Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Robbie Neilson [1] | ||
Date of birth | [2] | 19 June 1980||
Place of birth | Paisley, Scotland | ||
Position(s) | Right-back [2] | ||
Team information | |||
Current team | Tampa Bay Rowdies (head coach) | ||
Youth career | |||
1994–1996 | Rangers | ||
1996–1999 | Heart of Midlothian | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1999–2009 | Heart of Midlothian | 200 | (1) |
1999–2000 | → Cowdenbeath (loan) | 8 | (0) |
2002–2003 | → Queen of the South (loan) | 13 | (0) |
2009–2011 | Leicester City | 26 | (0) |
2011 | → Brentford (loan) | 15 | (0) |
2011–2012 | Dundee United | 21 | (0) |
2012 | Falkirk | 3 | (0) |
2013 | East Fife | 5 | (0) |
Total | 291 | (1) | |
International career | |||
2000 | Scotland U21 [3] | 2 | (0) |
2005 | Scotland B [4] | 1 | (0) |
2006 | Scotland | 1 | (0) |
Managerial career | |||
2014–2016 | Heart of Midlothian | ||
2016–2018 | Milton Keynes Dons | ||
2018–2020 | Dundee United | ||
2020–2023 | Heart of Midlothian | ||
2023– | Tampa Bay Rowdies | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Robbie Neilson (born 19 June 1980) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of USL Championship club Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Neilson, who played as a right-back, started his senior career with Heart of Midlothian, making 200 Scottish Premier League (SPL) appearances and winning the Scottish Cup in 2006 with the club. Earlier on in his career, Neilson was loaned to Scottish Football League (SFL) clubs Cowdenbeath and Queen of the South. After failing to agree a new contract with Hearts, Neilson left and signed for English Championship club Leicester City in 2009. After about a year he was dropped from the Leicester first team, and was loaned to Brentford, and was then given a free transfer in the summer of 2011. Neilson played for Dundee United during the 2011–12 season, and later played for Falkirk and East Fife.
He became Hearts' head coach in 2014, winning the 2014–15 Scottish Championship title in his first season. Neilson moved to Milton Keynes Dons during the 2016–17 season, leaving by mutual consent in January 2018. He was appointed manager of Dundee United in October 2018, and guided them to promotion in the curtailed 2019–20 season. He then returned to Hearts, leading them to the 2020–21 Scottish Championship title as champions.
Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire. [2] Neilson was originally attached to Rangers, through their Boys Club system. He joined Hearts' youth academy aged 16. Neilson won the Scottish Youth Cup in a Hearts side that included captain Scott Severin under manager Peter Houston in 1998. [5] [6]
He had time on loan at Cowdenbeath in 1999. In August 2002, Neilson joined Dumfries club Queen of the South on loan. He helped the club consolidate their Scottish First Division status and win the 2002 Scottish Challenge Cup Final after winning 2–0 over Brechin City. [7] [8] Neilson made 17 appearances for Queens including a man of the match performance at Clyde. He returned to Tynecastle Stadium in January 2003.
A high point in his career came in 2004 with his match-winning goal in Hearts' 2–1 away win over FC Basel in the UEFA Cup, his first in any competition for the club. [9] He scored his first and only league goal for Hearts in a 3–1 win over Livingston later that season. [10] He played all 120 minutes of the 2006 Scottish Cup Final, which Hearts won on penalties against Gretna. [11]
Neilson was awarded a testimonial match by Hearts in 2008. [12]
On 4 February 2009, he was given the role of Hearts' captain after the departure of Christophe Berra. Manager Csaba László did not start contract talks with Neilson until the season drew to a close. As a result of the new wage structure at Hearts, Neilson and the club could not reach an agreement for a new contract. [13]
In search of a new challenge, [14] Neilson agreed terms with English Championship club Leicester City on 21 May 2009. [15] The next day the club confirmed that he had signed a pre-contractual agreement and would join them in July. [16] Signing a three-year contract, [16] Neilson set his sights on helping the club win promotion to the Premier League. [14] He made his debut in a 0–0 draw against Ipswich Town at Portman Road on 15 August, becoming the 1000th player to debut for the club in a competitive match. [17] Neilson finished the season with 19 league games for Leicester. He scored his first goal for the club in a 4–3 League Cup win over Macclesfield Town on 10 August 2010. [18]
On 17 February 2011, Neilson joined Brentford on loan for a month, [19] which was extended until the end of the season on 23 March 2011. [20] On 3 April 2011, Neilson started in the Football League Trophy Final playing the full 90 minutes. Carlisle United won the match 1–0. [21] On 27 May 2011, manager Sven-Göran Eriksson allowed Neilson along with Michael Lamey to speak to other clubs in search of more regular first team opportunities. [22]
After training briefly with Falkirk [23] and Burton Albion, Neilson agreed to sign a contract with Dundee United on 15 November 2011 until the end of the 2011–12 season. [24] His debut for the Tannadice Park club was against his former club Hearts on 19 November 2011. Neilson soon became a regular in the first team and manager Peter Houston said he was keen to keep Neilson at the club. [25] At the end of the season, Neilson was offered a new contract,[ citation needed ] but he turned the offer down [26] and was released by the club.[ citation needed ]
After his release, Neilson was linked with Scottish First Division side Falkirk. [27] On 6 October 2012, Neilson played as a trialist for Falkirk in a league match against Dunfermline Athletic. The game ended in a 2–2 draw and Neilson unfortunately suffered a cheekbone injury during the match. [28] Upon recovering, he played in two further league matches against Raith Rovers and Livingston in November 2012.
In September 2013, Neilson joined East Fife as player-coach. [29] He made his debut playing as a trialist on 31 August 2013, against Rangers in a 5–0 defeat. [30]
Neilson was capped 10 times by the Scotland national under-21 team. He won his first and only full Scotland cap in a 2–0 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying defeat to Ukraine in Kyiv on 11 October 2006. [31] [32]
On 31 August 2013, Neilson returned to Hearts as their development team (under-20s) manager. [33] The side lost the Scottish Youth Cup final to Rangers on penalties in 2014. [34]
New club owner Ann Budge promoted Neilson to the head coach position, working for director of football Craig Levein in May 2014. [35] Neilson's first official match in charge was a 3–1 home defeat of Annan Athletic in the Scottish Challenge Cup on 26 July. [36] Hearts began the 2014–15 Scottish Championship with five straight wins, including victories against Rangers and Hibernian. [37] [38] His team remained undefeated for their first 20 leagues matches until a 3–2 home defeat to Falkirk ended their run on 24 January 2015. [39]
Neilson won the Championship manager of the month awards for August, [40] October, [41] November [42] and March. [43] Hearts clinched the league championship and promotion to the Scottish Premiership, at the first attempt, on 22 March. [44] They finished the season 21 points ahead of nearest challengers, city rivals Hibernian, and 24 points ahead of third-placed Rangers. Neilson was shortlisted for PFA Scotland Manager of the Year, [45] but lost out to John Hughes of Inverness CT. [46]
Hearts finished third in the 2015–16 Scottish Premiership, qualifying for the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League. [47] In November 2016, it was reported that Neilson had agreed to move to Football League One club Milton Keynes Dons, subject to a compensation agreement between the clubs. [48]
On 2 December 2016, Milton Keynes Dons confirmed that Neilson had been appointed as manager, as well as his assistant manager at Hearts, Stevie Crawford. The club confirmed Neilson would take charge following the club's FA Cup game against Charlton Athletic. [49] In his first league game in charge of Milton Keynes Dons, he recorded a 1–0 home win against AFC Wimbledon. [50]
After a run of one win in 11 league games, Neilson left Milton Keynes Dons by mutual consent on 20 January 2018. [51] The team had fallen into 21st place, inside the relegation zone. [51]
Neilson was appointed head coach of Scottish Championship club Dundee United in October 2018 with a contract running until the end of the 2019–20 season. [52] [53] Neilson expressed confidence that he could repeat his achievement at Hearts and lead Dundee United to promotion to the Scottish Premiership. [53] Dundee United's chairman Mike Martin stated that Neilson was the "outstanding candidate" to emerge from "a long list of impressive applications" for the post and expressed delight at his accepting the offer to take up the post. [53] Neilson's first match in charge saw United defeat Partick Thistle 2–1 at Firhill. [54] At the end of Neilson's first season, United missed out on promotion to the Premiership after losing to St Mirren in the play-off final. [55] He led the side to the Scottish Championship title the following season, which was curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [56]
Neilson returned to Hearts, who had been relegated to the Scottish Championship after the curtailed 2019–20 season, in June 2020. He signed a three-year deal. [56] On 31 October he led them to the 2019–20 Scottish Cup Final after 2–1 victory over rivals Hibernian, thus making them finalists for the second consecutive season; [57] the final was lost on penalties to Celtic on 20 December after a 3–3 draw. [58]
Neilson's team secured the Championship title with three games remaining on 10 April 2021 after contenders Raith Rovers and Dundee drew. [59] He was the division's Manager of the Month in December and April. [60]
Neilson led Hearts to an opening day victory over Celtic in the 2021-22 Scottish premiership. Hearts would follow this up with a 2–1 away win over St Mirren, their first win at St Mirren Stadium in the league for over a decade. [61] Hearts early season league form would continue with a 2–0 victory over Dundee United at Tannadice on matchday 4 [62] seeing Neilson named Scottish Premiership manager of the month for August. A last gasp equaliser at Ibrox against Rangers would see Hearts stretch their unbeaten run in top flight games to 9 games. [63] Neilson's Hearts were eventually beaten 2–1 away from home by Aberdeen on Saturday 30 October [64] having managed to go unbeaten for the full first round of fixtures for the first time since the 2005–06 season.
Neilson would once again lead Hearts to a Scottish Cup Semi-Final against rivals Hibernian for the 2nd time in 3 seasons following a 4–2 win over St Mirren at Tynecastle [65] in the Quarter Finals. Hearts would defeat Hibernian 3–1 at Tynecastle in the final League game before the split, cementing 3rd place in the league. [66] Just 7 days later, Hearts would once again defeat Hibernian 2–1 in the Scottish Cup Semi-Final [67] at Hampden Park for the 2nd time in 18 months, setting up a second Scottish Cup final appearance since Neilson's return, this coupled with their league position guaranteeing a return to European group stage football for the first time since the 2004-05 season, a campaign in which Neilson played. Hearts lost the Scottish Cup final to Rangers 2–0 after extra time.
Neilson signed a new three-year contract with Hearts in July 2022. [68] After losing a Europa League playoff to FC Zurich, Hearts entered the group stage of the Conference League. They finished in third place, winning six points from two wins against Latvian side FK Riga. Domestically, in January Hearts were well clear of their rivals for third place after a 3–0 win against Hibernian and a 5–0 win against Aberdeen. [68] There was then an 11-point swing against Hearts, and the club sacked Neilson after a 2–0 home defeat by St Mirren meant that Aberdeen leapfrogged them into third place. [68]
The Tampa Bay Rowdies announced on 9 November 2023 that Neilson had signed a multi-year contract to become head coach of the USL Championship club. [69]
Team | From | To | Record | Ref | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
P | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
Heart of Midlothian | 12 May 2014 | 3 December 2016 | 106 | 62 | 22 | 22 | 58.49 | [49] [70] |
Milton Keynes Dons | 3 December 2016 | 20 January 2018 | 66 | 26 | 16 | 24 | 39.39 | [49] [71] |
Dundee United | 8 October 2018 | 21 June 2020 | 70 | 40 | 16 | 14 | 57.14 | [72] |
Heart of Midlothian | 21 June 2020 | 9 April 2023 | 126 | 64 | 22 | 40 | 50.79 | |
Tampa Bay Rowdies | 9 November 2023 | 22 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 54.55 | ||
Total | 387 | 199 | 85 | 103 | 51.42 | — |
Queen of the South
Heart of Midlothian
Brentford
Heart of Midlothian
Dundee United
Individual
Stephen Crawford is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. He was most recently the interim manager of Lowland League club Cowdenbeath.
Lee Henry McCulloch is a Scottish professional football coach and former player who most recently served as assistant manager of Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian.
Paul Hartley is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the manager of Scottish League One side Cove Rangers.
The 2006–07 season was the 110th season of competitive football in Scotland.
John James Ross is a Scottish professional football coach and former player, who was most recently the manager of Dundee United in the Scottish Premiership.
The 2000–01 Scottish Premier League was the third season of the Scottish Premier League, the top level of football in Scotland. It began on 29 July 2000 and concluded on 20 May 2001.
The 2008–09 Scottish Premier League season was the eleventh season of the Scottish Premier League and the second season under the sponsorship of the Clydesdale Bank. It began on 9 August 2008 with a game between Falkirk and Rangers. After the 33rd round of matches, the league split in half and each team played a further five matches against the teams in their half of the league.
The 2007–08 season was Inverness Caledonian Thistle's fourth in the Scottish Premier League and 14th since the merger that created the club. They also competed in the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Cup.
The 2009–10 Scottish Premier League season was the twelfth season of the Scottish Premier League. Rangers were the defending champions and they retained the championship with three games to spare by winning 1–0 against Hibernian at Easter Road on 25 April. The competition began on 15 August 2009 and ended on 9 May 2010.
The 2009–10 Scottish League Cup was the 64th season of the Scotland's second most prestigious football knockout competition, also known for sponsorship reasons as the Co-operative Insurance Cup. Rangers won the cup beating St Mirren 1–0 thanks to a goal from Kenny Miller.
Season 2000–01 was Hibs' second season in the Scottish Premier League, after gaining promotion from the First Division in 1999. 2000–01 proved to be a successful season for Hibs, as they started the season extremely well and eventually finished third, qualifying for the 2001–02 UEFA Cup. The club also had a good Scottish Cup run, reaching the 2001 Scottish Cup Final, but were beaten 3–0 by treble winners Celtic at Hampden Park. The season was also memorable for Hibs fans due to a 6–2 win in an Edinburgh derby against Hearts.
The 2012–13 season was Hibernian's fourteenth consecutive season in the Scottish Premier League, having been promoted from the Scottish First Division at the end of the 1998–99 season. The club improved on its league performance in the previous season by finishing 7th in the 2012–13 Scottish Premier League, but were eliminated from the 2012–13 Scottish League Cup in the second round by Queen of the South. Hibernian progressed in the 2012–13 Scottish Cup to the 2013 Scottish Cup Final, but this was lost 3–0 to league champions Celtic.
The 2013–14 Scottish Premiership was the first season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The season began on 2 August 2013 and concluded on 11 May 2014. This was the first season of the competition being part of the newly formed Scottish Professional Football League after the merger of the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. This season also featured the introduction of an end of season play-off between the 11th-placed team in the top flight and the teams placed 2nd–4th in the Scottish Championship, to determine whether a second team will be relegated from the league.
Serigne Osman Petter Sow is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a forward. He is of Senegalese descent.
The 2014–15 season was the 134th season of competitive football by Heart of Midlothian and the first under new ownership following the club's exit from administration on 11 June 2014. Following 31 consecutive seasons in the top level of Scottish football, this was the club's first season of play in the second tier of Scottish football since the 1982–83 season, having been relegated from the Scottish Premiership to the Scottish Championship at the end of the previous season. Hearts also competed in the Challenge Cup, League Cup and the Scottish Cup.
The 2015–16 season was Raith Rovers' seventh consecutive season in the second tier of Scottish football having been promoted from the Scottish Second Division at the end of the 2008–09 season. Raith Rovers also competed in the Challenge Cup, League Cup and the Scottish Cup.
The 2016–17 season was the 120th season of competitive football in Scotland. The domestic season began on 16 July 2016, with the first round of the 2016–17 Scottish League Cup. The 2016–17 Scottish Professional Football League season commenced on 6 August.
The 2016–17 season is the 136th season of competitive football by Heart of Midlothian F.C. with the team participating in the Scottish Premiership.
The 2020–21 season was the 140th season of competitive football by Heart of Midlothian (Hearts), with the team participating in the Scottish Championship. It was the club's first season of play in the second tier of Scottish football since 2015, and only the second since 1983, having been relegated from the Scottish Premiership, after the previous season was ended early due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland. On 10 April 2021, Hearts earned automatic promotion back to the Scottish Premiership, having been in first place for most of the season. They also competed in this season's Scottish League Cup and Scottish Cup, losing in the second round of each competition respectively.
The 2022–23 season was the 142nd season of competitive football by Heart of Midlothian. It was the club's second season of play back in the top tier of Scottish football.