Former Hearts midfielder Michael Stewart believes Robbie Neilson can flourish in his second spell at Tynecastle without Craig Levein 'holding him back'.
Levein was director of football during Neilson's first spell in charge before the latter decided to move to MK Dons despite seeing real progress with the Jambos. This included winning the Championship at a canter before doing impressive work in the top flight.
Stewart, though, reckons Levein's "negativity" from the higher-up position within the club was beginning to manifest itself through Neilson, too, during his time as manager initially. However it has now all changed with Levein no longer at the club. "Robbie Neilson must have always wondered ‘what if?’ after quitting Hearts when they were second in the Premiership table," Stewart wrote in his Scottish Sun column.
"Now he’ll finally get the chance to find out, without Craig Levein holding him back at the Tynecastle club. I’ll be honest, I never understood why Robbie left the Jambos for MK Dons in the first place back in 2016. It didn’t make sense to me. The Gorgie side were building something pretty good, there was a real momentum there, they had a good squad.
"They had just gone second at a time when Rangers were still clawing their way back and Aberdeen, who had been second, were there to be got at. So why go? Especially to MK Dons. Maybe we’ll never know. But it’s telling for me that he’s chosen to go back now Levein is no longer there.
"Would Robbie have gone back had that previous structure, with Levein as director of football, still been in place? I’m not so sure. Was that part of the reason he was so quick to get himself out of the door and down to England first time around?
"There was a pressure being put on him from a part of the support — and the internal support from people upstairs didn’t seem to be there. Now he’ll look at the club and feel like he can start afresh, no matter what league they happen to be in next season.
"And if it does happen to be the Championship it will be like history repeating itself. He can go in and build something once more."
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