Duty and the beast
Sackings are inevitable but boards chopping & changing like England won’t bring success insists Robbie
ROBBIE NEILSON fears Scottish clubs are getting too close to the trigger-happy ways of owners south of the border after two more managers got the bullet.
The Hearts boss is now the third longest-serving top-flight boss after James McPake’s sacking at Dundee, which followed hot on the heels of Stephen Glass being fired at Aberdeen on Sunday.
At just one year and 242 days into his second stint at Hearts, Neilson is a stalwart in the Premiership management stakes.
And he knows as well as anyone the importance of having a strong board after Jambos fans called for his head in a furious protest after last season’s Scottish Cup humbling at Brora Rangers.
Despite now sitting 10 points clear in third place in their first season back in the top flight and progressing to the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup there’s still sections of the Hearts support who refuse to be appeased.
Neilson, who is also involved
FRASER WILSON
BY in the SFA coaching development pathway, insists continuity is the only way to guarantee success for managers and clubs.
He said: “It’s the time of year. In October you see changes then you get to this time and you see changes. There will probably be changes again in March. It’s just what happens.
“It’s disappointing to see two managers lose their job but it’s the nature of the beast nowadays.
“It used to be the average in England was 14 months and it’s down to 11. In Scotland we are slowly getting to that as well.
“When you go into the game you accept it’s going to happen at some point. It has happened to me before.
“The most important thing in football clubs is continuity. You see the best and most successful clubs when they get that continuity they are successful.
“The problem we have is that time is not a virtue you get in football. If you have owners or boards that are strong and give you time then a lot of the time you are successful.
“But if you are chopping and changing every six months or a year then, long-term, you are not going to be. Continuity whether it’s the manager, style of play, recruitment – that’s what builds success.
“You might have six months where it’s good then it falls away and you change again.
“Very few clubs have been successful doing that.
“When you’re not getting success you need to batten down the hatches and try to get through it as quickly as you can.”
Neilson comes up against the manager just above him in the length-of-services stakes tomorrow with St Johnstone boss Callum Davidson having been in post a whole three days longer.
The Saints boss is a man under pressure with his side languishing at the bottom.
But Hearts are looking to end a three-game winless run in the league amid a hectic schedule – and more than that they’re looking to bury a decade of Perth pain that has seen them fail to win on their last 14 trips to McDiarmid Park.
Despite a patchy recent run Hearts sit 10 points clear of fourth-placed Dundee United having gone into the winter break five points to the good.
Neilson added: “Someone just told me it’s been years since we won up there. Hopefully we can put an end to that on Saturday.
“In Scotland you’re not used to playing four midweeks on the bounce. In England you might get three in a month but up here you’re lucky if you get one.
“Unless you have a really big squad like the Old Firm who can change five or six players and bring in internationals, for everyone else it’s quite a hard challenge to continually have that freshness and put on performances that win games.
“We went into the break five points ahead – our form’s not been great – but we have come out 10 points ahead. We have to be happy with that.”