FOR the first time in his life, Steven Naismith isn’t involved in football.
He went from a young player at Kilmarnock to Rangers, Everton and Norwich City, then signed for Hearts, became their B-team boss and moved up to take charge of the senior side.
Steven Naismith was dismissed by Hearts in September[/caption]
Naismith, 38, retired from playing in 2021[/caption]
Yet at the age of 38, he’s now on the outside looking in.
Heralded for the way he led the Jambos to third last season and a place in Europe, he was axed in September with his side bottom of the Premiership and on an eight-game losing streak.
Since then he’s had a family holiday, watched his kids perform in events and focused on his interests away from the game.
But last week he spent time with the Scotland squad — where he had been a coach previously — and also has visits to Everton and Brighton lined up.
His quest for learning remains, but he also has a desire to see if there are other jobs in the game which might tick more boxes than management.
During his spell at the Jambos, Naismith would leave home in Stewarton at 5am every morning and return after 6pm.
He said: “I’ve enjoyed the calmness of life without football and the slower pace of it.
“When everything happened it wasn’t long until the October holidays, so I got a holiday with the family, which was good.
“All the things that get put to the side when you’re in the hustle and bustle of football and the day to day of it, and with the way it takes over your life, you can get back to doing.
“You see how quickly your kids grow up. Time passes, they hit the next step and it goes so fast.
“I’m enjoying that side of it, getting to go to every club and every sporting event my kids do.
“I’ve got some interests away from football, so I’ve managed to get a closer look at that.
“I’ve not been sitting twiddling my thumbs and bored.
“I’ve watched a lot of football and caught up with a lot of people.
From being the B-team manager to first-team manager and the time since, I’ve always wanted to meet up with people.
“I’m somebody who likes to learn. You get opportunities to see people with different clubs. I’ve not managed to do that until now, so I’m having that opportunity too.
“When you’re sacked, over the couple of weeks you find out a lot about people in the game and round about you. The goodwill I’ve had from so many people has been great.
“Loads of managers have texted and spoken to me. People have picked up the phone and offered advice and encouragement.
“But they’ve also given me the opportunity to go and see them and I’ll take a few of them up on that. I was in seeing Scotland last week, which was really good.
“It’s not just managers. I’ve got relationships with lots of people at clubs. Over the coming months I’m going to go to Everton.
“David Weir is at Brighton and there are lots of different people I’ll be chatting to.
“You want to do something you enjoy. In modern football, there are so many roles that are new or as players you don’t overly think about.
“Whatever I do, I want to make sure I make the right choices.
“Being out of the game lets you step back to understand what football’s got.
“You finish playing and it’s as if you have to make a decision. What am I going to do? Coaching, sporting director, the business side of a club, media?
“But you’ve got no experience or understanding of what each of these entail.
“I love being a manager. I love the intensity of it, that I had the control of everything day to day.
“But I’m somebody who likes to learn and wants to be doing something I enjoy. Is that being a manager? Is that something else? I don’t know.
Naisy: Not enough time to settle
STEVEN NAISMITH says he didn’t appreciate how long it might take some players to settle in at Hearts.
Seven top-team players were added to the squad during the summer. But Naismith was sacked with the Jambos bottom of the table and without a win in eight games.
He said: “I take a lot of heart from what we did. This season there was the new challenge of European football, signing players and the players coming in.
“Hearts were a bigger club than some had been at before and there was the amount of time they might take to just get settled in.
“Did I look at that enough? That’s probably one of the areas I could have done better in. But during my time most players improved. The stats and the data don’t lie and the performances we had over my first season were really good.
“I think fundamentally we had something that worked. You look at what we did in my first year as a manager.
“For two-thirds of the season our points tally was closer to the Old Firm than the rest of the league. We brought four youth players through and established them in the first team.
“The pros of taking the Hearts job are you’re at a club that’s an established, bigger club in Scotland. There’s your budget, your facilities, your support, the club in general, the structures.
“Inevitably, if you are successful, the challenge becomes bigger because you’ve got to deal with European football.”
“I’ll take time to think about it, look into every opportunity and take them on their merits.
“There’s a balance to finding something that works for you and your family and gives you the satisfaction that it’s not just a job, it’s something you want to do and you can improve.”
Amid all the rancour at the start of the season, it’s easy to forget Naismith’s achievements in his first full season as a boss.
There were home and away wins over Celtic, young players blooded and that run of 11 wins and a draw from 12 games.
It’s why he will never rule out a return to the dugout.
Naismith added: “Since Hearts, the biggest question everybody’s asked is, ‘Do you want to get back in?’.
“To this point, I’ve not. But I’m not unrealistic to think it’s not going to happen.
“If it never comes, it never comes. I think it will.
“It’s a brilliant game. It has its negatives and it’s ruthless.
“But the game and what you can do, in terms of improving people and making something better, appeals.
“It’s about not just taking a job for the sake of getting back in. It’s got to have something behind it. It’s got to mean something.
“Those are the things I’ll look at before making any decision.
“Before the Hearts job, I spoke to Kilmarnock and St Mirren. When I spoke to Killie, I wasn’t ready and it wasn’t a job that would have suited me or them.
“There are levels, but for me that’s irrelevant. The biggest thing is where the club wants to go and what resources they have to get there.
“That might be as a manager, an assistant, or something not on the football side at all.”
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