Lewis Neilson

Neilson's route to Falkirk runs through a court room as much as a training pitch. After coming through the Dundee United academy and making his first-team debut in the 2020–21 season, his contract situation with the club turned into a legal dispute over development compensation when Heart of Midlothian moved to sign him in June 2022. An SPFL tribunal found in Hearts' favour, and Neilson joined on a free transfer.

Game time at Tynecastle has come mostly through loans. The most productive was his 2023–24 spell at Partick Thistle, where he established himself in the starting eleven and, once he had done so, did not miss a minute of league football for the rest of the season. He scored his first senior goal during that loan, in a 3–2 win over Queen's Park on 2 January 2024, and left a strong impression on manager Kris Doolan. A further loan followed at St Johnstone in 2024/25, before Hearts recalled him that January. He has now moved on loan again, to Falkirk, for the 2025/26 campaign.

Neilson has also been capped by Scotland at youth level, progressing through the U16 and U17 age groups before establishing himself at U21 level, where he has scored once in his appearances for the side. He set up a goal and scored one himself in a 5-0 win over Malta in September 2024.