Hearts chief executive Andrew McKinlay apologises for league position

Hearts chief executive Andrew McKinlay admits he feels “gutted” by the team’s failure to make the Premiership top six and has apologised to the club’s support.

The Tynecastle side appeared have recovered from a poor start to the season and put themselves on course for a top-six place and an outside chance of pushing for Europe.

A draw against Motherwell, coupled with St Mirren’s win over Ross County, saw the team slip from a promising position in the final game before the split and leaves Hearts looking to steer clear of the relegation battle at the foot of the table.

“I think, like everyone else, I’m absolutely gutted by it,” McKinlay said in his regular interview on Hearts TV.

“There’s no way to sugarcoat it and I think it’s really important that I apologise to to the fans.

“It’s well below their expectations and it’s well below our expectations as a club to be in the bottom six. We all know we had a dreadful start to the season but we we all believed that we’d picked up and it looked like we were going to make it into the top six – and then we could look at Europe after that.”

McKinlay had been bullish about the team’s prospects in a previous interview and he conceded that had left him open to barbs from supporters and had to be accountable.

“I think I was ridiculed by some for saying I was confident that we would make the top six and, okay, they could just ridicule me now if if they feel that that’s appropriate,” he said.

“I was confident and two games out we we had it clearly in our hands. After the results for St Mirren and Motherwell, I think we were all really confident that we would make the top six.

“I don’t think you’d find many people that weren’t, but we didn’t so there there’s no point in hiding behind that. As chief exec, I take my share of the responsibility for that. We have to knuckle down now and and and make sure that we don’t have a repeat of that in the future.”

Though the Premiership campaign will now conclude with games against the rest of the bottom six, Hearts could still finish the season with silverware and a place in Europe if they can win the Scottish Cup.

Neil Critchley’s side face Aberdeen on Saturday in the semi-final and McKinlay said that represented a golden opportunity to make a disappointing season a memorable one. he appealed to the support to give the team their backing and help them to a win at the national stadium.

“I apologise unreservedly for where we find ourselves,” he said. “As I said, it’s not acceptable from our perspective as a club but we go into a big game on Saturday, so again thank you for the huge amount of support that we’re going to have.

“Let’s get behind the team and let’s actually make this potentially a season that will be one that we do remember favourably, and we maybe forget about the league but focus on doing well in the cup.

“So, thank you to the fans and let’s keep the faith.”