Robbie Neilson believes that Hearts are “4 or 5” years off having a squad capable of seriously challenging Celtic and Rangers.
Neilson was full of bravado earlier on this season after beating Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic on opening day. The former MK Dons boss said back then that they were gunning for second spot as he claimed it was “up for grabs” [Daily Record].
However, in the end, he was left an incredible 32 points behind Celtic at the top of the tree. 28 behind runners-up Rangers. In addition to that, they only won 1 game out of 10 against Glasgow’s top 2 this season. For a side that flapped their gums so often about competing, they were never really in the hunt for the top places.
And after watching a tame attacking showing from his Hearts side in the Scottish Cup final, Neilson believes it’ll take 5 years for his side to get to the level of quality necessary to challenge properly.
As quoted by Football Scotland, Neilson said: “I think against Rangers, the changes that Rangers could make, we didn’t quite have that level. We need to try and get that. We need to get a group of players that after 80 minutes you can change things and we can have a right go. Yeah we can be extensive in our recruitment, but we’re not going to get to that level.
“It will take four or five years to get there and that’s where we need to be realistic on it and say ‘what’s the next step?’ The next step is ‘can we play in Europe on a Thursday night and can we win on Sunday? Can we rotate our squad?’
“Everybody will be gunning for us, but we’re not looking below us, we’re going to try and get as close as we can to the teams above us. We finished 13 points clear in third, the aim is: can we beat that? If we can beat that, can we get closer to Rangers and Celtic as well?”
Hearts absolutely nowhere near Celtic as Robbie Neilson outlines timeline
Neilson of course has to look at things from a Hearts perspective. He has to give his supporters something to cling on to and strive for improvement within his own squad.
However, let’s be realistic here. Hearts aren’t shopping on the same budget as Celtic or Rangers. It’s interesting to know what Neilson believes is going to change within a five-year period. He’s assuming that the Hoops will just stand still for example.
We would like to think that 5 years down the line, if Ange is still here, we would be making a serious dent in Europe. That we would continue to qualify for the UCL and therefore attract the better players. We won’t just sit and wait for the competition to gain ground on us.
Hearts have already seen the grim reality of where they sit compared to the Glasgow clubs. Their top centre-back signed for Rangers on a pre-contract earlier this season. Clearly he wasn’t ready to stick around for the journey Neilson wants to take them on.
And that’s going to be a growing issue for Hearts. Their top stars will continue to demand moves when they feel they’ve outgrown the club and the fact is they won’t be able to sell them for the same level Celtic would if they had a top star in demand.
Neilson will be looking to smash the glass ceiling. Of course he will. But if we’re all being realistic? It’s not happening.
In other news, Reo Hatate tells Japanese TV about his “special ability” we haven’t seen at Celtic
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