Robbie Neilson
Personal information
Full name	Robbie Neilson
Date of birth	June 19, 1980 (1980-06-19) (age 29)
Place of birth	Paisley, Scotland
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Right back
Club information
Current club	Leicester City
Number	2
Youth career
1994-1996	Rangers
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1996-2009 1999-2000 2002-2003 2009-	Hearts → Cowdenbeath (loan) → Queen of the South (loan) Leicester City	200 (1) 008 (0) 013 (0) 012 (0)
National team
2006	Scotland	001 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:53, 31 October 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Robert "Robbie" Neilson (born 19 June 1980 in Paisley, Scotland) is a Scottish professional football player currently playing as a right back for Leicester City in the Championship.^[1][2] Upon making his debut he became the 1000th player to play a competitive game for the club.^[3]

Contents 1 Club career 1.1 Early career 1.2 Loan moves 1.3 Hearts first team 1.4 Leicester City 2 International career 3 Honours 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early career

Neilson was originally attached to Rangers, the team he supported, through their Boys Club system, however, he joined Hearts Youth Academy at 16, as he felt it offered him a better chance of eventual first-team football and career progression. With hindsight, his judgment could be viewed as a wise one, for few of his contemporaries have established themselves at Ibrox.

[edit] Loan moves

He had time on loan at Cowdenbeath in 1999. In August 2002 Neilson joined Dumfries club Queen of the South on loan. Neilson helped the Dumfries club consolidate their Scottish First Division status and win the 2002 Scottish Challenge Cup Final, beating Brechin City 2-0.^[4][5] Neilson made 17 appearances for Queens including a man of the match performance at Clyde (as decided by votes on Queens' website).^[6] Neilson returned to Tynecastle in January 2003.

[edit] Hearts first team

A high point in his career came in 2004 with his match-winning goal in Hearts' 2-1 away win over FC Basel in the 2004-05 UEFA Cup, his first in any competition for the club.^[7] He scored his first league goal for hearts in a 3-1 win over Livingston later that season.^[8]

He is also famed for his quick thinking during his team's Scottish Cup final against Gretna in 2006. Where his tackle prevented an inevitable goal after the Gretna forward had beaten goalkeeper Craig Gordon. He also scored during the penalty shootouts in the match with, what some critics^[who?] called, the best penalty of the entire shootout.^{[citation needed]}

It was announced on the Hearts website, that Neilson would be inducted to the show racism the red card hall of fame for his work that he has done for the campaign.

On 4 February 2009 he was given the role of Hearts' captain after the departure of Christophe Berra. Manager Csaba Laszlo did not start contract talks with Neilson until the season drew to a close. Probably as a result of the new wage structure at Hearts, Neilson and the club could not reach an agreement for a new contract.^[9]

[edit] Leicester City

In search of a new challenge,^[10] Neilson agreed terms with English Championship side Leicester City on May 21, 2009.^[1] The next day Leicester confirmed that he had signed a pre-contractual agreement and would join the club in July.^[2] Signing a three-year contract,^[2] Neilson has set his sights on helping the club win promotion to the Premier League.^[10]

On 15 August, Neilson made his debut in a 0-0 away draw against Ipswich Town in place of Michael Morrison at right-back, becoming the 1000th player to play for Leicester in a competitive fixture.^[3]

[edit] International career

Neilson has been capped for Scotland U21's. He won his first full Scotland cap in the 2-0 Euro qualifier defeat to Ukraine in Kiev on October 11, 2006.^[11] This is his only cap to date.

[edit] Honours

Hearts

• Scottish Cup: 2006

Queen of the South

• Scottish Challenge Cup: 2002

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Robbie Neilson career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile at londonhearts.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Christophe Berra	Hearts Captain 2009	Succeeded by Michael Stewart

v • d • e Leicester City F.C. – current squad 1 Weale · 2 Neilson · 3 McGivern · 4 Morrison · 5 Tunchev · 6 Brown · 8 Oakley · 9 Howard · 10 A. King · 11 Dyer · 12 Fryatt · 13 Logan · 14 Clemence (C) · 15 Berner · 16 Adams · 17 N'Guessan · 18 Waghorn · 19 Wellens · 20 O'Neill · 21 Chambers · 22 Kermorgant · 24 Gallagher · 25 Hobbs · 26 Ajdarević · 28 Burns · 29 Powell · 35 Pentney ·  Cisak ·  Porter ·  Rowe-Turner ·  Verma · Manager: Pearson

Persondata
NAME	Neilson, Robbie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Scottish footballer
DATE OF BIRTH	June 19, 1980
PLACE OF BIRTH	Paisley, Scotland
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH