Hearts front up but fans still seeking answers as one man ready to risk it all for club he loves

You know the type – chairs arranged in a semi-circle in front of a table. Interviewees happy – well, seemingly happy – to talk as opposed to being hindered by a club issued decree to blank straightforward questions following such a significant event as the sacking of a manager.

“No further comment will be made at this time,” said a statement released by the club announcing Neil Critchley’s abrupt departure following last Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Dundee. As we know, the club delivered on this promise, which some noted was a novel change given recent weeks and months.

A pledge made by chief executive Andrew McKinlay to finish in the top six went by the wayside while his more recent hope that Hearts will “put things to bed fairly quickly after the split” was also rendered somewhat forlorn following last weekend’s loss on a toxic afternoon at Tynecastle. It has left them with work to do to avoid the relegation play-off spot ahead of this weekend’s perilous-looking trip to face Ross County.

Given the tendency for things to blow up in their face, some might suggest it’s little wonder Hearts chose not to say anything at all after Critchley’s departure. However, it did look very poor as senior club personnel ignored a reporter at a club function the following night.

Even now, although skipper Lawrence Shankland and returning interim manager Liam Fox have belatedly spoken, and spoken well, some supporters are not content. They feel it ought to have been figures of authority in the form of McKinlay or even Ann Budge, the chairwoman, explaining things in front of journalists.

Without a league goal in four games, Hearts have been thrust back into a relegation battle. It might be the fringes of one for the time being, but if they fall to defeat in Dingwall on Saturday they will have been dragged right back into the mire.

It is a cup final, if not the one they were dreaming about a couple of weeks ago. Little has gone right since Critchley sat and previewed the semi-final against Aberdeen. Even then there was discord in the air with Hearts having failed to secure a top six place.

Such unhappiness reached more toxic levels after the Dundee defeat, which saw Critchley fired. The club pushed ahead with their player of the year awards night 24 hours later. It was a masterpiece of bad timing made worse by staff having been unfairly hamstrung by a clear directive from on high to say nothing about the likeable manager’s departure.

Budge will wish she had maintained this stance as opposed to jauntily describing the loss of someone’s job as “yesterday’s news” before diving in through the doors of the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. It was crass and crowned a few minutes of footage that reflected terribly on a club already in the firing line for a statement pinning their Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Aberdeen on the referee, John Beaton.

When something really did require a reaction, such as firing a manager hired little more than six months earlier following a much-vaunted data-led process, all we got were sealed lips and what some perceived as smirks.

Fair play, then, to Fox and Shankland for coming out and admitting that, yes, it might have been handled better. The former did look a little wary as he eyed the variety of microphones and Dictaphones on the table in front of him. Fox was the first to brush aside a Sky Sports reporter on Sunday night as club staff arrived at the ceremony. He can be forgiven for failure to think straight as he contemplates stepping back into a routine that he knows all too well. He said there was “no hesitation” on his part when he was asked to lead the team for the second time this season, having already taken caretaker charge when Steven Naismith was sacked in the Autumn.

He agreed it’s a risk. If Hearts were to suffer an implosion and end up in a relegation play-off, it’s reasonable to wonder if Fox, who endured a troubled time after taking over from Jack Ross at Dundee United two seasons ago, might ever work as a manager again.

“All I ever wanted to do was play for Hearts as a player,” he said in response. “I fell short of that. It's fine, that happens. I moved on. When I came back I started my coaching career here and they maybe seen a bit of potential in me.

“You'd have to ask somebody else on that. But I went away, I've worked hard and if somebody had said to me, if you're going to risk personal failure or personal glory for any reason, I'll risk it for this football club.”

His passion for Hearts won’t ever be in doubt. It’s a qualification Critchley, despite showing up so well on the data front, could never hope to fulfil to the satisfaction of supporters. Like a fan standing at the bar of the Tynecastle Arms, Fox wasn’t sugar coating anything. The team that finished third last season are in a relegation fight.

“I could sit here and say to you this, that and the other,” he said firmly. “But the reality is I'm okay with saying that because I think we are in a battle and I'm okay with the players knowing that because that's where we are,” he said.

“I always like to be somebody that tells the truth and doesn't dress things up. I don't need to tell the players that and I'm not going to tell the players that. If they don't realise that themselves then we're in trouble.

“We treat them like adults. They've been first class this week on the training pitch. I've enjoyed working with them again, leading them. But we're coming to the point now where it's alright me saying this and me saying that. Talk's cheap. It's about producing when it needs to matter and this weekend it's on Saturday at three o’clock.”