Neilson sees a future title wiping out pain of ’86

HEARTS fans, please don’t look away. Mention of 1986 and all that will only be fleeting in nature. And, if Robbie Neilson has his way, even that stubbornly memorable footnote in club history will be eclipsed by a Tynecastle title triumph for the ages.

The current Hearts head coach believes that turning his team into Premiership champions is the only guaranteed way to bury the hurt of maybe the most infamous near miss Scottish football has ever seen.

He’s not saying it’s going to happen overnight. Barely two years on from coming out of administration, the Edinburgh club are still in the rebuilding phase.

However, with a new stadium in the pipeline and funding from the Foundation of Hearts providing a crucial edge, Neilson (below) says there’s no reason why Hearts fans shouldn’t believe the league flag will eventually fly down Gorgie way.

Addressing the 30th anniversary of a spectacular last-day title turnaround, when Hearts needed a point to win the championship but saw Celtic snatch it instead after the Jambos were beaten by Dundee, he said: ‘You have to always believe you can (win the league).

‘There’s no point coming in to a league and saying you will be happy with this and that. You might not have a realistic chance of winning it but every side should be determined to have a right good go.

‘If you don’t do that, you are not doing yourself or your fans any justice. We’d like to get to a stage when we can challenge — and I think we will get there eventually.

‘It might take a number of years but, if we build properly and have the backing of the fans, we can get there.

‘The new stand will provide more revenue. There will be more fans coming and it all builds from there. We are never going to say it will take six months when we are only two years out of administration.

‘You need to build slowly and Saturday’s game (Celtic at Tynecastle) is the chance to take another step. It’s a chance to prove we can produce a performance and get a result. It would be another small step.

‘I don’t pay too much attention to the 1986 talk. It was a long time ago. It was an important time for the club but we have moved on and it doesn’t have any bearing on us. It won’t have any impact on us for Saturday.

‘Everyone knows all about it. People still speak about it now. It was a difficult day but we have moved on and, hopefully, we can get to a stage where we put that to bed by challenging to win something. ‘That’s the plan, to build in the next four or five years to compete. There’s no point looking back in the past. We are where we are and we want to build a squad that can compete.’ Should Neilson require inspiration or persuasion that his ambitions are more than just idle chatter, he need look no further than one of his former clubs. The ex-full-back spent two years with Leicester City at the peak of his playing powers — and still counts members of the coaching staff there as good friends. ‘They have done what everyone is looking for,’ said Neilson, who took in a Foxes Under-20s game earlier this season. ‘Everyone is trying to find the unpolished diamonds, guys you can work with and give them the opportunity to progress. ‘It’s getting more and more difficult for the likes of us, with the teams in England having 15 scouts and huge academies looking at players. They have guys all over the world. But you have to keep looking. ‘There are still a few people there I know. I don’t speak to them a lot but I was down a few months ago and spoke to a couple of them. ‘But it’s great to see that a team like that can mount a challenge and do what they’ve done so well with a much lesser budget than the bigger teams in the league. It gives everyone hope that money doesn’t always buy success. ‘It would be a huge achievement and up there with some of the best. To get a team together when five or six years ago they were in League One. ‘It is great for the club and for the city. They have really brought the whole place together. My old boss Nigel Pearson deserves a lot of credit, along with Steve Walsh and Craig Shakespeare as well. Those two are still there, one does recruitment and the other is assistant manager.’ The fact that Celtic can effectively clinch the Premiership title at Tynecastle tomorrow should add a certain spice to a fixture rarely in need of additional zest, with Neilson admitting that his players wouldn’t enjoy seeing any visitors celebrate on their patch. ‘Obviously not,’ he said. ‘But we want to go and try to win the game. That’s the most important thing. ‘What’s happened with Celtic and where they are in the league, or what’s going to happen with them, is nothing to do with us. ‘We have to go and try to perform and excite the fans. There’s going to be 17,500 or 18,000 fans there. ‘We have to make sure we put on a performance and try to get a result.’