No interview yet but points help Jon Daly's Hearts prospects

Jon Daly oversees training ahead of the weekend trip to Fir Park. Picture: SNS

Last weekend, he followed up a victory at Kilmarnock with a share of the spoils at Ibrox and he will take the  Gorgie side to Motherwell tomorrow in search of a win.

The club’s hierarchy are still mulling over candidates to replace Ian Cathro. They are expected to reach a conclusion in the coming week but the fact the recruitment process has been so prolonged suggests they do have faith in Daly’s ability to handle the day-to-day commitments.

“I think it shows that we are doing a decent enough job and the players are responding to what we are trying to do,” said Daly. “If we had lost the opening three games then there would be more pressure on the board to appoint a new manager. But the fact we have got some results, points on the board, has given the club more time to make the appointment they feel is the right one.”

Some of the big names who were linked with the job and have since fallen by the wayside, while Daly had shown himself to be a real presence in dealing with players, media and rival managers, all meaning the chances of the U20s coach being asked to step up on a long-term basis seem more realistic.

“It shortens your odds, doesn’t it?” said the 34-year-old former Rangers and Dundee United striker, regarding the news that Steve McClaren and Dougie Freedman have accepted jobs elsewhere, while Billy Davies has ruled himself out of the reckoning.

“Look, people have dropped out, some got jobs, some just withdrew their names. That’s football, that’s what happens when there is a job available, you get high-calibre names coming in. But some have gone on to take high-profile jobs and that’s just the way it works.

“I have not had an official interview in front of a panel or the board or anything like that. I went down to see Ann [Budge, the club’s chairwoman] last week which is something the management normally do before a game, just to run through the plan for the weekend with her, what we did in training and explain it so she knows what she is looking for on a Saturday. So I went down to see her on Friday.

“Are they like job interviews? I don’t know. It’s just something that I am very happy to do. I’m in the role at the minute and whether that continues remains to be seen, but Ann takes an active interest and I’ve got no problem going to explain what we are doing and what we hope to do.”

Unlike Davies, who issued a statement stating he was no longer interested in the vacant position and revealing concerns about the club’s structure, Daly has no problem with the way the club is run and actually sees it as one of the main attractions.

“It’s a structure that, for me, is very good. It’s geared towards helping younger coaches and also younger players come through into the first team.

“The main reason I retired from football was to come into that structure. I would probably have played on for another couple of years if I hadn’t been offered this opportunity.

“I don’t think I would have taken a coaching role at that stage of my career had it been anywhere else other than Hearts.”

While the last appointment failed, with the team winning just eight of 30 competitive matches under Cathro, there have been signs of revival under Daly. While admitting that the entertainment levels are not where he ultimately wants them, the interim boss, who expects to have goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin signed by the weekend, said it was vital Hearts got back to the basics of firstly being tough to beat.

“I think we are in extreme circumstances, playing away from home every week, which normally isn’t the case, so I’m having to set the team out in a different way, to be defensively solid,” he said. “We haven’t had the chance to show what we would like the team to do offensively. It will be different when we are back at Tynecastle and have 18,000 people cheering us on and encouraging the team.

“We need to give ourselves the best chance so that, when we do return to Tynecastle, we are not cut adrift from where we need to be. As a coaching staff, we are well aware that the away record hasn’t been great so to get a few away wins under our belt between now and going home would give us the best possible chance to push on.

“The players have taken on board our structure and what we want to do. If we can get them to fitness levels that are a little bit sharper, a little bit  fitter, then we can do the  defensive and offensive sides of the game.”