Inside Neil Critchley's bat cave, how he wants Hearts to play and Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool lessons

“The other thing is,” McKinlay said, “Neil's worked at Liverpool, he's worked with people at Jurgen Klopp, he's worked with some really, really impressive people. I can't imagine these are people that suffer fools gladly, so I think in many ways we are lucky that we have Neil here and I'm genuinely delighted that we have him here.”

Critchley spent seven years as a coach with Liverpool from 2013 until 2020, five of which coincided with Klopp’s revitalisation of the Anfield side from perennial underachievers to Premier League and Champions League winners. He witnessed first-hand the way the German cultivated a winning culture on Merseyside. Understandably, much of what Klopp preached rubbed off on the new Hearts boss.

On the advice Klopp gave him, Critchley offered up one key nugget. “To be yourself,” he said. “I think one of his greatest strengths is his authenticity, what you see is what you get. He just had a way of speaking to people and dealing with people which I thought was fantastic. That's why he created an environment that was unique and very special. I think they got the success, not just because of the quality of the players that were there, but also because of the human aspect. I thought there was no better than him in producing that.

“I wasn't there all the time, every day, but I lived it and I had enough experiences of being around it, speaking to him to know that it was something special. It sounds a bit cheesy or corny, but they're good people. The players were a good group of people, humble, hardworking, and you can't play for Jürgen Klopp in one of his teams if you don't have certain characteristics. That's what I want to try and bring and replicate here.”

Critchley has his own restoration job on his hands. Hearts are bottom of the Premiership after eight matches, winless and low on confidence. The collapse of a team that finished third last season has been swift and stark. The ex-Blackpool man makes his Scottish football bow against St Mirren on Saturday, followed by a Europa Conference League clash with Omonia and then an Edinburgh derby against Hibs at Easter Road, all in the space of eight days. October is already a juicy month.

“I know where we are and I know the reality of the situation that we're in this moment in time,” admitted Critchley, “but I always see it as a positive. I see plenty of games, plenty of points to play for, and we can change the feeling around the place and in the club very, very quickly.

“I have to say from being around the staff and the players on Tuesday morning, and this is not meant as a negative, and I know this can happen with change, but everyone I've spoken to speaks well of the group in terms of the people. And when I've watched the games, I don't see any lack of togetherness or spirit. I just see some things maybe have not gone quite their way yet so far. There are certain aspects of the game I think we can improve on, and that'll be my immediate focus.”

Hearts fans will be keen to know what a Neil Critchley team looks like. The stats within Jamestown Analytics’ database unearthed a coach with a supposed track record of improving players. There can be little doubt the Jambos are underachieving given some of the quality within the squad.

“We want to be forward-thinking in how we play, so attack with the ball, attack without the ball, have intensity, have aggression, have the ball,” explained Critchley. “I think if you've got possession of the ball, it gives you a better chance of deciding what happens on the pitch. I think that would be some of the reasons, like the analytics in terms of the model in which we want to adopt here to take the club forward.

“But again, what I see from the team and what I've seen recently, sometimes at this moment in time you also have to do what you think is the right thing for the players and sometimes simplicity is genius and just putting the right players in the right positions and allow them to do what their attributes bring to the pitch, I think that's also something for me to consider right now.”

Critchley’s arrival at Hearts has been met with a few raised eyebrows among the Gorgie faithful, but he cannot be accused of not throwing himself into the process of becoming the new head coach. A lot of maroon has been played in the Critchley household.

Asked about what research he did on Hearts, Critchley replied: “Some of that is just from myself, visually, speaking to people who also might know a little bit about Hearts and the club and the people who are here and also then you can do your own research. I have certain people I know in the industry that can give me data to back up things that I'm seeing as well, so I've always used that in my previous jobs in terms of preparation for games, to benchmark your team after games, in recruiting players and that's what I did when I was watching Hearts, analysing them for this job.

“I was stuck away in my bat cave back at my house, stuck in front of my laptop, which I thoroughly enjoy because it gave me a purpose every day.”

Now his purpose is to win football matches, starting on Saturday.