Billy’s taking Heart from appointment
SPORT@SUNDAYPOST.COm Billy King enjoyed the best season of his career under Robbie Neilson at Hearts. Now he hopes to celebrate more good times after being reunited with his old gaffer at Dundee United. King was a key part of the Jam Tarts side that stormed to the Championship title in 2015. Neilson’s side were absolutely unstoppable. Now King hopes his former boss can turn United into serious title contenders. “When you play football, the best thing about it is winning games,” said King. “Looking back to winning the Championship with Hearts, we won the first game and we just went on to the next one and it just kept going on and on. “We never really looked back, and it was very enjoyable to win it in that way. “I think our first defeat didn’t come until January or whatever. “We got off to a flying start and we were playing some nice football. “It was relentless attack – and that was in a tough league with Rangers and Hibs as well. “Hopefully we can get some sort of run going here now. “I think confidence will come back into the players under the new gaffer and we owe it to the fans as well. “Performances this season just haven’t been good enough and we owe it to them, the ones who come to watch us play. “We need to start winning games and playing some attractive football.” Neilson’s Hearts side were certainly attractive as they strolled to promotion threeand-a-half years ago. They were also solid as a rock. This season, United have been anything but. However King reckons the Tangerines’ new gaffer is already having an impact on his players, who are filled with renewed hope for the rest of the season. “The gaffer is really thorough with all his analysis of other teams and stuff, trying to figure out a way to beat the team we’re playing against on a Saturday,” he said. “We have had a decent first week training with him. He’s come in and we’ve changed our regime slightly. “It’s been more tactical. Obviously it’s a bit frantic when a new manager comes in and he’s trying to put his imprint on the team. “We’ve been working hard, everyone is giving 100% in training and that’s what we need to do if we are going to improve as a team. “It helped me personally that I knew what to expect from the gaffer. “Obviously I was with him at Hearts and we did really well. The training was hard. It was double sessions most days and it benefited us. “Hopefully if we work like that here it will be the same.”