a decade ago!
But the scale of last night’ s 5-2 success against St Mirren looks to have given the Northern Irishman, also vying for the sporting director role at Hearts vacated by Levein, an edge.
“We scored five goals for the first time since August 2016. We scored three goals for the first time in over a year and won at home for the first time in seven months so there wasn’t a lot to be disappointed about,” said Macphee.
“I said before the game that it was very important the club won for the appropriate time to be taken to set the infrastructure here at Hearts and allow everybody time to relax a little bit.
“I’ m enjoying this role, my record in this role ( spread across two spells) is very good, with four wins out of five. “And there will be a conversation at a point in time about my future but the most important thing is the club follows this up with a similarly good performance at Kilmarnock.
“When things are more defined we will be able to see what options there are.
“Whoever gets these jobs should be held accountable for bringing consistent Europa League football. “There are good players here and a very good infrastructure.”
Because of the international break, Hearts don’t play until November 23 when they are away at Kilmarnock. While that would look an ideal opportunity to introduce a new boss, Macphee believes the situation will be unchanged by then.
“My opinion is there is a review of where we are and then a recruitment process for a sporting director and also a head coach,” he said.
“I don’t think that can happen thoroughly enough in two weeks. “Hopefully today the supporters see that, if I have a week with the team, I can get the team full of energy and on the front foot.
“If the team does that in the interim period then it allows the people making the decisions more time. In my experience when you have more time you make better decisions.
“My role is to steady the ship, get the team on the front foot and moving up the league.”