Steven Naismith has returned to Scotland's coaching staff as Steve Clarke's assistant, replacing John Carver, and is driven by missing out on Euro 2020 and Euro 2024. Retirement and a full-time Hearts managerial role previously removed him from international tournaments. Naismith experienced both success and failure at Hearts: guiding the club to third place with a strong away record the season before, coaching in European competition as a technical director, then being sacked after an eight-game losing run. He has coached youth players and top national players, earned 51 caps and captained Scotland, but has never played at a major tournament. He aims to help qualify for the World Cup.
Third time lucky. Hanging up his boots meant Steven Naismith missed out on Euro 2020 with Scotland, before the full-time job as Hearts manager took him out of Steve Clarke's backroom staff ahead of Euro 2024. Now he returns as Clarke's assistant, replacing John Carver, and is using those two near misses as motivation to reach the World Cup next summer.
'I've sat there and thought 'I wish that was me, I wish I was part of that', Naismith told BBC Scotland. 'One of my last camps as a coach, we beat Spain at home with a brilliant performance. It was a different stage of my coaching career, but it was incredible how valuable it was to me.' His experience with Hearts ended sourly - an eight-game losing sequence leading to his sacking almost a year ago.
He also guided Hearts to a comfortable third-place the season prior with a superb away record, which had previously been the club's Achilles heel. 'I was at a position where I was working with youth players and players just starting out, and then I was working with the best players the country's produced,' he said of his first spell in Clarke's coaching team. 'It's a brilliant role to be in. I definitely think I'll add more value now than I did before.'
Collection
[
|
...
]