Heart of Midlothian

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Scottish FA head of referees Willie Collum has highlighted a controversial incident involving Hearts in the opening four weeks of the new season but concluded officials got the decisions correct.

Collum analysed eight controversial incidents in The VAR Review, a new monthly show on the Scottish FA's YouTube channel, concluding that he was "content with the start we've made".

However, he said that Celtic should have been awarded a penalty in their 4-0 win over Kilmarnock, while Dundee United ought to have had a spot-kick for hand ball in their 2-2 draw with Dundee - both on the opening weekend.

Hearts 0-0 Rangers - 3 August

Hearts thought they should have had a penalty when Yan Dhanda's cross struck Connor Barron's elbow at Tynecastle.

Collum said this incident "shows the direction of travel we want to take with handball" since he took charge, highlighting the short distance between the two players and Barron's arm being tight to his body.

"There was a lack of understanding of many hand balls last season," he said. "Probably last season, that would have been awarded.

"But, for us, the key point is that the arm is tucked into the body. The player does not make his body bigger."

Head coach Steven Naismith says some of his summer signings need time to realise the pressure that comes with playing for a bigger club like Heart of Midlothian. (Hearts Standard), external

Read Wednesday's Scottish gossip

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Hearts defender Kye Rowles had to settle for a late appearance off the bench as Australia's World Cup qualifying travails continued with a goalless draw at Indonesia.

Despite an improved performance from the shock opening home defeat by Bahrain, the Socceroos couldn't find a breakthrough in Jakarta.

Rowles played the final four minutes, while Hearts midfielder Cammy Devlin was an unused substitute.

Earlier on Tuesday, Tynecastle full-back Gerald Taylor earned his eighth cap as Costa Rica drew 0-0 at Guatemala to make it four points from their first two games in Concacaf Nations League Group A1.

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Former Hearts and Scotland manager George Burley is being treated for cancer, Ipswich Town have said.

The 68-year-old ex-Scotland international, who also managed the national team from January 2008 to November 2009, was diagnosed after feeling unwell earlier this year.

Burley took charge at Tynecastle in summer 2005, leading Hearts to the top of the table with a superb 10-game unbeaten run at the start of the league season.

However, rumours persisted of an uneasy relationship with major shareholder Vladimir Romanov, and Burley's tenure lasted just four months before he departed because of what the club called "irreconcilable differences" with the board.

Burley played for Ipswich from 1973 to 1985 and completed 500 appearances for the club. He was manager at Ipswich from 1994 to 2002.

"It has been a difficult time, but I am feeling much brighter now," Burley said. "In fact, I am able to get to matches at Portman Road and I am enjoying watching the team playing back in the Premier League.

"We are grateful to the club for the support they have shown me and my family and I would ask that everyone is respectful of our privacy at this time."

Nick McPheat
BBC Sport Scotland

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Seven games. Six defeats. One draw. Zero wins.

After cruising to a third-placed finish last term, Hearts' start to the new campaign has been a miserable one.

It is a sharp demise few have seen coming, especially after delivering an impressive opening-day performance in their draw with Rangers last month.

Since that Premiership opener, it has been a run of six straight losses, during which Hearts have been dumped out of the League Cup and Europa League qualifying.

Heading into the first international break, Steven Naismith's side sit second bottom of the table with just one point from four league games.

So where has it gone wrong?

At the top end of the pitch, goals have dried up big time.

The two Hearts have scored across all competitions this season have come in the league - neither of those have come from talismanic striker Lawrence Shankland, who is yet to get off the mark after scoring 31 times last term.

However, the team's total expected goals (xG) of 4.1 across their first four league games shows the chances have been there for Naismith's side to have at least double their current goals tally.

The Gorgie men have also posted 120 touches in the opposition box - the third-highest total in the league - which proves the team are getting themselves into attacking areas.

Although only 11 shots on target have come from those touches, underlying numbers like these can often suggest the goals will eventually arrive, but there are also concerns to address defensively.

According to Opta, Hearts have made two errors leading to goals they have conceded - the most the league - while conceding seven from an xG against total of 6.06.

Following the news of his contract extension last month, coupled with last season's success, no knee-jerk reaction can be expected in relation to the future of Naismith, who has has demonstrated his ability as a promising young coach.

But the above issues will need fixing soon before they spiral into damaging trends.

Midfielder Calem Nieuwenhof, 23, was omitted from Hearts' Conference League squad over concerns about a hamstring problem. (Edinburgh Evening News - subscription), external

Read Saturday's Scottish gossip

BBC Sport Scotland chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering your questions.

Stephen asked: Such a disappointment thus far and the exit from Europe exposed the lack of energy on the pitch and the void of technical expertise off it to make changes and motivate the team. Does Steven Naismith have the football IQ to pull Hearts out of this decline or should the board make a brave decision and make an early change of management?

Tom answered: I know a lot of Hearts fans want the change made now, Stephen. I suspect that the board will give the manager another three or four or maybe five games to see if he can turn it around.

They'll want to be seen to be giving him every chance. That's fair enough, but I was never a fan of the appointment in the first place. A club like Hearts needs an experienced operator in the chair. Now that Lawrence Shankland's goals have dried up, the manager's inexperience is being seen in its full light.

One of the problems is that in their next five games they have Celtic (away), St Mirren (away), Dinamo Minsk (away) and Aberdeen (away). That's a fiendish run when you're looking to prove you have things under control. They also have Ross County at home in the middle of that run - the most must-win game in Naismith's brief managerial career.

Publicly and privately they're backing the manager, but they're not blind to what is going on. The Tynecastle crowd has made its feelings abundantly clear. 'Improve quickly or else' seems to cover the situation as it stands.

Gez asked: Hearts fans deserve much better than the miserable start we've had, but bearing in mind we are similar in size of support and resources to Aberdeen, Hibs and Dundee United (when they fill the ground out), do you think some of our frustration is born out of expecting third and cup finals every season when that won't always happen?

Tom answered: I think the fans now expect third, Gez, and it's not an unreasonable expectation. There are only a very small number of teams who are in with a realistic shot at third and I'd say, on paper, Hearts have the best squad of the lot.

The team is boring to watch right now. They're not scoring goals, not entertaining, there's very little cohesion and no discernible sign of a gameplan and they're losing games. The constant chopping and changing of players and systems does not inspire confidence in the management team. These are tricky times.

About the fans expecting third in the league and cup runs, it's not unrealistic for supporters to expect better than what they've been getting this season.

BBC Sport Scotland chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering your questions.

Ian asked: Has Steven Naismith lost the dressing room, with rotation and different formations every game?

Tom answered: Hi Ian. The honest answer is I don’t know. There’s no leaks coming out that I know of, but things are not right. That's obvious.

Naismith has a tendency to push the blame on to his players - sometimes fully deserved - without saying much about his own endless tinkering with players and formations. That's never a good look. Stephen Kingsley at right-back? Er... that cannot be going down well in the dressing room.

Lawrence Shankland made Naismith's life a whole lot easier last season, but the Shankland of before is not the same as the one we're seeing now, so there's no protection for the manager, no free-scoring striker papering over the cracks.

Does the manager know his best team and best formation? I really don't think he does. There's a lot of confusion. Hearts have become very dull to watch. This will only go on for so long before a change is made. He needs to get his skates on.

Ross asked: Do you think the Hearts board's conservatism on player and staff budgets (ie bargain basement player shopping and no head-hunting of top managers) is hampering ability to take the next step?

Tom answered: Promoting Naismith was always a gamble. No managerial experience, no real suggestion he he had the experience and ability to take Hearts on as his first job in management. His spell as interim manager was overblown, I think. There was nothing in there to point to him being the solution.

At least one board member wanted Marti Cifuentes, now at QPR, but Naismith’s 'star quality' won the day. That and his apparent support for playing young players from the academy. No sign of that happening this season.

Last season went well, in fairness, but the Shankland Factor was enormous. Lord knows where Hearts would have finished without him.

The squad is okay, it's just punching below its weight right now. If Shankland finds his best stuff then things will change quickly. Otherwise, well, we know what's going to happen.

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Calem Nieuwenhof and summer signing Musa Drammeh have been omitted from Hearts' squad for the Conference League.

Also missing out is third-choice goalkeeper Ryan Fulton after Steven Naismith named a 42-man pool, including 'B' list academy players.

Australian midfielder Nieuwenhof has been sidelined since suffering a hamstring injury in March, although he is back in individual training.

Spanish forward Drammeh, 22, has yet to feature for Hearts since arriving from Sevilla.

Gerald Taylor, Yan Dhanda and Andres Salazar are among the summer signings that have been included in the squad.

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Local favourite Kye Rowles endured an unhappy homecoming as Australia were stunned 1-0 by Bahrain in a World Cup qualifying upset.

Hearts defender Rowles played the full 90 minutes on the Gold Coast, where he had grown up and played junior football.

Tynecastle team-mate Cammy Devlin was an unused substitute in the defeat that saw the Socceroos reduced to 10 men in the closing stages when striker Kusini Yengi was shown a straight red for a high kick to the neck of Sayed Baqer.

Former Dundee United defender Harry Souttar then netted an 89th-minute own goal to hand Bahrain a shock win.

The defeat in the opening game of the third round of Asian qualifying leaves the Aussies playing catch-up in a group that also features Japan and Saudi Arabia, with the top two guaranteed a place at the 2026 World Cup.

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

This season could barely have started more poorly for Hearts. And yet after the opening draw with Rangers all appeared to be rosy on the horizon.

However, five straight defeats against teams who last season would barely have tested Hearts means serious questions are now being asked.

Regular readers of this column will know my thoughts on how recruitment is the most important part of any football club.

And while many will feel the pre-contract signings of James Penrice, Yan Dhanda and Blair Spittal were good to have on board, none of those have started the season strongly and are taking time to adjust to life at Tynecastle.

The 'project' signings of Andres Salazar and Gerald Taylor have also had mixed results and the jury is still out on whether either of those will make a significant impact at the club.

Then you look at the established players. Lawrence Shankland, Barrie McKay, Craig Halkett, Liam Boyce and others have for various reasons failed to fire this campaign.

As so often happens though when things go wrong, the buck stops with the manager. Steven Naismith has admitted he has made mistakes, particularly in the changes he made after that opening match against Rangers.

The appointment of Graeme Jones as sporting director should help. He leaves his job as performance director at the SFA and will quickly realise there is little honeymoon period in club football.

But he will not have a magic wand to change things immediately.

The match calendar has also not been kind to Hearts with trips to Celtic, St Mirren, Dynamo Minsk in Azerbaijan and Aberdeen all coming up in the next five weeks. Hearts' only home match in that period is Ross County at the end of September.

Naismith knows results must improve. He also knows the fans will not take much more of the fare on offer so far this season.

He is an honest guy, though, and if he feels he cannot take this team forward then he will walk before any decision by the board is taken to move him on.

There will be lots of talks taking place behind the scenes at the club in the next two weeks to ensure an upturn in fortunes occurs and the fans will want to see that happen sooner rather than later.

Kye Rowles admits that fellow Australia defender Nathaniel Atkinson is waiting for an opportunity to leave Hearts after the 25-year-old was made available for transfer. (Edinburgh Evening News), external

Read Thursday's Scottish Gossip in full here.

Get your questions ready.

Tom English, BBC Sport Scotland's chief sportswriter, is in the hotseat and ready to offer his insight and opinion on your club.

Four games into the Premiership campaign, what would you like to ask?

Put your questions to our man here, external.

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Hearts have appointed "top operator" Graeme Jones to lead the club's football operations as sporting director.

Jones will relinquish his role as Scottish FA performance director to take the Tynecastle post vacated by Joe Savage in July.

Hearts say Jones will "oversee all aspects of the club’s football department, leading on performance, recruitment, academy and supporting both men's and women's team footballing matters".

He became SFA performance director last November after six years as the governing body's head of high performance which followed two years as head of football science and medicine.

CEO Andrew McKinlay said: "I’m extremely pleased that Graeme has agreed to join us as our new sporting director.

"The role is a pivotal one within the football club and, as such, it was crucial that our recruitment process was thorough, not rushed, and focused on finding the right individual.

"In Graeme, I believe we have that individual. He has huge experience in the game across many different functions, and his reputation within the Scottish FA is peerless.

"We’re getting a top operator, someone with the determination and the ability to drive standards as high as they can possibly be and I’m certain the club will reap the benefits of having Graeme as its sporting director."

Rangers, Hull City and Preston North End were all talking with Hearts in the final days of the summer transfer window about Lawrence Shankland but refused to meet the Edinburgh club's asking price in excess of £3m for the 28-year-old Scotland striker. (HITC), external

Read all of Wednesday's Scottish Gossip

Greg Playfair
Fan writer

As soon as Dundee United's Ross Graham wheeled away in celebration after putting his side 1-0 up against us on Sunday, Jambos in attendance at Tynecastle knew the game was over despite there being 14 minutes plus injury time to go.

It's now nine matches without a victory and with a trip to Celtic Park to come followed by a visit to Paisley to face St Mirren, you have to worry where a point is coming from never mind a win.

I was optimistic going into last week’s Europa League play-off against Victoria Plzen that we could get the victory, but we were second best to a side who were definitely there for the taking.

United manager Jim Goodwin copied the Czech side's sit-behind-the-ball blueprint and we were again devoid of any idea on how to combat it.

I'm now concerned Steven Naismith doesn’t know how to address this alarming slump in form.

He has stressed the new signings need time to bed in, which is understandable, but he is constantly chopping and changing starting line-ups with, averaging four to five alterations each game.

A lot of my Jambos mates have lost patience and want Naismith removed from his position, citing the international break as a perfect time to kick off the managerial search.

The problem with that idea is the Hearts board will have zero intentions of replacing a man they rewarded with a new contract just weeks ago.

They'll point to the fact we had a similar start last year and he turned it round, but there's key differences this time. Firstly, we have European fixtures so will be playing almost twice a week until Christmas, something we have already struggled with.

Secondly, Aberdeen are 11 points ahead of us after just four games, so you could argue third place is already unobtainable and that would be an embarrassing admission to make in September.

I definitely want Naismith to succeed but something needs to change in order to kickstart our season. Whether he needs to freshen up his own coaching staff or sign a free agent striker, the board must decide to back him or not.

Scottish FA performance director Graeme Jones is reportedly in the frame for a role at Hearts. (Daily Record), external

Read all of Tuesday's Scottish Gossip, external

Hearts fans, we asked for your views after Sunday's Scottish Premiership defeat to Dundee United.

Here's what some of you had to say:

Anon: The management team don’t appear to understand what is wrong and how to correct it. The problems exist throughout the team. Does Craig Gordon contribute positively to the defence? I'm not sure. A bloated squad must affect the team’s morale. Hearts don’t appear to have the capacity to play effectively in Europe and domestically.

Mally: Clearly no idea of attacking tactics, no pace, lack of running into space, slow and poor decision making both on and off the pitch. My family have been Hearts supporters since the 1930s and have seen poor games and bad results, but that was one of the worst performances ever.

Derrick: Another cheap appointment gone wrong, Steven Naismith is blaming everyone but himself. If his public demeanour is the same as he shows on the training ground and when communicating with players, no wonder Hearts are so poor. No strategy on the pitch, definite lack of motivational skills and most importantly out of his depth at a club as big as Hearts. He’s got to go now.

Craig: We set a precedent that losing five games in a row was enough to lose your job with Robbie Neilson. I said at the time it’s a dangerous one to set and we should be careful what we wish for, we either need to commit or keep cycling managers. I do believe he can turn this around once the new signings gel but we have been poor.

Bryan: Last season Lawrence Shankland and his goals got us third place, but now when the chips are down we are seeing the cracks appear. Naismith has lost control and doesn’t turn it around from here. The money we will spend getting rid will be nothing compared to the money we will lose on a bottom-six finish. Time to go Naismith. Take yer hoodies with you.

David: Time for calm heads. We desperately need a win then hopefully onwards and upwards, Not sure why fans want a change of manager, who do they think we will get that can do better?

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Ex-Hibernian midfielder Scott Allan says "the international break has come at a good time" for Steven Naismith, who must "stop the rot" at Hearts.

The Tynecastle side slumped to a sixth straight defeat after losing to another of Allan's former sides, Dundee United, on Sunday.

After cruising to a third-placed finish last term, Naismith's men are yet to win a game this season and have scored just twice in their seven matches.

On top of that, talismanic striker Lawrence Shankland, who racked up 31 goals last campaign, has not found the net in those seven fixtures.

Speaking on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast, Allan said: "The problem for Hearts is the games they didn't play so well in last year, Shankland was producing.

"When they don't have Shankland producing... you're not getting any of your moments of quality that can decide games for you. And I think there's a frailty to Hearts at the moment, especially defensively.

"The international week has probably come at good time for Naismith. He can get his group together and really work on things because they need to stop the rot. It's as simple as that and that starts from defence usually."

Celtic brought in £10.59m more in the summer transfer market than they spent, Aberdeen made a profit of £2.67m, Motherwell were up £1.34m and Heart of Midlothian £1.01m, but Hibernian spent £438,460 more than they brought in, while Rangers' net spend was £11.71m. (Edinburgh Evening News), external

Read Monday's Scottish Gossip in full here.

Watch highlights as Dundee United win away to Hearts in the Scottish Premiership.

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Hearts manager Steven Naismith told BBC Scotland: "Poor. We're vulnerable, lacking in confidence and it showed. We started positively, aggressive press but didn't create many good chances. Dundee United managed the game better than we did all the way through.

"We don't understand how to manage a game like that, play along with it, take ages with out set plays and throws. We could feel the tension building and play safe. It's really tough. It's something that needs to change quickly.

"We've got to touch on the moments lats season when it was tough. There isn't a quick fix. I've been here as a player in a bad run of form - you don't turn up next week and it's perfect. You need to dig deep and become hard to beat.

"We're not the only club in Europe, the only club that has that challenge. It's not as straightforward as the players not understanding. It takes a lot of bravery and understanding to think 'I'm going to be the one who makes a difference here'.

"Our newer players are taking time to settle but that's natural. Coming to Hearts is tough. Signing players, it's always a risk and you've got to try and minimise that. Not many said we didn't recruit well. Players we've signed haven't become bad overnight.

"I've had adversity throughout my career. I'll always fight. I'd be the first to say if I didn't think I couldn't turn it around, I'd tell the club. We've got a good squad. We need to be together to work out of this."