Hearts chief denies Robbie Neilson sacking was driven by fan 'boo-ometer' as he puts price on not finishing third

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Hearts chief executive Andrew McKinlay has rubbished claims they hit the panic button by sacking Robbie Neilson - insisting the decision was not driven by the fan “boo-ometer”.The Jambos pulled the trigger on Neilson on Sunday and have promoted B team boss Steven Naismith to take charge for the remaining seven games as they look to rescue third position and the £5million Euro ticket.Former captain Michael Stewart slammed the move and accused the Tynecastle hierarchy of panic measures claiming that “fan pressure has made them do it”.

But McKinlay faced up the media yesterday and in a brutally honest account admitted the move is a risk but said he believes it gives the club a better chance of wrestling back third place.

McKinlay said that he’d lost faith in Neilson’s ability to turn round a woeful run of form and that Naismith now has the opportunity to show he is the man to take Hearts forward long term by reclaiming third and the Euro millions that comes with it.A wave of toxicity surged round Tynecastle at full-time on Saturday as fans vented after a fifth straight defeat.

But McKinlay denied there was any panic in what came 24 hours later. He said: “No, absolutely not. The last few weeks have been really difficult for anyone watching the team.“A panic decision would have been making it maybe several weeks ago when things were starting to not look great.