As frontman for rock band Cold Blooded Hearts, Gareth Ainsworth isn’t the type to get stage fright faced with the task of transforming fortunes at Tynecastle.
There’s a confidence about a man who is convinced he can light a fire under a club where he hopes to be front and centre in the list of candidates to replace Steven Naismith. With a wealth of experience as gaffer after guiding Wycombe’s meteoric rise from League Two to the English Championship, Ainsworth ended up on a conveyor belt of casualties at Queens Park Rangers.
There’s no doubting the distinctive vocals from one of the game’s mavericks as he laid out his plan to put some heart back into Gorgie. He told Record Sport : “I’m a bit of a different character and a frontman which I’m proud of. As a manager, the fans know there is an energy out there trying to bring success.
“They will know that this guy is doing his utmost to bring this club to where they should be. I know the fans will take me to their hearts. I’m not the type who does three days in Scotland then back home for a few days, I would commit to Edinburgh.
“I want to feel the pulse of the city and give fans what they want. Too many managers dip in and dip out. Cold Blooded Hearts? That’s what’s required at Tynecastle.”
Ainsworth’s an articulate student of the game and is blunt in his assessment of the current landscape of business in football. He’s adamant the worst excess of money and ambition of clubs down south hasn’t yet been imbedded in Scottish football.
He said: “I was disappointed when I went to QPR as I felt we’ve lost the basic aims of why we do it all in the first place. English football has lost so much of what the game should be all about. It should be far more than money, individuals or personal interest.
“I don’t believe Scotland is quite at that level yet. If I’m considered for the job then I will tell the Hearts fans what I told the Wycombe support when I first took charge.
“I turned down manager posts at clubs such as Sunderland and Barnsley, bigger clubs than Wycombe. I told the fans there would be only two clubs I would leave for – Blackburn Rovers and Queens Park Rangers.
“Blackburn’s my home town and QPR are a club where I made my name as a player. I’d give that same pledge to the Hearts fans.
“I’m someone who commits. I am a builder and I’m in things for the long term.
“If my time in charge at QPR showed me anything, it was that I’m not a type of turnaround manager who arrives to get quick results and doesn’t develop a style of play and moves on.
“I want to build something far more. I want to build an identity so that other teams hate going to Tynecastle.”
It is now with the Jambos board to see how Ainsworth’s statistics stack up against their main requirements. Brighton owner Tony Bloom is in talks over a £10million investment in Hearts.
They will turn to one of his analytical companies before they go to the interview process to replace Naismith who was sacked earlier this month. But Ainsworth will continue doing his homework.
He said: “I’ve done my research on the structure of the club and it’s made me even more excited. Hearts are a massive club in a big city. It’s a club with a long and proud history and tradition.
“If you can engage the next generation of fans and let them see what can be achieved then expectations grow. That’s what I did at Wycombe. The new generation of fans, the Ultras, are fanatical. It’s brilliant.
“There are youngsters in Edinburgh who want to belong somewhere – what better than belonging to Hearts? If I get an interview then I want the club to see my passion.
“I’ve managed in over 650 games down south. Now I want that challenge at Hearts.”