Frankie McAvoy is confident Celtic and Rangers could put up a fight in the English Premier League, but that isn't stopping him from looking to split the Old Firm while in the Tynecastle dugout and their rivals are in the top flight.
The baking Marbella sun has put the Hearts squad through their paces in their pre-season camp, and the 55-year-old is more than up for a heated battle alongside Steven Naismith and Gordon Forrest, with the trio having taken charge in the wake of Robbie Neilson's exit. McAvoy was adamant he’ll have the final say on team selection when the top flight resumes in just over a month’s time, as he looks to bring attacking football, a winning mentality, and European group stage football to Gorgie, all while wrestling back third from Aberdeen or even going one better.
The former Preston North End manager admitted there was pain from missing out to the Dons last season as he told the Record: “Ultimately that’s where we want to try and be. If we’re good enough to try and split the big two in Glasgow then that would be fantastic.
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“Listen, I’m not stupid enough to sit here and not realise the size of the task. Celtic with the new manager, Michael Beale with a rebuilding process at Rangers, It’s going to be tough. But we are looking forward to it and hopefully we can come up trumps.
“I think the Scottish game has improved. We have a lot of good young players. I might get shot down for saying this but I think the Old Firm could compete in the Premier League down south. It might take a bit of time for them to stabilise but I think they would be good enough. The support behind them, definitely.
“I think the Scottish Premiership is a good league and people down south don’t really understand it. In Europe the aim is to try and get back into the group stages. Third secured that for Aberdeen and well done to them.
“But there’s still a bit I feel, and others I spoke to here feel the same, that we probably shot ourselves in the foot by not getting third. That’s gone. It’s in the past. But it now has to be about trying to qualify for the group stages.
“The draw will be difficult. We know we’re not seeded. So we have to wait and see the opposition. Hopefully we can do enough to get there.”
McAvoy has bags of experience having been coach and assistant manager to the likes of Alex Neil and Daniel Farke both at Norwich City before replacing his fellow Scot as boss at Deepdale three years ago, getting off to a flier as North End interim boss, winning five of the remaining eight matches in 2020-21 to take on the role permanently.
He was axed however in December 2021 having won 14 and lost 10 of his 33 games in charge. It’s a decent record which has given the man who has stepped up from Hearts academy director a solid grounding for the task that lies ahead in Gorgie.
And even if the mechanics of the arrangement that sees McAvoy take the Tynecastle reins as head coach with Naismith as technical director are a bit blurred, he admits he never lost sight of becoming the boss at a club again.
McAvoy said: “I started at Hamilton working with Billy (Reid) and Alex (Neil). We moved to Norwich and I had a spell with Daniel Farke before I moved to Preston.
“Then I got an opportunity to be manager there and I thought I did well. I think my stats back that up. At the end of the day it wasn’t to be but you can never say never. I think that’s the way I have always looked at it.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt Steven Naismith will be a fantastic manager going forward. I have worked closely with him, he used to play for us at Norwich as well.
“We’ve got a good group and I am very comfortable with the dynamics and how it works. And I am fairly confident it will be a success.
“When you are in the heat of the battle sometimes you are so focused on doing your job you forget about other things. One of the things I have learned is don’t get too high when you win or too low when you lose.
“You need to keep it on an even keel. What I found as a manager was when you win it was more relief because you haven’t let anyone down. And when you lose you start to overthink things too much.
“That’s what I have learned and I think we did that in those last seven games. We’ll go with a clear intention to try and win every game. We won’t do it, that’s impossible. But we’ll go with an intent to win it, that’s how we’ll set out.”
McAvoy also proceeded to blow apart any doubts over who will be in charge of Hearts when the Premiership resumes, declaring “I’m calling the shots” as he takes over from Naismith who lacked the required UEFA badges to land the gig and will instead manage the recruitment side of the operation.
McAvoy said: “What we do is we work collaboratively together, the three of us. We’ll discuss the team, how we think we’ll play.
"But ultimately I’ll make the final decision on who is going to start, if there is any difference. I’ll call the end shot in terms of team selection. Is Steven happy with that? Of course he is. He has told me he is so hopefully!
“I’m a wee bit more experienced than Naisy and Gordy. Listen, we had a good chat about how it would work and we are happy with the dynamics. We worked together as a group the last seven games.
“Very rarely did we have a real argument although there were times we had a difference of opinion. We will do again going forward but ultimately I’ll decide who plays. That’s it.”
