Stephen Kingsley admits there were frank discussions in the Hearts dressing room hours before Robbie Neilson was sacked.
The Jambos poor form extended to four defeats on the bounce when St Mirren came to Tynecastle and won 2-0 on Saturday to further woes of Neilson and co. There had already been fan discontent from one section of the Hearts support with graffiti outside the stadium labelled with the X-rated message "F*** off Neilson" after the Edinburgh side lost to Kilmarnock last weekend.
And the club announced on Sunday that it had taken the 'extremely difficult decision' to let the Scottish coach after his second spell in Gorgie saw promotion back to the Scottish Premiership, a Scottish Cup final and European football last season. Yet defender Kingsley admits home truths in the dressing room lasted well over an hour after Saturday's final whistle.
READ MORE: Hearts sack manager Robbie Neilson following fifth straight loss for Tynecastle club
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He said: “It’s been coming, that is six of the last seven games we’ve been beaten. We had a wee meeting in the changing room after but to be honest, these things need to change, the penny needs to drop.
“We thought we’d been through that spell, trying to get things sorted for this game and get the win. But it seems it’s the same mistakes again so there’s only so much you can say about it.
"Everything needs to stay in house in the next couple of days, a couple of things need to be addressed and we need to go and win, nothing else can be accepted next week now and then we’ll push on from there.”
On the context of who led the meeting between players or staff, he added: “A bit of both, initially everyone together and then after a while it was a bit quiet and the players had a meeting ourselves.
"Hopefully it makes a bit of difference in the coming days when we actually get things said and off our chest. But words are words aren’t they? You can talk all day but at the end of the day things need to change.
“There is absolutely nothing else that will be accepted other than a win [against Hibs].”
The club statement on Neilson's departure read: "Heart of Midlothian Football Club can confirm that it has parted company with manager Robbie Neilson.
"Robbie has been a key part of the club’s ascent back to the upper echelons of Scottish football, delivering another Championship title, a third place finish, two Scottish Cup Finals and European group stage football in the process.
"This was an extremely difficult decision to reach, and we would like to thank Robbie for all of his efforts. A full statement from the Board of Directors will be released in due course. No further comment will be made today."
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