Wilson resigned to manager's exit

ALASDAIR FRASER

AS THE clamour to install John Robertson as Hearts’ new head coach gathered momentum yesterday, Barry Wilson claimed that no-one at Inverness Caledonian Thistle would begrudge their manager returning to the club where he is idolised.

Wilson, the Inverness winger, first played under Robertson at Livingston four years ago when the former Tynecastle striker was first-team coach. He followed him back to Caley Thistle last season, and helped the Highlanders win the First Division title and the Bell’s Cup. In just under two years Robertson has also guided Inverness to two Scottish Cup semi-finals.

Wilson said: "It is to be expected he would be the first to be linked with the vacancy. I’ve obviously known him for a few years now and, if the Hearts job was offered, it would be very hard for him to turn it down.

"I think everyone would realise that and respect whatever decision he made. If - and we are talking hypothetically - that was the scenario, I don’t think anyone would begrudge him the chance to go back to Tynecastle. He has been a great success story for us, here. He took us to the next level and, in his short managerial career, he has a terrific record."

If Robertson does decide to return to Edinburgh, Steve Paterson will be among the candidates to replace him at Inverness. The former Aberdeen manager has been out of football since being sacked by the Pittodrie club in the summer, but before joining the Dons he enjoyed as highly successful stint in charge of Caley Thistle.

Wilson is also worried the club could, inevitably, lose Robertson’s assistant Donald Park, who had two spells as a player with Hearts and has since carved out an excellent reputation as a coach.

Wilson stressed: "The players love Donald and, hopefully, John wouldn’t take Parky away. If he did, though, the same feelings would apply. He would go with our best wishes. They deserve it, and would be entitled to take it. Donald’s got obvious close ties with Edinburgh too and they are a good double-act."

Were Robertson to go, Wilson believes he would be leaving a team much more confident of their SPL survival. Wednesday’s 2-1 win against Dundee hauled them off the foot of the table. Caley Thistle face Livingston at Pittodrie today and Wilson pointed out: "Things have been looking brighter for us. The win this week put us in a pack five who are all about the same standard. And I would hope we can only improve given what we’ve learned in the league so far."

"We have won one and drawn two in the last four games, and if we did that every four games there would be no doubts about our survival. But I don’t want to get carried away. We’ve won a game and we now must show consistency."

Taken from the Scotsman