Gary Locke will be confirmed as Kilmarnock ’ s permanent manager on Friday - exactly eight weeks after he was asked to take charge until the end of the season . An announcement will be made by the Rugby Park club on Friday morning , with the former Hearts boss being given a three-year deal . And on Thursday the 39-year-old paid tribute to the players whose efforts have helped him win favour with new chairman Jim Mann since he replaced Allan Johnston on a caretaker basis in February . Kilmarnock will confirm Gary Locke as the club 's new permanent manager on Friday . ‘ I ’ d be over the moon to get it as it ’ s something I ’ ve worked hard towards , ’ said Locke while negotiations were being finalised at the Ayrshire club . ‘ I had a taste of it ( management ) at Hearts and really enjoyed it . I ’ m fortunate I was put into this position at a great club . It ’ s a fantastic opportunity . ‘ But I ’ ve said all along , it ’ s not about me . It ’ s about players . If they perform , you get a better reputation as a manager and that has been the case here with a great response from them . ‘ That ’ s how football works . If they play well , your stock rises . Equally , if they don ’ t play well , it ’ s the manager who gets the stick . ‘ I ’ ve got broad shoulders and I know what to expect but I can ’ t praise the players highly enough . They have worked so hard and they have taken on board everything I have tried to tell them. ’ Ex-Killie and Hearts player Locke , who was crestfallen not to be retained by the Tynecastle club as head coach after they were relegated last season , added : ‘ ( Coaches ) Alan Robertson and Billy Thomson have done a fantastic job in helping me , too . ‘ You can ’ t do all of these things by yourself and backroom staff can be as important as the players . I can ’ t thank all of these people enough. ’ Locke , who returned to Rugby Park last summer , had been working as No 2 under Johnston when the manager announced in February that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season , indicating that the £150,000 sale of teenage forward Robbie Muirhead to Dundee United had been a factor in his decision . After Johnston was immediately relieved of his duties by the club hierarchy , assistant Locke was put in charge and was initially regarded as a stop-gap appointment . But he quickly won over the players and a team that had previously been struggling in the league went unbeaten in their first six games under his stewardship . They only suffered their first reverse under Locke when Ross County beat them 2-1 in Dingwall two weeks ago . Kilmarnock went unbeaten during Locke 's first six games in charge of the club . He has impressed Mann not only with results but with the way he has conducted himself during his two months at the helm . Kilmarnock are currently eighth in the Premiership and still remain in the hunt for a top-six place . It was expected that Locke would have been appointed permanently before now , but he dismissed reports that talks had stalled due to a clause that would see him sacked if the club failed to achieve a top-six finish this season . ‘ When you are dealing with contracts , they take a bit of time and I certainly don ’ t foresee any problems , ’ he said . ‘ There hasn ’ t really been a hold-up . As any player or manager will tell you , when it comes to the terms of a contract , it doesn ’ t just happen overnight . There are a lot of things to discuss and I have done that . ‘ I will keep all that private because that is the way it should be and the club have dealt with it brilliantly . ‘ I ’ ve no complaints there , so I hope it will be sorted before Saturday and I can concentrate on our home game against Motherwell . ‘ Our new board of directors have been fantastic . I ’ ve been really impressed with the way that they have handled everything . The club itself is trying to be as positive as possible . ‘ There are a lot of plans in place to make the club even better than it is right now , so there are loads of positives and I would like to be part of that. ’ Having resolved his own situation , Locke will next week turn his attention to the futures of nine first-team players at Kilmarnock — Manuel Pascali , Alexei Eremenko , Craig Slater , Craig Samson , Sammy Clingan , Greg Kiltie , Conor Brennan , Chris Chantler and Mark O ’ Hara — who will become free agents this summer . ‘ I ’ ve said for a number of weeks now that once my own position was sorted out , there are a few players out of contract and they will want to know what their futures are , ’ he said . ‘ So it will be great to get moving on all of that and prepare for next season . ‘ You can ’ t do that until you are the main man . ’
Gary Locke will be confirmed as Kilmarnock boss on Friday . The club went unbeaten during Locke 's first six games in charge . The 39-year-old former Killie defender has paid tribute to his players .