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 2014–15Scottish 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.
Club career
Hearts
Neilson celebrating with Hearts after winning the Scottish Cup in 2006
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 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]
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]
Leicester City
Neilson playing for Leicester City in 2010
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]
Loan to Brentford
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]
Dundee United
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]
Falkirk
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.
East Fife
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]
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]
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]
Dundee United
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]
Hearts (second spell)
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]
Tampa Bay Rowdies
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]
Scottish Championship Manager of the Month: August 2014,[40] October 2014,[41] November 2014,[42] March 2015,[43] August 2019, November 2019, December 2019, December 2020, April 2021[60]
