Liam Fox insists Hearts’ season can turn in just two seconds despite a run that’s left them winless after over 1000 minutes of football.
The Jambos fly out to Azerbaijan this afternoon for Thursday’s Conference League opener against Dinamo Minsk on a rotten streak that stretches back 12 games to May. Lawrence Shankland’s first goal of the campaign on Saturday – a 96th-minute equaliser against Ross County – ended a horror chain of eight straight losses.
Now caretaker boss Fox hopes a change of scenery can bring about a turn in fortunes as the Gorgie men head to the banks of the Caspian Sea for a fixture moved due to Belarus’ involvement in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And the 40-year-old revealed he’d told his players not to waste the golden opportunity they worked so hard to earn last season.
He said: “One thing I’ve learned in football is you’re 90 minutes away from a catastrophe or a disaster but you’re only two seconds away from a bit of positivity and things flipping. It can be a wee thing – a simple pass, a tackle, it can be the ball going in off somebody’s backside.
“It can be anything and things can turn really, really quickly in life. Especially in football, one wee moment can flip it then everybody’s like, ‘Ah right…’, it becomes a wee bit easier. When you’re in these moments, when you’re struggling and you’re looking for results and form, it can turn really, really quickly.
“It’ll be a difficult tie, a really difficult task but it’s a brilliant week. The players worked so hard last year to earn the right to play in these types of games and these types of nights, so it’s one I want us to go after.”
Fox experienced the best and very worst of what European football has to offer in the space of just seven days when he was assistant boss at Dundee United two years ago. The same competition saw the Tannadice men, then managed by Jack Ross, secure an impressive 1-0 first-leg win over AZ in the third qualifying round.
But a week later they were brought back down to earth with a 7-0 rout in the Netherlands. Fox said: “Everything in football is about adapting and overcoming and evolving. The plan’s been put in place for a period of time for going, so we’re all clear on that. We know what we need to do. Ultimately it’s about the game, making sure we turn up in the game.
“Everything’s about what we do. We respect everybody but we fear nobody. We’re Heart of Midlothian, we’ve got some really difficult games coming up but my predominant focus is on us, it’s on Hearts, it’s on what we do.”
Thursday’s tie will be played behind closed doors as part of UEFA’s sanctions against Belarussian clubs. Fox said: “We understand the reasons why. Listen, the Hearts fans will travel here, there and everywhere.
“It would be brilliant to experience that. For us all, for everybody because of the effect the supporters can have on the players, on the team and sometimes on the actual game. But it is what it is. We’ll need to deal with it. It’ll be a different challenge for us, a bit like going back to playing at Covid times.”