Hearts' Maroon Adair plans to put out flames with family history by his side

Now he has been charged with the task of ensuring his beloved Hearts avoid falling to a ninth successive defeat. Still only 40, he is building a reputation as a salvage expert. The man to turn to in a time of crisis, a firefighter. A Red - or maroon – Adair, if you like, though he knows, as at Tannadice, where he was appointed head coach two years ago this week, that sometimes the structural damage is just too extensive.

He would like nothing more than to help extinguish this current crisis at Hearts. Unlike Logan Roy, Brian Cox’s character in Succession, Fox is Hearts, man and boy.

He and his dad and his dad’s best mate John used to attend games every second week, sitting in the Gorgie Stand. His great grandfather, Dick, even won a Military medal in 1917 while serving with McCrae's Battalion, the so-called footballers’ battalion so closely associated with Hearts, although he admits he’s not clued up about it all.

“You know what families are like,” he said. “They can be a bit harum scarum.” He has assigned his dad to do some more digging.

Fox has a better grasp of the recent history of Hearts. “Don't tell him this, but John Robertson was always my hero,” he said. “Scott Crabbe, Gary Mackay, all these types of players. Then later on there was the group that came through, Gary Locke, Paul Ritchie, Gaz Naismith and all that. Then Colin Cameron, I could rattle out all the names…. Stephane Adam.”

He goes back long enough to remember the old Gorgie Road end sign welcoming home and away fans to Tynecastle and which was carelessly discarded during renovations at the stadium in 1994.

It seems apt that a Hearts-supporting manager, albeit interim, should be in place on the weekend that the club officially unveils an attempt to recreate the much-loved heirloom, with a sign writer having spent the last fortnight replicating the original font on the side of the stand.

It is a stamp of authority. This is Heart of Midlothian Football Club, it is saying, this is Tynecastle Park. But while the sign is (sort of) back, the authority has faded recently.

Hearts prop up the league as Ross County come calling. They require the reassurance of home. It should be noted that although eight successive defeats are clearly beyond the pale and indeed sealed Steven Naismith’s fate on Sunday, only two of these losses have been at Tynecastle.

It has been an arduous period for a side who are due to go back on the road against next week with trips to Azerbaijan, where they face Dinamo Minsk in the Conference League, and then Aberdeen. What Hearts clearly hope is that the division and rancour of recent weeks can start to heal as they prepare to stop off at Tynecastle, where the acquisition of three points feels like a must.

During last week's defeat to St Mirren in Paisley the away fans turned on Naismith to the extent that it forced chief executive Andrew McKinlay's hand. The manager was gone within 24 hours.

Hearts have turned to Fox, who is being supported on the coaching side by Angus Beith and Lee Wallace.

All three are Tynecastle alumni. Of course Fox would prefer that this honour of leading Hearts came amid different circumstances.

"Did I ever think I would get here? No, but it's okay to dream, it's okay,” he said. “People have got to have things that they're striving for, so I'm going to give this my absolute best shot for the players and do everything we possibly can so that, when the new guy comes in, I can hopefully pass the baton on.

“I understand it's only interim,” he added. “I understand it might only be a week, but it's a huge thing for me."

He has been welcomed by the players, who, for now, still refer to him as “Foxy”. Stephen Kingsley met with reporters on Friday, always a difficult task post-managerial sacking. The interviewee involved must strike a careful balance between remorseful and optimistic. He must seek to explain that while it’s all the players’ fault for the departure of a good man and they must of course bear the heaviest responsibility, they will somehow be able to turn it on for the new man, who has energised the group with new ideas and been a breath of fresh air.

Kingsley has been through it all before, so is at least experienced. He’s not being insincere in his sorrow for Naismith, who, he recalled, was the first player to welcome him when they were Scotland squad teammates together.

“Listen, it's football, so obviously it ends with the manager,” he said, delivering an eternal truth. “It always does. That's just the nature of the beast. But every single player in the changing room feels a responsibility for the position that we're in. It was not just any member of the coaching staff, nor one single player. It's everyone together and we all feel that.”

The king is dead, long live the (interim) king. “He's come in, he's painting pictures on the training ground without bombarding us with too much information,’ said Kingsley, with reference to Fox.

Hearts’ Paisley performance was scrutinised by McKinlay during an usually detailed breakdown of Naismith’s last 90 minutes. The club released an interview with the CEO earlier this week where he laments the lack of evidence that the manager could change things at half-time.

“I've not watched it myself, sorry,” said Kingsley. “I've been working hard this week in training so I've not really managed to catch the interview.”

Supporters will expect to see evidence of such diligence on the field as they prepare to welcome one of their own into the dugout.