CEO Andrew McKinlay sat down with the press following the conclusion of Heart of Midlothian's 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Tynecastle Park.
Here are some of the topics covered, with the full video available to view on our YouTube channel and Hearts TV.
ON JACQUI DUNCAN'S RETIREMENT AND REPLACEMENT
"Jacqui, she won't actually retire until the end of the season, but just this week myself and Jacqui are doing interviews for her replacement. Many people in those sorts of jobs will have six month notice periods, so we are speaking to some high calibre people. It's about Jacqui at the moment and she came in at a time when the club had not long come out of administration
"You look at some of the graphs today that she put up to show where the club was and where the club is now and I think too many of us in all walks of life, we're always in the here and now, we're always looking at what we can do in the future and we don't sometimes sit back and reflect on what we have achieved and I think in a quieter moment, hopefully Jacqui will look back at what the club has achieved.
"She's been a huge part of that in that ten years and as I said earlier, will be a hard act to replace, but she's looking forward to spending more time on the tennis court, so I can't begrudge her that."
ON THE START TO THE SEASON
"Of course it's concerning, I think the way the fixtures have fallen hasn't maybe been the kindest, Neil came in and we went straight into a really intense run of fixtures and I think the style of football that Neil's bringing to the team, and this is just my personal view.
"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.
"I know a lot of people at the time were saying we should be signing a striker. And the forward player that they did bring in in the summer was Musa Drammah, 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 that improve."
ON JAMESTOWN AND JANUARY
"Let's start with the cliche. January is never an easy time to do business. Good players are not generally available in January, etc.
"We've already approved as a board, the finances are available, 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 who have come from Jamestown. Other positions and other things that we do, I think, might depend on what might go out.
"I think we're all aware that the priority would be a striker. I think we forget as well, hopefully we'll see him soon, we've got Calem Nieuwenhof coming back who will help in the midfield. I'm a little bit concerned after Sunday about some of our defensive injuries.
"So you just never know what's going to come. The striker's the priority and the rest will probably be as and when. January tends to become a bit of an ebb and flow. It depends on markets, because different countries have different seasons and some people's contracts actually might be out."
ON POTENTIAL INVESTMENT FROM TONY BLOOM
"Again, all I can really say about Tony Bloom is that he has expressed an interest in investing and there's not really much more I could say at the moment.
"Until then, if it happens, I'm not really in a position to say any more. He has said he would like to take a minority stake in the club and we have ongoing discussions about that.
"Obviously it's quite complex around with FOH and with other shareholdings and all these sorts of things. So those negotiations are, as I say, ongoing."
