July 31, 2024 – United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Tampa Bay Rowdies News Release
After nearly thirty years of playing and coaching almost exclusively in his home county of Scotland, Robbie Neilson needed a reset.
That isn’t to say Neilson hadn’t built a resume full of impressive achievements. As a three-time winner of the Scottish Championship as a coach, there was no shortage of opportunities for Neilson when he departed Heart of Midlothian FC in April of last year.
“When you get a call from a club for a job, I think it’s so important that you have some excitement about it,” says Neilson. “There were a couple of offers when I came out of Hearts, but they didn’t really excite me all that much. I just felt there’s no point in taking a job if you’re not excited on day one. It’s not going to end well. I was quite happy waiting for the right opportunity to come.”
While he waited for the right fit, Neilson dabbled in media work and coaching on the academy side of things. He also decided to broaden his horizons with a trip to the United States, taking a mini tour along the East Coast to get a first-hand look at what the U.S. had to offer a coach in search of a new challenge.
“I think sometimes you get caught up in the same stuff, the same games, the same teams, the same people you’re talking to,” he says of his career in Scotland and the UK. “So I was looking to get out of my comfort zone a wee bit. I wanted to come over and have the American experience. I thought I’d come over and have a face-to-face chat with people who have been here for years to see what the leagues are like. When I came over, I was really surprised by how good everything was. The setup of teams, the professionalism of teams, the quality of players, it all seemed really enticing for me.”
Neilson’s American sojourn was enough to convince him that a move across the Atlantic Ocean could be exactly what he needed for the next act of his career. It just so happened that realization came at the same moment the Rowdies were seeking a new coach to take reigns. A club with name recognition back in the UK, a club with a recent track record of success on the field, and a club where fellow Scotsman Neill Collins had found the resources and support to grow as a young coach. It seemed like just the right move.
Something that truly stuck out for Neilson when investigating the Rowdies was the investment the club had shown in creating a top-tier environment for both players and the technical staff to train…