Hearts reckon they have hit the jackpot linking up with Jamestown analytics – but CEO Andrew McKinlay admits they desperately need a striker who can find the back of the net.
The Gorgie side’s struggles in front of goal – including Lawrence Shankland ’s baffling drop in form – has left the team languishing at the Premiership basement. Hearts have scored just 16 times this season – the joint worst tally in the top-flight. Shankland had been the main man in the past two campaigns – hitting a remarkable 59 goals. But amid his ongoing contract stand-off, the Scotland international has just one to his name so far this season.
And chief executive McKinlay insists recruiting more firepower with the help of Tony Bloom’s analytics company is their top priority in January. He said: “Let’s start with the cliche, January is never an easy time to do business. Good players are not generally available in January. We’ve already approved as a board, the finances available to look at that.
“There’s a particular striker we’re looking at, but not just one. Often you don’t get your first choice. We’re looking at a few, all of whom have come from Jamestown. I think we’re all aware that the priority would be a striker.”
Asked if the club would be willing to spend money to transfer fee next month, McKinlay added: “It depends on markets and it depends on where you’re bringing them.
“Different countries have different seasons and some people’s contracts might be out. Yes, if we were restricting ourselves to Scotland or England and we tried to take someone out of contract in January, I wouldn’t expect it to be very easy at all.
“You’ve got to live within your means. We know what our budget is, we know what we’ll go to. That’s where Jamestown can help you. It can help you identify ones that others haven’t identified at levels that are realistic for us.”
Hearts have come under fire for not adding more attacking options to their squad in the summer when Steven Naismith was in charge and McKinlay has defended their transfer strategy. He added: “I was about to say in hindsight that seems obvious but I know a lot of people at the time were saying you should be signing a striker, ‘what happens if Lawrence doesn’t function?’
“What I would say to that is it’s the head coach that decides who they want to bring in, I would never say ‘you need to do this’. And the forward player that they did bring in in the summer was Musa Drammeh. I think Musa it’s fair to say has taken a little bit of time to settle but I certainly am now quite excited by what I’m starting to see from Musa and I think we’ll see him improve.
“I don’t think any of us could have predicted that Lawrence’s form combined with Kenneth not scoring, combined with Liam Boyce not scoring, all of that coming together makes it look even worse that we didn’t go out and sign another big striker in the summer. So there’s an element of hindsight to it but I do understand the criticism.”
The prospect of relegation has not even entered McKinlay’s thoughts but he admits the next seven league games against teams outside the top three are crucial to Neil Critchley ‘s side getting their season properly started. That run of games starts at home to Dundee on Saturday with European clashes against Copenhagen and Petrocub squeezed in-between.
He added: “I’m not even using that word (relegation). I’m confident we will finish in the top six, I look at the league table and it’s very tight.
“We now go into seven fixtures, four at home, three away which takes us up to the end of the second round of fixtures and we need to do well in those fixtures, but I think we know that. Aberdeen’s performance or Aberdeen’s position, I take my hat off to them for what they’ve achieved. There’s some other teams that have done very well, Dundee United and Motherwell in particular.
“But I think with the fixtures we’ve got coming up, I think we’ve got an opportunity to start climbing the table and first get ourselves back into the top six, and then we’ll see what’s before us at that point.”
McKinlay also told shareholders that he would be happy to reopen contract talks with Shankland if his agents were keen to engage. But the Hearts chief admits he is getting fed up being asked about an issue that has dragged on for more than a year.
He added: “I’m struggling to answer anything more about Lawrence. I’ve spoken ad nauseam about Lawrence for the last four transfer windows and I genuinely am not sure what else you want me to say about it.
“I’ve put it on record that my gut has always been that he’ll run down his contract. Who knows what will happen in January? But as we sit here, I will say again, we’ve not had any offers, we’ve not had any approaches, nothing, either from a third party or from his representatives.
“You can probably tell I’m bored of this subject but you’re going to ask me about it – it’s not changed.”