Joe Savage has been speaking again in recent days months on from his Hearts exit.
The former Tynecastle sporting director left in July after three-and-a-half seasons at the club during which they won the Championship and then finished third, fourth and third in the top flight.
Savage then revealed his surprising post-Hearts role as he started up a football consultancy firm called FT FT Consultancy.
He later revealed he wanted to spend some time away from the coalface of being involved at a club so he could spend more time with his family.
Savage opened up on the reasons behind his Hearts exit and some of the struggles he had despite enjoying the role on the whole and being relatively successful.
The 40-year-old has been speaking out again and yesterday we told how he gave his take on Hearts teaming up with Jamestown Analytics shortly after his departure.
Savage on his relationship with ex-Hearts boss Naismith
Steven Naismith, who Savage worked closely with, has since lost his job as head coach after a terrible start to the season which sees the Jambos sit bottom of the league.
The ex-Hearts chief would have supported the manager, particularly with recruitment, and the pair would have known each other well.
There was a suggestion they perhaps hadn’t seen eye to eye during this time but Savage flatly refutes that.
Asked if there was alignment, he told the Daily Record’s Hotline: “It’s funny, people have brought that up with me before. Unless Steven has got something different to say, I wouldn’t say that was the case.
“I thought we were aligned. I thought we both wanted the same thing. He was a young manager that wanted to go an establish himself. I’m a young sporting director, I know I don’t look young but I’m only 40.
“I wanted to go and establish myself and make a name for myself.
“We didn’t clash or anything like that. We had a good relationship and I’d like to think Steven would tell you that himself.
“I was on board with everything he wanted to do in terms of the signings – your Yan Dhanda, James Penrice, Blair Spittal.
“I kind of left when they started to bring in the other olayers like Oyegoke, Musa Drammeh and others, but I was aware they were doing it.
“And even going back to last season, I think Steven probably struggled with how slow things can be in terms of a transfer window. How you identifying a player and saying ‘I want to sign him’. That doesn’t mean you sign him straight away.
“These things take time and I think Steven didn’t realise how long they take.
“I still speak to him now and I was disappointed to see him losing his job but I think we can all agree, if you lose eight games in a row you’re going to be under pressure.”
Hearts did look at signing striker
One of the Jambos’ main failings this season has been struggling to put the ball in the back of the net.
Last season’s talisman Lawrence Shankland has been off the boil and others have failed to step up to the plate.
Having sold Kyosuke Tagawa in the summer and not signed a replacement, Hearts have had Liam Boyce, Musa Drammeh and 17-year-old James Wilson as alternatives.
And the club have been criticised for not bringing in another centre-forward but Savage insists it WAS on their radar.
He added: “Again, I can’t sit here and say I was totally privy to all the conversations because I notified Andrew McKinlay in May that I wanted to leave, I was involved in the June and then I went on holiday.
“But yeah, I can confirm and I know they were looking at other strikers.
“They wanted to give Kyosuke Tagawa a better chance to establish himself and then it quickly transpired that it probably wasn’t going to work and then the opportunity for him to go back to Japan came around.
“They were looking, definitely, at other strikers.
“I can’t sit here and say Steven (Naismith) decided not to do it, I don’t know how that worked.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I think if you asked Steven again, ‘would you sign a striker?’ I think he would.