Poker-faced Rob reckons Jambos’ out-of-contract stars don’t need new deals to be aces in Paradise
ROBBIE NEILSON had his poker face on yesterday.
Which is pretty appropriate considering he has four aces up his sleeve and he didn’t look at all concerned about losing any of them.
Naturally, he’d love to play Craig Gordon, Craig Halkett, John Souttar and Stephen Kinglsey over and over for the next couple of seasons but that will depend on whether they choose to sign new deals at Hearts.
All of them – essentially Neilson’s first-choice defence – are out of contract in the summer.
But the Jambos boss is either bluffing or genuinely unconcerned because he firmly believes that players on the last legs of their deals bust a gut to either win a new deal or to impress potential suitors.
And tomorrow night they’ll be showcasing their talents at Celtic Park as they bid to take Hearts into second place in the Premiership.
Asked about Kingsley, who scored a sensational free-kick to clinch a win over St Mirren at the weekend, Neilson said: “We’ve put an offer to him.
“Joe Savage is dealing with that and it’s coming back and forward. Hopefully we can get Stephen tied up because he’s been one of our better players this season and last season in terms of consistency.
“We’ve got a number of them we are trying to tie up. People always say going into the last year of their contract might affect them but in my experience it’s for the good because they have to perform, whether it’s for a new contract here and for a contract somewhere else.
“It’s the guys who sign the three, four and five year deals that you have to worry about because the tools can be downed and the cigar comes out sometimes.
“These guys are coming to the last six months of their contracts and they need to perform. It’s up to us to try to get them tied up again but if we don’t, they still need to perform.
“Yes. It’s part of the game these days and it’s not just here. Every other club – Rangers, Celtic, Hibs, Aberdeen, every other club has players out of contract.
“We just need to try to get them tied up and if we don’t, we have to continue to win games.”
Hearts have scored four times in two games against Celtic this season, beating them 2-1 at Tynecastle in the league and losing 3-2 in the Premier Sports Cup.
Neilson insists they will travel to Glasgow fuelled by the belief that they can continue to worry Ange Postecoglou’s side.
He said: “They’ve got good players and just about every one of them is an international, you have to go with confidence but also respect.
“They are a good team and we have to set up properly, but we believe we have good players in our team as well.
“Second place is up for grabs. If we get the result, we go ahead of them, that’s how we are looking at it. There are still a lot of games to go and we have to keep ourselves round about it. This is a chance to stay in the fight. The players have belief.
“They are a good group and throughout the season, even if there has been a difficult game, they have responded the following week, just as they did last week. I’m looking forward to going to Parkhead and putting on a performance.”
Hearts will do so without the injured Beni Baningime but with a hectic schedule coming up, Neilson revealed that he’d have been utilising the depth of his squad in any case.
He said: “With the three games in a week, given the squad we’ve got, we were looking at freshening up a couple of areas here and there. It’s just one of those things but, touch wood, I don’t expect it to be a long-term thing for Beni.
“The guys who aren’t playing just need to work hard and wait for their moment. When it comes you need to be ready, which is the same at every club. The players who haven’t been playing have been fine.”
Losing ahead, the Hearts boss insists his team’s Scottish Cup draw, away to Auchinleck is exactly the kind of tie to get the blood pumping.
He smiled: “There will be a good atmosphere. Sometimes you get these draws and you go places and there’s nobody there but I’m pretty sure Auchinleck will be pretty lively that Saturday. We’ve got a good fanbase down Ayrshire way so it will be a good chance for them to come and see us.”