Gary Mackay: Hearts fans need to stay realistic with club in a fantastic place

We all want the best for Heart of Midlothian but at times we also need to maintain realism.

This is the club’s first full season back in the top flight. We are third and can only throw that away. For that to happen, another team would need to show the consistency we showed earlier in the season. No-one else, other than Celtic and Rangers, have been able to do that.

When the European draws take place in June, if we are sitting as Hearts supporters feeling excited about who we might play, then whatever has gone before will be negated. It will be ‘job done’ and I think that's the realism Robbie Neilson is going with. Nobody can blame him.

We would all agree that it hasn't been an enjoyable watch at times recently. I think even the Hearts management team would go along with that. A lot of it is down to how well we started the season.

Hearts fans demand results from their team at Tynecastle.

The here and now is that in mid-February, you are still in the Scottish Cup and sitting third with a fair gap to the team below you in fourth. The entertainment value hasn't been great for a period of time but managers and players will correctly point to where the team is in the league. That is the priority.

We also need to understand that, if that Livingston shot hits the net instead of the post on Saturday, there would have been a reaction from the fanbase. Rightly so.

The expectation at Hearts probably comes from the start of the season, allied to the financial input from Foundation of Hearts. I think that gives our supporters an entitlement to voice their opinion.

Players and management have to understand that and I have no doubt Robbie is savvy enough to understand it having played and managed at Hearts previously. He gets the emotion of the Hearts fans. The Foundation’s money is helping the club attract the players we have.

No matter who manages Hearts or sits on the board, they have to understand that the supporters played a big part in saving their football club – ably supported by Ann Budge and other directors.

So voices will be heard but, at the same time, we all know the club is in a fantastic place right now.

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