New Hearts manager Daniel Stendel has already made his mark on his coaching team and expects fans to see an instant impact on the park.
The German has promised supporters a passionate and attacking performance when he takes charge for the first time against St Johnstone on Saturday.
The former Barnsley boss will have Andy Kirk on the bench beside him after hitting it off with the former Hearts striker.
But he claimed coaches Jon Daly and Liam Fox will be handed different roles, while Austin MacPhee will vacate the dugout following his caretaker role after being handed some tasks that will ultimately be fulfilled by the club’s new sporting director.
Stendel began work on Tuesday and is confident his squad will take on board at least some of his ideas when they host the Ladbrokes Premiership bottom club, who are locked on 12 points with Hearts and Hamilton.
“My first impression is they want to learn, they are open to new things and this is the biggest thing for me, that we have players who want to improve,” he said.
“The mentality in training is good. We try to keep the main things in training because you can’t change everything in four days. But I have a good feeling.
“My experience in the past was that my football is not more special than football from other managers, it’s just what I prefer. It’s what I said to the players, we need experience in training that shows what I say is the right thing.
“The first time, it’s OK when the players say ‘really, I should do this?’ That’s normal especially when you can see the situation we are in, we don’t win so many games and the players have lost a bit of confidence.”
But he added: “The people who come can expect to see a team that plays with a lot of passion, that wants to press and play on the front foot. I cannot score but I can promise that we play like this.
“My experience is that all supporters like when we play this and I am pretty sure that the people at Tynecastle will like it.”
Hearts have only won three home games in the league in 2019 but Stendel believes they can capitalise on the fresh start.
“I hope we have a lot of support,” he said. “The players and coaching staff have told me a lot of things, when we have a home game and play with passion and the right mentality we can have so much more support from the fans.
“This is what I expected. When we play the way the supporters like, I think we have so much power to win the home games.”
Stendel still aims to bring in at least one of his assistants at Barnsley, Chris Stern and Dale Tonge, but he has found a kindred spirit in Kirk.
“I worked the last few days with Andy, and I think it can be really good in the future,” he said. “We know more every day and he has a lot of passion, which I like for my assistant coach.
“We have some of the same ideas and we learn from each other and at the moment he is the one and only person I trust on the bench.
“The last three assistant coaches have different tasks in the future.”
