ROBBIE GETS A RAISE!
Neilson on the up at Hearts’ title party
IT was a drenched Robbie Neilson who faced up to the assembled press last night and the champagne-soaked Hearts boss admitted he remains amazed at how quickly his team have wrapped up the Championship title.
Having been crowned league winners with seven games to spare, Tynecastle entered celebration mode yesterday as a 2-0 victory over Queen of the South paved the way for a postmatch promotion party.
Striker James Keatings played the part of chief prankster, spraying the coaching staff with the bubbly, but the team must
wait another five weeks before getting their hands on the trophy on May 2.
The opponents for that final league fixture are Rangers and Neilson conceded he started the campaign targeting that match as a title decider.
He said: ‘I thought it would be and I hoped it would be. I expected Hibs and Rangers to beat most teams and it would be the games against each other that decided things.
‘Consistency was always going to be the difficulty and this season we showed we have that winning mentality to keep grinding out results.’
Hearts opened their league campaign by putting a marker down on Rangers’ home turf as Osman Sow netted a late winner at Ibrox.
‘That win gave us real momentum and a massive lift,’ added Neilson. ‘Then we got another result against Hibs here the week after and I thought: “We’ve got a real chance here”.
‘I never expected it to be the way it ended up, though. But we did it ourselves. We never got any favours from anyone. We haven’t needed teams to go and beat other teams for us to get into this position in the league.
‘It has all been about us and the players’ dedication to produce.’
Neilson revealed that his players would be given a couple of days off to enjoy their success before resuming training on Tuesday ahead of next Sunday’s rearranged return fixture at Ibrox.
Keatings, however, already has his eye on the later fixture against Rangers.
‘We would have liked to have got the trophy today,’ said the former Celtic youth player. ‘But it was great to celebrate with the fans today because we didn’t get that chance last weekend. It will be good to get the trophy on the last day against Rangers, who were the favourites to win the league. It will be in front of our fans and we’ll enjoy that day.’
For Keatings a title medal more than justifies his decision to reject a crack at the Premiership this season.
Part of the Hamilton side that beat Hibs in a play-off to gain promotion, he elected to remain in the second tier when signing for Hearts.
‘I came here to play for a big club in front of big crowds,’ added Keatings, who replaced Genero Zeefuik during yesterday’s game. ‘I went close to winning a medal at Hamilton, so I have topped that this season.’
Hearts owner and chair Ann Budge led her fellow directors onto the pitch at full-time and praised the endeavours of the fans, who invested in the Foundation of Hearts movement which helped the club move out of administration last year.
‘Clearly, the people who have really made the difference are the supporters, everyone who is here,’ said Budge.
‘I want to thank you on behalf of everyone at the club for your fantastic support.
‘I also want to thank everyone who supported the Foundation of Hearts.
‘Without that (support), we would not be here.’