Former Hearts coach Jon Daly believes poor recruitment is why the club are returning to the Championship.
The former Dundee United and Rangers striker left Tynecastle back in January as Daniel Stendel restructured his coaching staff, a move which Daly later described as “embarrassing”.
Their relegation was confirmed on Monday when the Scottish Premiership was declared over, although a last gasp reconstruction proposal due this week offers a sliver of hope for chairman Ann Budge.
And while Daly concedes that the club losing its top flight status is harsh, he acknowledges the Jambos haven’t been good enough over the 30 games they played, and that’s down to the transfer business they did.
The perceived quality in Hearts’ first eleven at the start of the season meant the capital club should have been nowhere near the bottom of the table.
But as injuries continued to take hold, Daly believes the back-up options weren’t up to scratch
"There was probably a lot of eggs put in certain baskets," he told BBC Scotland.
"Players who would have been first picks weren't available a lot of the time and if the depth around them isn't right, it's not going to work.
"Any team in Hearts’ position would have fancied themselves going into the split to at least get back into the play-off place.
"But when you're down there, the clubs around you are used to being in that situation and know how to handle that.
"Look at Hamilton, they recruit players to get out of that situation but Hearts probably recruited players to challenge at the top end of the table. It was a drastic situation."
.png?w=600)
