Defiant Neilson backs Hearts to ride out current slump

Defiant Robbie Neilson backed Hearts to ride out their current slump and secure third place in the cinch Premiership as the under-fire manager shrugged off a spray-painted message calling for him to leave the club last weekend.

The 42-year-old has been heavily criticised by sections of the support on the back of a run of six defeats in nine matches over the past two months, which has seen their advantage in third chopped to just one point by an Aberdeen side who trailed them by 10 points in early February.

Last Sunday, following the 2-1 defeat away to 10-man Kilmarnock, pictures emerged of graffiti on the Hearts badge mosaic on the plaza outside Tynecastle reading “f*** off Neilson”.

The manager was disappointed that the club’s property was vandalised but insisted his lengthy involvement in football has steeled him to be able to deal with such sentiments.

“There are other ways to vent your frustration nowadays,” he said. “It was disappointing but it’s a very small minority who have done it.

“We were at a Federation of Hearts Supporters do on Sunday and we had about 500 fans there who were outstanding with the players and the coaching staff.

“It’s like any football club when you have a period of negativity – and we’ve had three or four weeks of it now – there are always going to be these issues in the background. It’s about moving forward together.

“It’s disappointing that you’ve got graffiti there outside the football club, but ultimately it’s football nowadays. You’ve got to take that on the chin. If you’re at a big football club, if you lose a couple of games on the bounce, people will voice their opinion.

“You’ve just got to accept that, move on and hope it doesn’t happen again. The only way you can rectify it is by winning on Saturday.

“Every manager that’s had the longevity I’ve had, 300-400 games, will have ups and downs. The biggest thing in football, whether you’re a manager, a coach, or player, is to have the resilience to keep pushing forward and looking towards the next game.”

Much of the anger among fans has stemmed from a fear that Hearts – who were strong in third after going on a 10-game unbeaten run through the winter – are about to blow the chance of automatic European group-stage football next term.

Neilson, whose side host St Mirren and Ross County either side of a derby away to Hibernian, is confident they remain on course to achieve their primary objective.

“I still think we’ll finish third,” he said. “That’s where we want to finish. We’re in third at the moment.

“We’ve got an opportunity on Saturday to hopefully extend that lead and then more opportunities after that to try and confirm it.

“I don’t think we’ve ever been well clear. It’s not like last season. When we came back after the World Cup break, we were four points behind.

“We managed to get a wee gap and it’s come down a bit but it’s a case of trying to build again and get it (the gap) up again.

“We’ve had a wee period where we’ve had some difficult games. We’ve now got a home game, we’ve got the derby – which takes care of itself – and then another home game before the split and it’s up to us to try and take maximum points. If we can do that, we’ll be sitting in a completely different position.”