One thing that was not addressed when Hearts announced the appointment of Neil Critchley was the future of Liam Fox.
The B team boss certainly improved performances after stepping into the first-team breach in between the sacking of Steven Naismith and the arrival of the new man, even if that first league win still eludes them.
Fox did earn just the Jambos’ second point of the season with a draw against Ross County and then a priceless away victory in Europe to kickstart the Conference League campaign with three points against Dinamo Minsk. The performance was there against Aberdeen even if the result was not.
But what does the future hold for the 40-year-old? Does he revert to the B team or will he be part of Critchley’s staff? That would appear to be up in the air right now.
Critchley addresses Fox’s Hearts future
When Critchley was appointed as manager, the only mention of any backroom staff was his trusted coach Mike Garrity. There was nothing on whether Fox would stick with the first-team and head back to his post with the young Hearts side.
But clips from early training sessions show he has still been working with the new manager and his charges ahead of the first match of the new era, at home to St Mirren tomorrow. Critchley has confirmed that will continue for now and told how impressed he was after watching the games from Fox’s short spell in charge of the club.
He said: “I’ve got Mike Garrity in with me. Liam Fox has been with me. I’ve been speaking to him a lot, so he’s with us on the training ground and he’ll stay with us in the immediate future.
“Credit to him and his staff for the interim period. I watched those games and thought they could have easily got something at Aberdeen, had a good win in Europe, to come from behind, I know it was late on against Ross County, but arguably could have won that game as well.
“Also, Steven [Naismith] did a fantastic job last season with his staff, and sometimes these things happen unfortunately, and it’s a fresh start for me now and I’ve got to try and come in and get the team moving in the right direction again.”
Critchley’s Hearts backroom team plans
Beyond that, there is not a set plan for what the 45-year-old wants to do with his staff in terms of numbers. He will have discussions with incoming sporting director Graeme Jones about what the club want that to look like and take it from there.
“No, not specific,” said the ex-Blackpool and QPR boss. “I think we have to look at the model that we want to maybe develop moving forward, and that’ll be discussions that I have with Graeme as well, when he’s in post, but there’s not a specific number.”