Hearts manager Robbie Neilson was heartened by the club’s financial results this week – but admits three points in the Championship are all that matter against Morton.
The club returned a profit of £473,000 – helped by donations of £3.7 million, for the year to June.
However, with Covid-19 restrictions continuing to keep supporters out of stadia, Neilson has conceded that the figures will look different in 12 months’ time.
Neilson’s focus tomorrow will be on masterminding a win in the Championship encounter at Morton, seven days following the Betfred Cup upset at Alloa.
The financial results, however, at least gave him a lift on Monday.
He said: “The financial results were a lot better than we all expected but we’re still expecting to post quite a significant loss for the year coming because of the crisis.
“We’ve got the benefactors in there and donations to the Foundation of Hearts but it’s all money that is coming in to try and help the football club and build it to go forward.
“It was a surprise, definitely for me as I don’t deal with the financial side of it, and when you see the results coming in for 99 per cent of the sides it’s all losses so to be able to do that is great.”
Neilson is looking for a response at Cappielow as Hearts attempt to boost their Championship title hopes on Saturday.
The former Jambos skipper watched his team fire a blank in last weekend’s 1-0 extra-time defeat at the Wasps despite dominating.
Neilson added: “This week has just been about getting the confidence back and putting the ball in the back of the net.
“We were very disappointed with the result last week but the general play, getting into good areas and getting opportunities was good.
“We just didn’t get that final moment so when you go into a week like this, we know we’ll have chances again on Saturday if we play the way we did last week. It’s just about putting it in the net now.”
Neilson, meanwhile, admits he has sympathy for Scottish Cup final rival Neil Lennon.
Some Celtic supporters launched violent protests at Parkhead last Sunday after the Bhoys were knocked out of the League Cup in a pitiful 2-0 defeat to Ross County.
Neilson said: “It’s disappointing to see that reaction. Neil has done a fantastic job there, I don’t know how many trophies he has won over the many years he has been there.
“It’s football nowadays, it’s very reactionary. You lose a game and it’s the end of the world, we felt it last week against Alloa.
“Neil has got thick enough skin and is an experienced enough manager to make sure he takes the pressure off the players and I’m sure he will.”
