LEE MCCULLOCH knew that Robbie Nielson would be a success at Dundee United, as he immediately saw similarities between him and his old Rangers manager Walter Smith upon his arrival as a coach at Tannadice.
McCulloch is rekindling his love for the game under Neilson at United as they streak ahead at the top of the Championship, and he puts the credit for their resurgence squarely down to the influence of Neilson at the club.
He qualifies the comparison by saying that Neilson has a long way to go to match the achievements of his old Ibrox boss, but he does see similar traits that mark him out for success.
“There are a hell of a lot of similarities there – and they’re massive,” McCulloch said.
“Listen, I’m not putting them in the same bracket, but I see flashes in the way that they work, the way that they speak to players individually and as a group.
“His man-management [too]. I look at Walter Smith and how he was with players. Walter’s man management and tactically [he] was right up there and Robbie is similar. He’s got players running through brick walls for him.
“That’s the environment and culture we’ve created. The young boys watch videos of games and self-analyse. It’s just different things he’s introduced to the club and pleased to work with.
“Add to that the respect the players clearly have for him – and that goes for the coaching staff, too. He’s transformed a club which hadn’t been punching its weight into one with a 15-point gap at the top of the Championship and ready to go back to the division we all know they belong in.
“Working with Robbie is brilliant. He’s a top manager, a real leader in the dressing room and club.
“I believe he’s one of the top managers in Scotland.”
Getting it right at Dundee United has proved an elusive achievement for the previous incumbents in the dugout since their relegation from the Premiership in 2016, but McCulloch explained what Neilson has done both on and off the pitch to put them back on the path to the top-flight.
“Just by recruiting the right people,” he said. “The right players, and learning from his MK Dons experience. By how hard working he is.
“The Dundee United players weren’t used to working so hard and that’s how we’ve had some of our results this season. Just fine detail and leadership, I believe.”
Meanwhile, McCulloch was delighted to see his old team conquering Celtic in the latest Old Firm fixture, which he says will be a massive boost to their title credentials.
But he believes that another man cut from similar cloth to his former manager Smith, Steven Gerrard, won’t be letting his players get carried away.
He said: “They should take confidence from that win at Parkhead, which took that monkey off their backs, particularly after the Betfred Cup final defeat a few weeks earlier.
“Rangers won’t be complacent, and Celtic have taken a blow, but they’ll want to show everyone that they’re still the champions. It’ll be a great run-in.”
*Lee McCulloch was speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is the proud sponsor of the Scottish Cup.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here