Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson laughed off a bizarre fan protest after he watched his team close the gap on second place Aberdeen with a third successive league win over Partick Thistle on Saturday.
Literally seconds after kick-off at Tynecastle, a plane carrying the message, ‘No Style No Bottle Neilson out’ began circling around the stadium and continued to hover for around ten minutes.
The Hearts fans inside the ground responded with chants of, ‘There’s only one Robbie Neilson’.
But in the end Neilson had the last laugh as Arnaud Djoum’s 25th minute header saw off the Jags and moved the Jambos to within six points of the Dons.
Neilson said: “I didn’t see it but I was shown it after the game.
“I’d rather people spent their money on the (fans group) Foundation of Hearts instead of wasting their money on me.
“It’s up to them, they can do what they want. I think we’re sitting in a decent position but I’ll have to have a look at my gear.
“Don’t waste your money on that, get it into the Foundation.
“I was wondering why they were chanting my name. I’d rather they were shouting for the players and giving them some encouragement.”
Neilson, whose team have now beaten Kilmarnock, Inverness and Thistle in a week, added: “We played all right but I thought we deserved the win.
“We didn’t give up a lot of chances.
“It’s always difficult if you don’t get that second goal. It’s three games, three clean sheets and nine points so I’m delighted with that.”
Midfielder Djoum said: “It’s been a great week and really important to win three home games.
“We are happy we are close to the top and we have confidence we can try for second.
“Why can’t we? We have nothing to lose.
“We are assured of top-six, so we can go for it and try to catch Aberdeen. We have to believe in it.”
On the plane stunt, Djoum added “I didn’t see the plane, I was focused on the game.
“But to be honest, it’s not important.
“We are having a great season and we have to continue the way we are going.”
