HEARTS legend Gary Mackay still remembers the “miserable winter's night” in Clyde when he realised Robbie Neilson would cut the mustard at Tynecastle.
“He was just a young man, out on loan at Queen of the South,” recalls Mackay, who made a club record 640 appearances for the Jambos before becoming an agent.
“It wasn't a game for the faint-hearted and late in the second half Robbie and Andy Milne went into a tackle together on the touchline. Andy was a hard player and raked his studs all the way up Robbie's thigh.
“Lesser men would have come off but Robbie just got up, gave Andy Milne a glare and got on with his job. I knew then that he was made of the right stuff.”
Few who watched the 36-year-old perform over the subsequent decade would refute Mackay's assessment.
In 200 league games for Hearts and more at Leicester, Dundee and Falkirk, the right-back with the fearsome throw was the epitome of professionalism and commitment.
“Robbie was always composed, very much in control of himself,” said John
McGlynn, the former Hearts coach who nurtured Neilson through the youth ranks and then worked on the first-team staff under George Burley.
“He was a disciplined, organised guy who basically ticked all the boxes of being a good professional. He was a great athlete, a great trainer. In any exercise you did he would always be at the front.”
Lee Wallace, a team-mate at Tynecastle, recalls a formidable work ethic. “Without fail, Robbie was the first through the door and the last to leave,” he says.
Alongside the likes of Craig Gordon and Steven Pressley, Neilson was a cornerstone of the Hearts side that overcame managerial upheaval and the chaotic ownership of Vladimir Romanov to win the Scottish Cup in 2006.
McGlynn cites Neilson's goal-saving challenge in the final against Gretna as the defender's defining moment. “He just wouldn't be beaten,” he adds.
A second-place finish in the same campaign also split Old Firm rivals Rangers and Celtic for the first time in over a decade.
Yet for all his virtues, Neilson spent his career splitting opinion. For every supporter who relished his attitude and endeavour, another questioned his pace and ability, his genuine class at the summit of Scottish football.
When Leicester made their approach in 2009, a poll on influential fans' forum Jambos Kickback saw 68 per cent of supporters vote not to renew his contract – hardly a ringing endorsement of a 28-year-old stalwart supposedly entering the peak years of his career.
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It is certainly true that Neilson made the most of modest ability.
“If you averaged his marks out over the course of the season, he'd be a solid seven out of ten,” said FLP columnist and ex-Celtic defender Adam Virgo.
“He wouldn't score goals, beat people up the line or get man of the match awards but he was very solid defensively. A steady-eddie, a good SPL player, if that isn't too disparaging.”
But what Neilson lacked in legs, he made up for in brains. From the decision at 16 to ditch the Rangers youth team in search of an opening to the relentless badgering of coaches on the way up, the defender sought ceaselessly to improve and understand.
“He was very laid-back and quiet around the place,” said Peter Houston, a youth team coach at Hearts who later managed Neilson at Dundee. “But he was very bright, very articulate. He was like a sponge when it came to soaking up information.”
Wallace added: “We worked with a number of bosses at Hearts, but he was always keen, always asking questions.”
Rangers boss Mark Warburton briefly worked with Neilson at Brentford in 2011 and knew then that he was destined to remain in the game.
“He was very intelligent and switched on,” said the 54-year-old. “I liked his company. We'd sit down every day with a cup of tea and talk about the game.
“Robbie has a football intellect, that's for sure.”
In 2014, handed an opportunity to revive Hearts following their descent into administration and the Championship, the 34-year-old manager learned at the hand of director of football Craig Levein.
Within 18 months, the Jambos were once again the second-best team in Scotland.
Those who have worked under him tell a familiar tale. An intense focus on fitness, double training sessions, long periods of analysis.
Before a game on Alloa's synthetic surface, Neilson hired out an astroturf court to help his players acclimatise.
Yet for all the miracles wrought, the Tynecastle faithful remained on the fence.
Questions were raised about a negative style of play, Levein's apparent influence on the team, a lack of nous in the market.
In March, with Hearts lying third in the top flight, a group of fans paid for a plane to to fly over the stadium demanding Neilson's sacking.
Yet by the time he left to join MK Dons last month – to a distinctly muted send-off in his final match – they had just beaten Rangers to go second once again.
“Some people didn't like Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United,” said Levein. “But with Robbie in charge, we sold out every week.
“That tells you that the vast majority of supporters were happy with the job he was doing.
“I can't make it any clearer than that. He's a very good young manager and a great loss to the club.”
Robbie Neilson FACTFILE
Born: Paisley, 1980 (Age 36)
Career: A right-back, Neilson came through the youth system at Rangers but left in 1996 to join Hearts, making his pro debut on loan at Cowdenbeath in 1999. After his first SPL start for the Jambos in September 2000, Neilson had a loan spells at Queen of the South (where he won the Scottish Challenge Cup) before returning to cement a regular berth at Tynecastle. In total, he made 249 appearances for Hearts, winning the SFA Cup in 2006 and one cap for Scotland before leaving to join Leicester in 2009. Neilson struggled to nail down a place at the Walkers, playing just 26 games in two seasons before a loan spell at Brentford. He finished his career back in Scotland with Dundee United, Falkirk and East Fife before retiring, aged 33, in 2013.
After coaching at Falkirk and then working as a player-coach at East Fife, Neilson returned to Hearts as Under-20s manager before being asked to take charge of the first team in May 2014. At the time, Hearts had just suffered relegation to the Championship but Neilson's rebuilt side saw off the challenge of both Hibs and Rangers to secure the title by a 21-point margin. The Jambos then finished the 2015-16 season third in the Premier League to qualify for the Europa League and lay second in the top flight when Neilson left to join MK Dons in December 2016.
