Four days after their team won the SPFL Championship, Hearts supporters received more good news today when Head Coach Robbie Neilson told them he was staying at Tynecastle to continue the remarkable work he has already done in less than a year.
At the club’s press conference on Thursday, Neilson, 34, spoke of his desire to see the club he played for with distinction and is managing with even more distinction, re-establish themselves in the SPFL Premiership.
“I’ll be here next season” said the man who has transformed Hearts fortunes. “I’m not ready to make a step yet. It’s been a great season and it’s been really enjoyable. We’ve been lucky that any mistakes we have made in the coaching side or during the games, from my perspective, haven’t been punished. When you move up a level then they do get punished so it’s important that we don’t get ahead of ourselves, players and coaching staff, to think that we’ve done it.
I’ve only been in the job for nine, ten months or whatever it is. I’ve still got a long way to go and I’ve still got a long way to take this team as well. It’s a great opportunity to build over the summer and have real crack at it next season and see where we are. Then the season after that, if we can gain stability in the league, then it gives us another chance to push on from there”
His statement of intent came after comments made by Hearts owner Ann Budge who said she wouldn’t be surprised if bigger clubs than Hearts came calling not only for some of the club’s promising youngsters but for one of the most promising head coaches in the country.
“I’m really happy where I am, at a stable club” Neilson continued. “Ann’s been fantastic, Craig’s been great so it’s a great place to be at the minute.”
Hearts play their first game since clinching the Championship this Saturday when promotion-chasing Queen of the South visit a sold-out Tynecastle on Saturday. Typically, Neilson is in no mood for the players to let their standards slip.
“This club demands we win every game and with a full house here on Saturday we don’t want to let the fans down”
Meanwhile, former Manchester United and Scotland manager Sir Alex Ferguson has said he believes the legendary Dave Mackay would have loved to have seen the job that’s been done at Tynecastle.
He spoke to the Hearts official website after attending the funeral for Mackay in Edinburgh on Tuesday.
“I think Dave would be very proud of Hearts” said the man who has been hard to replace at Old Trafford. “As you know, Hearts have been through a terrible time and anyone who has an affection for Hearts – and I go back to when I was a boy – I must say, they were my second team after Rangers, with the great players John Cumming, Bauld, Conn and Wardhaugh – will be delighted to see them back”
“That period when things go so bad – I just think that sometimes a guardian angel comes along and saves you. The job that Ann Budge has done has not only regenerated the club but it’s given everyone a lift in sense of the ambition is back in the club, they’re back in the Premier League.
“Hearts won the Championship by a phenomenal number of points and I’m delighted for them. They play some really good football and I think they will be very welcome in the Premier Division, I’m sure of that, and they’ll do well.”
Author of The Team for Me - 50 Years of Following Hearts. Runs Mind Generating Success, a successful therapy practice in Edinburgh. Contact me if you want rid of any unwanted habits. Twitter @Mike1874
