Robbie Neilson insists he wasn’t bothered by Michael Beale ’s comments about Aberdeen being the third best team in Scotland.
But he’s hoping the Rangers manager and his team will be bothered by the atmosphere created by a packed Tynecastle under the lights tonight as he bids to bring Beale’s unbeaten record to a shuddering halt. The new Gers boss has apologised for any offence felt in Gorgie by his assertion a couple of weeks ago that the Dons were the best of the rest. And Neilson has been involved in Scottish football long enough to know that mountains can be created out of molehills.
So, while he’s ready to let it slide, he will be doing his utmost to send out a message in one of our game’s showpiece occasions that is, bizarrely, not being shown on live TV. Neilson said: “He got in touch through a friend of a friend. Everybody is entitled to their opinion about who is first, second, third, fourth but it didn’t bother me. He said he didn’t look at the league table and everybody blows these things out of proportion.
“At the end of the day, it’s not an issue for us. We are pleased with where we are. We want to push up. We will see where we are at the end of the season.
“We know when the Old Firm come to town it’s a very tough game and we have to be at it but we have a group of players here who have played in big games, won big games and are definitely looking forward to it, that’s for sure.
“There will be 20,000 fans under the floodlights at Tynecastle. It doesn’t get much better than that. It’ll be a great game. We are doing all right. We are playing against a very, very good team.
“Top players, national team players who have played at the highest level. So we have to bring our best game. If we bring our best game and we get the rub of the green at times, then we have a chance.”
Neilson agrees that the clash of second and third at Tynecastle is exactly the kind of occasion that shows off Scottish football in its best light but Sky has opted not to cover the match. “If you are asking me if Livingston v Hearts is suitable, or Hearts against Rangers at Tynecastle is suitable, I know there’s different things like allocations of home games that come into it, but I agree,” he said.
“It is just the way it works. For all the frustration, you just have to accept it. What it does do is make that ticket for tomorrow night all the more valuable.”
Hearts are on a 10-game unbeaten run and while Neilson acknowledges the financial disparity between the big two and the rest, it doesn’t stop him trying to get closer to the Old Firm. He added: “We always talk about aiming up the way here. We don’t want to start looking at what’s below us and thinking about all these clubs.
“There is no doubt with the financial divide it is difficult to get there but we have to aim to get closer and closer. Whenever we get them at home, we feel we have a real chance. If we can do that consistently, the next step is can we do it away from home.
“That’s been the biggest issue probably for all clubs outside the Old Firm. They have the odd game at home when they do well and win the game but can you do it consistently at home and then do it away as well?
“If you look at our record away from home, that’s what makes us slip up over a league campaign. We have to try and fix that.”
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