ROBBIE Neilson may have expected it, but the doubters were not slow in coming forward at the weekend when John Souttar was declared injured for Hearts’ victory over Auchinleck Talbot.
However, Neilson is adamant the Rangers pre-contract signing, loudly booed by his own supporters against St Johnstone last week following news of his agreement with the Ibrox club, will be expected to shake off his ankle problem to take on Celtic tomorrow night.
Even former manager Craig Levein added his name to those suspicious over the absence of Souttar in Ayrshire on Saturday. The conjecture is that the injury was no more than a smokescreen and the defender was left out to ensure he would not be ‘cup-tied’ should Rangers reach an agreement for a switch before the transfer deadline. When asked on radio whether he believed Souttar was injured, Levein replied, ‘probably not’.
But Neilson has brushed off such conspiracy theories and insists he is ready to recall the Scotland internationalist for the visit of Celtic.
“We almost have a full squad to pick from, including John, who still has a slight issue with his ankle,” said Neilson. “But, I still expect him to be ready for Wednesday.
“Everyone has an opinion on different things, but, at the end of the day, the boy has an injury. I can't really be any clearer than that so I’m not sure why he [Levein] would say that.”
Neilson will be desperate for a decisive conclusion to what is turning into something of a saga. The possibility Souttar will join Rangers in the coming days remains but the Hearts head coach is determined not to let the uncertainty affect him or his squad.
In fact, he believes the unpredictability of team selection during the coronavirus pandemic, when players can be ruled out at the last minute due to a positive Covid-19 test result, could prove to be a valuable lesson in the current circumstances.
“There’s been nothing else,” he added when asked if Rangers had upped their offer for Souttar. “I don’t think it will be a distraction. We have got a massive game on Wednesday and we have another one on Saturday [against Motherwell].
“So, from our perspective, there is no distraction. John is a Hearts player and he will continue to be a Hearts player until things change.
"For all the downsides of Covid, one of the upsides is you need to think on your feet. You never know day to day who is going to turn up for training. It’s the same for games.
“We had it a couple of weeks ago when we had done all our work then we had two boys out with Covid on the Saturday morning. You just need to adapt. It’s the same situation when players are coming or going. You take it daily.”
Hearts will welcome back midfielder Beni Baningime and on-loan Liverpool attacker Ben Woodburn as they attempt to emulate the 2-1 home victory over Celtic that set the tone for their hitherto impressive season back in July, when Souttar was the match-winner with a late header.
They will do so in a Tynecastle able to be packed out with even more Hearts fans than usual after the Gorgie outfit controversially cut Celtic’s allocation for the match to just over 1,000, although hundreds of seats remained unsold to home supporters in the Roseburn Stand on Monday afternoon.
“If we can sell out the rest of the stadium to Hearts fans then we do it. It’s something I’d like the club to continue to do,” said a supportive Neilson. “If you can sell out the rest of the allocation then 100 per cent.
“Other teams don’t have the capability to do that so they have to give a bigger support to the away team. But if we can get 19,000 Hearts fans there then I would take 19,000 all day.”.
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