Robbie Neilson: Hearts name Dundee Utd boss to replace Daniel Stendel
- Published
Robbie Neilson returned to Tynecastle as Dundee United boss in a League Cup tie last year
Robbie Neilson says you "don't turn down" a club of Hearts' stature after his shock departure from Dundee United to return to Tynecastle as manager.
Neilson, 40, has signed a three-year deal to replace Daniel Stendel.
United rejected an approach from Hearts owner Ann Budge on Sunday but, after head coach Neilson made clear his desire to leave, a deal was struck.
The former Hearts full-back said he is "keen to pick up where I left off" after departing for MK Dons in 2016.
Neilson left Hearts second in the Scottish Premiership and said he returns to manage "a really good squad".
Stendel's contract ended when the Tynecastle club were relegated but he had not officially left the role.
But he has now been replaced by Neilson, who led United to the Scottish Championship title last term, having done the same with Hearts in 2015.
United are due to replace Hearts in the top flight when the season starts on 1 August, but the latter are legally challenging their relegation.
The Edinburgh outfit, along with Partick Thistle, filed a petition at the Court of Session on Wednesday to demand that all promotions - included United's - are scrapped.
And now they have taken the Tannadice club's head coach, a week after they began pre-season preparations for their first top-flight campaign since 2016.
Assistants Gordon Forest and Lee McCulloch will take charge in the interim, with United keen to appoint a new head coach "as soon as possible".
United chairman Mark Ogren said they were "understandably disappointed" but that the club is "bigger than one person" and they they "look towards the future, with a new leader and renewed hope".
Neilson thanked United for giving him an opportunity and said he hoped the Tannadice fans "feel that together we managed to restore the club back to where it belongs."
Former Barnsley boss Stendel was appointed in November after Craig Levein was sacked and won five of his 17 matches in charge and secured a place in the Scottish Cup semi-finals.
However, Hearts were bottom of Premiership when the season was ended and face demotion.
Former Hearts and United defender Neilson started his management career at Tynecastle as head coach in 2014, shortly after the club had been relegated and come out of administration.
Working under then director of football Levein, Neilson won 62 of his 106 games in charge and follow up that Championship title win with a third-placed finish in the top flight.
Hearts were second the following season when he left for a 13-month spell in charge of MK Dons, before joining United in 2018.
His first campaign ended in Premiership play-off final defeat at the hands of St Mirren, but United were 14 points clear with eight games to play when this season was curtailed.
'Neilson's record stands up' - analysis
BBC Scotland's Brian McLauchlin
Just as the Sunday roast was appearing out of the oven, Scottish football offers up its latest twist.
Neilson's reappointment may not go down well with some Hearts fans but his record there stands up with the best. In 106 games, he earned 62 wins. Only George Burley beat that close-to-60% win ratio.
A number of Neilson's games came in the Championship but it was a second tier that included Rangers and Hibernian, and Hearts lost only three of their 36 matches. It didn't quite work out for Neilson in England but his time at United was similarly successful, with 40 wins in 70 games.
The timing of the appointment is probably the most surprising thing. Especially a few days after Hearts attempted to reverse United's promotion. But once Neilson made it clear he wanted to go, there was little the Tannadice side could do, with negotiations taking no more than a few hours.
And what now for Stendel, back home in Germany? His record was poor but he was held in high regard by many at Hearts, despite failing to lift the club's fortunes in his short spell at Tynecastle.