Former Hearts star reveals emotional reason why he signed for club and opting to depart on a high

A former Hearts player has opened up on how his move to Gorgie and departure came about.

Danny Wilson arrived on loan from Liverpool in 2013 and stuck around on a permanent basis even with the club being docked 15 points amid financial difficulty. Relegation was had but Wilson stepped up to be a key man in an instant return from the Championship before leaving for a second stint at Rangers.

Now speaking on his Jambos stint via Open Goal, Wilson has revealed how influential club legend and then-boss, now club ambassador, Gary Locke was and why he felt it was right for him to leave Hearts on a high. He said: “I just wanted to play again. I felt like I was at a stage where I have to play and I'd went a couple of loans, didn't really work out as I'd hoped. I was about 20 at this time. I think that's an age you should be playing but I was probably rushing it a wee bit still.

“I look at it now and if there's a 19 or 20 year old that's not playing and they're getting really frustrated, I think you've got loads of time, loads of time. Because I'd had that taste of playing, I wanted to get back to that and Hearts were like, ‘we'll bring you in’ and I felt that would be a good fit for me.

“So I ended up signing there in January on loan initially to the end of the season and then it was like, I'll see what happens after that. I went and we didn't get relegated but that summer coming up was when the 15-point deduction happened. So we went into the next season minus 15 and couldn't sign anybody, couldn't do this, couldn't do that.

“Towards the end of the season beforehand I'd agreed a permanent contract and then obviously, they didn't know if they were going to be able to register me or not because of this new signing embargo but because I was still registered through a loan contract it wasn't seen as like a new player so they could do it if it was done before a certain period of time.

“Gary Locke was the manager at that time, I got on really well with him. Brilliant guy. Got on really well with him and I felt, one I wanted to play for Hearts and two I wanted to play for him because I didn't want to let him down as well, I didn't want to leave him in the lurch, he couldn't sign any players, it didn't need me being selfish and moving on so I ended up staying.

“I just felt like it was a good fit for me, I wanted to play and it was one of them like if we do stay up it would have been an unbelievable achievement. Obviously ultimately it wasn't enough but we actually accumulated a decent amount of points. We ended up getting relegated and then obviously the takeover happened and everything that comes off the back of that happens but it was great, it was a great experience, it was a tough, tough season.

“We actually started it fairly well. I was 21 and I was probably the fourth oldest player in the team. Younger players are looking to me and I've not even got that experience to pass on to them so you're almost kidding them on and kidding yourself on that you know what you're talking about way back. So it was hard.

“We had a whole overhaul with the players but we also had a lot of good young players coming through and this is where it goes back to like the taking your chance when it comes along, some of those players maybe wouldn't have got the chance, had Hearts continued in the same way they'd been.

“A lot of them played games in the relegation season but they were probably better for it the season afterwards in the Championship because they had 20, 30 games under their belt where they had been allowed to make mistakes. It was a good season obviously, we got the points total and that but it was a tough league that year.

“I had a couple of things in the UK, had a couple of things abroad, I'd signed for Hearts because when they were in administration, we weren't sure who was going to take over so they put in a thing saying that I could leave for free because I was still under the Bosman rule age, like 24. So I could leave for free if I gave them notice in a certain period of time, so after we'd won the league with Hearts I felt it's a good time for me to go like leaving on a bit of a high for them and it was a good time.”