Hearts winger Barrie McKay met the media to discuss his return from injury, how Steven Naismith has helped him during recovery, and the motivation of European football. Aaron Fraser rounds up the key lines from the Oriam.
Barrie McKay was in positive spirits as he sat down to face the press at Oriam. One of Hearts’ most technically-gifted players has spent the majority of the season watching on from the stands. Two separate knee injuries have limited McKay to only nine appearances during 2023/24.
The winger’s work ethic and positive attitude towards recovery has been praised by Steven Naismith. Now fully fit and raring to go, McKay has thanked his manager for allowing him to work at his own pace during his rehabilitation period.
“Yeah, it makes a difference. You can have some managers that will want to push it, and some that don’t need you and don’t want to [push it], but I think Naisy’s been really good. He’s not put any pressure on that. I think it really helps when the team is doing well, you probably don’t need that pressure of trying to rush anybody back fit. He’s been good with me, he’s just said like, ‘take your time, even when you come back it’s going to take time to get back to what you were’, and just take it from there really and keep building it up.”
McKay was unable to take part in pre-season last summer but stressed its importance for players. He is eager to be involved this time around.
“Yeah definitely. I think obviously pre-season’s important – so we can get to the end of the season and then you get a little break, then you’re right back in again and you’re ready to go and that’s what probably sets you up for the rest of the season. I never did one last year so hopefully I can do one this year.”
A year has now passed since Naismith took charge of the Hearts team, initially on an interim basis before landing the job permanently last summer, and McKay has been impressed with the job that he has done so far.
“Yeah, he’s been good. It’s probably been different for me this season just with being injured but like I’ve said, he’s been good with me. We’ve had lots of chats and it’s hard when you’re injured and can’t help. But I think to do what he’s done this season is a credit to him.”
While happy to be back in contention, McKay is not under any pressure from management to take part in a certain amount of matches. For him, the aim is to work hard in training and let everything else take care of itself.
“No, I think for me I’m just taking it as it comes now. I think before if you’d asked me, I wanted to play as much as I can. I’ve got no limit on how many minutes, how many starts or whatever I can and cannot make. It’s just about keeping trying to train well and take my chance when I play and just keep building it up that way. Like I keep saying I’ve got no pressure on me, or the manager’s putting no pressure on me to play a certain amount of minutes.”
McKay is returning to fitness at the business end of the season. The post-split fixtures, and an eagerly anticipated Hampden showdown against Rangers, are just around the corner. Securing European group stage football is the perfect motivation for McKay to contribute towards in the coming weeks.
“Yeah, it’s massive. I think that’s what most players will come here for is to play in Europe and obviously last year we probably fell a wee bit short with the qualifying and stuff. But no, it’s a real motivation for everybody – everybody wants to play in those sort of games and test themselves against the best players, and I’m no different really. I had a chance at it two seasons ago when we did it, and hopefully I can do it again.”
