Robbie Neilson admits the graffiti that unceremoniously told him to sling his hook at Hearts was disappointing, but he’s reminded his doubters that his team are still sitting right where they want to be.
An X-rated message was scrawled across a club crest mosaic on Foundation Plaza outside the main stand at Tynecastle. Frustration has built following last Saturday’s defeat away to Kilmarnock, which allowed Aberdeen to cut the gap between themselves and the Jambos in third to just one point. With potentially guaranteed European group stage football on the line, whoever finishes best of the rest is set for a bumper payday should Celtic or Rangers win the Scottish Cup.
Hearts scooped the Euro cash pot last year and have been over the course before. Neilson accepts that a string of poor results means the boss will cop flak from fans at a club like Hearts, but bullishly predicted his men would get the job done as they’ve proven they can recover from these sort of slumps before, starting against St Mirren on Saturday.
“It’s disappointing that you get graffiti there and it’s outside the football club, but ultimately that’s football nowadays and you’ve got to take that on the chin,” said Neilson.
“If you're at a big football club and you lose a couple of games on the bounce, then people will voice their opinion. You’ve just gotta accept that, move on and hope that it doesn’t happen again. The only way we can rectify it is by winning on Saturday.
“Look, every manager that’s had the longevity I’ve had - I’ve had 3,400 games now - you’re going to have ups, you’re going to have downs. The biggest thing in football nowadays is resilience to continue to go.
“Whether that’s a player, a coach or a manager, you've got to push forward, look to the next game and prepare properly. Hearts for me should be competing at the top end of the league. We are competing at the top end of the league. Yes we’ll have these dips, but it’s important that we’ll come through them like we have in the past.
“I still think we’ll finish third and that’s where we want to finish. We’re third at the moment and we’ve got an opportunity on Saturday to hopefully extend that lead, then more opportunities throughout the season to try and confirm it.”
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