Naismith convinced he could have revived Hearts

Sacked head coach Steven Naismith remains convinced he could have turned Hearts' fortunes around had he been given more time.

The former Scotland striker was dismissed in September after Hearts, who were bottom of the table, suffered an eighth straight defeat.

Naismith, 38, had led the club to third place last term, his first full season as a manager.

Speaking on The Warm-up, the SPFL's weekly preview show, , external Naismith said: "I don't think you know, or I certainly didn't know.

"I understood that you look at results and you go 'Right, if we can get a result here, if we don't that builds the pressure.'

"Inside I was probably thinking you'll get to the international break because it was three games there and they were probably games that you're more likely to look at and go, 'Right â€" we should win. Ross County at home, the European game and then a big one is going to be Aberdeen.'

"But even after the St Mirren game when we get beat 2-1, I'm sitting there really still believing that we can turn this around and I can make this better.

"And then when you have the phone call the next day that is what it is."

Naismith said he was "comfortable" with how things ended despite his disappointment, but believes Hearts would have improved once his summer signings had settled.

"There's a bit of frustration there because you do believe," he said.

"I thought we did a good job but at the cold end of it, pressure and demands are there and if you don't hit them you're going to lose your job and that's what happened, so I'm comfortable with it all.

"I think nobody complained about the recruitment over the summer.

"You sign players and you think at the start of a season, 'Brilliant, we've got this option, that option', but probably the bit you can't judge is how much time players are going to take to settle, especially when for nearly every player we signed, Hearts is a bigger club than where they came from."