Hearts dressing room silence broken on Neil Critchley sacking as award nominee makes admission
Teenager is first from Tynecastle to have say on managerial departure
Hearts forward James Wilson has admitted that the players must share responsibility for the sacking of head coach Neil Critchley as the teenager became the first from his club to publicly address the matter.
Critchley was relieved of his duties less than two hours after Saturday's 1-0 defeat by Dundee at Tynecastle which followed on from a Scottish Cup semi-final loss to Aberdeen and failure to secure a top six place in the Scottish Premiership.
Wilson scored six goals in 27 appearances under Critchley after being given a regular chance in the first-team by the former Queen's Park Rangers and Blackpool boss following his appointment in October.
The 18-year-old broke the club’s silence on Critchley's sacking after interim head coach Liam Fox, captain Lawrence Shankland and chairwomen Ann Budge blanked the Sky Sports cameras ahead of the club's Player of the Year awards in Edinburgh on Sunday, with Budge facing criticism for laughing off the decision as "yesterday's news".
Wilson was more tactile in his response to questions regarding the manager's departure as he faced the media at an event to mark his announcement as one of four nominees for the PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year award.
Asked how difficult the past few days have been, he told Sky Sports: "Yeah, I mean, I scored in his first game and he [Critchley] gave me a lot of opportunities. It's football. We have to move on and finish the season well. There's four games to go now and we're looking to win every game.
"We as players have to take some responsibilty in the fact that we probably haven't performed well enough on the pitch. We all have to share that responsibiilty."
With four games remaining Hearts still have work to do to secure their Premiership status with Saturday’s opponents Ross County just five points behind them in the relegation play-off position.
Despite his tender years, Wilson spoke with maturity about the need for Hearts to get frustrated supporters back onside after a disappointing campaign.
"You hear it in the stadium," he said. "I know growing up in the Hearts academy that where we are now is not where we are expected to be. We need to fight really hard to get back to where we should be. We just hope to finish the season well and come into next season with a really strong mentality."
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