Neilson will check out Arbroath
unturned in his bid to return the Gorgie boys to the top flight at the first time of asking.
So instead of heading west with his squad, he’ll be going north to Gayfield to see Dick Campbell’s Arbroath face Ayr.
The Jambos face both sides in their next two league games and even though he’s less than 24 hours from a shot at a first major trophy as a manager, Neilson is putting that on the back burner to do his title homework.
He said: “The build-up is still the same, whether it’s now or the end of the season, you still have a good week’s training leading into it.
“We had the league games that we had to take care of and I’ll be going up to watch Arbroath v Ayr before travelling down.
“We’ll train at Riccarton then the boys are going to the hotel – so I’d only be sitting about at the hotel anyway. I ’d rather be watching a game!”
While this week has been as standard as it can be with the world still in the midst of the Covid pandemic, Neilson does admits that playing Scott i sh f ootb a l l ’ s showpiece occasion five days before Santa is due to visit has been weird.
He said: “It’s a bit surreal. It’s usually the climax of the season in the sunshine.
“But we’re just glad to be there and are looking forward to it. Hopefully, it’s a decent Christmas present for the fans.”
Hearts have a special relationship with football’s oldest trophy after finally ending a 36-year trophy drought by winning it back in 1998.
They’ve done so twice since – and Neilson played a big part as a player in their 2006 triumph.
He said: “When you are a kid growing up, you dream of playing for your country and playing in a Scottish Cup Final.”