Michael Stewart insists his continued criticism of Craig Levein isn't down to him disliking the Hearts boss.
The former Tynecastle midfielder continued his criticism of Hearts as he feels aren't performing at their full potential.
He pointed to the continued financial support of the fans as well as Levein's own comments on transfers as reasons why things need to change at his old side.
Stewart has had a long-running battle with Levein with both admitting they don't like the other.
But the 38-year-old insists it is nothing to do with his personal feelings on the former Scotland manager.
Stewart was also critical of Hibs manager Paul Heckingbottom for his summer signings with many of them coming from the lower leagues of England.
But the Easter Road gaffer gets more of a let off because he's relatively new to the job having only replaced Neil Lennon in February.
Stewart told BBC Sportsound: "My concerns with Hibs is they’ve gone down to the English market, some look like a success but there are others that have question marks. They’re in positions I’m not sure they needed and there are players in Scotland that if you look at the market here you could recruit.
"That’s such an important thing, recruitment and across the city at Hearts as well. Hearts are a club I’ve been extremely critical of because the potential is massive there.
"They’ve got a business model which is clearly working. There are 8000 supporters plus putting money into the club without any caveat. It’s money, almost £200,000 a month to go and spend, and do and invest and grow and they’re not. They’re underachieving. We’re talking about the potential to get into the Europa League group stage for Aberdeen.
"Hearts haven’t been in Europe for the last three years. They’re not even at the party never mind getting into the VIP room. That’s a serious issue.
"I believe if Hearts were doing their job to the best of their ability that is there, they’re at a junction now where so much good work is being done off the field that turnover has increased, this extra money comes in from the Foundation of Hearts.
"I don’t see why they shouldn’t be knocking at the door of the top two and saying ‘we’re a serious player here, we can have an impact on the make up of who is winning trophies here’ and at the moment they are a million miles away from it.
"They are so disappointing.
"People say why am I so critical of Craig Levein and Hearts? The facts are there for everyone to see. All am I doing is nothing to do with personalities, it’s to do with the professional assessment and Hearts by any measurement are underachieving.
"I sent out a few tweets the other day using the manager and Ann Budge’s own words, Craig Levein said ‘judge me after two transfer windows’. He’s had four.
"And it’s still ‘we’ll get better’. He said in April, ‘I need to sign four players and they need to be better than what we have’. He’s signed five already and on Saturday he’s talking about needing to sign two or three more.
"Everything is reactionary. The fact when you sign eight players this summer potentially, he’s signed five already, what happens with the space to allow young players to grow, you’re never going to get the chance.
"When you sign players they are inevitably going to get chances ahead of the youngsters so you stunt the growth and the academy work that has supposedly been going for so long isn’t going to come to fruition.
"If you look at the top teams in Scotland - just go back to why Hearts get criticised - you’re inevitably going to get greater scrutiny. Hearts are the side that have consistently underachieved in that top. Aberdeen have had relative success. Derek McInnes has won a trophy, he’s finished second four years, he’s not going to get the same level of criticism because he’s had relative success.
"Paul Heckingbottom is only in the door. Celtic and Neil Lennon, just in the door and banging goals in. Rangers are improving under Steven Gerrard. It’s quite clear that the outlier, the one that sticks out like a sore thumb is Hearts. They’re underachieving.
"And the manager has been involved with the club for over five years. There’s the reason, nothing else."
