Kid gloves desperate to iron out future

PAUL KIDDIE IN CANADA

HEARTS goalkeeper Craig Gordon today revealed he hopes to have his contract situation resolved before the start of the new SPL season.

The kid gloves has been locked in talks with the club over a new deal for a number of weeks, his current agreement expiring next summer.

Regarded as one of the country’s most talented youngsters, Gordon is one of the Jambos’ main assets and boss Craig Levein is understandably keen to see him tied down for at least the next couple of years.

The 21-year-old was one of Hearts’ top performers last season after replacing Tepi Moilanen in October, his displays between the sticks attracting plenty of interest from south of the Border, with Cardiff City among the clubs reported to be keeping a close eye on his situation. Well aware of all the transfer talk, Gordon would be more than happy to stay at Tynecastle and continue his footballing education having been fast-tracked into Scotland boss Berti Vogts’ plans with a full international debut against Trinidad and Tobago at Easter Road at the end of May.

Gordon is currently in Vancouver with Hearts on their pre-season tour to British Columbia, a niggling thigh strain ruling him out of the opening match against Canada B on Tuesday as well as tomorrow’s clash with the Pacific Coast All Stars.

The squad return to Edinburgh at the start of next week and the Balerno shot-stopper, among the lowest paid first-team regulars at Tynecastle, is hoping an agreement can be thrashed out which will reflect his success over the past nine months.

"There still isn’t anything sorted yet at Hearts but hopefully that will happen when we get back from Canada and I can then concentrate on playing football," he said. "Sometimes these things can take a bit of time to resolve and if that happens to be the case, then so be it.

"It is certainly a nice problem to have, to have come into the first team and then try to get an improved contract.

"That is a goal for a lot of young players at the club and it is one I am quite happy to have."

Gordon was a raw but talented 18-year-old when he penned a four-year deal after coming off the Tynecastle ground staff, Levein having maintained he fully merited the long-term deal.

And the keeper insists he is not demanding the earth from the club in his current negotiations.

"I am not asking for anything stupid," he said. "I am still really on a boys’ contract and just want to get something for myself. The way football is, until you prove yourself you are not on a lot of money, especially the ways things are at Hearts.

"My friends think I am loaded but I can assure you that is not the case - I’m still driving about in my 206!"

Gordon, who could be struggling to make Saturday’s showpiece finale against Dennis Wise’s Millwall, added: "The contract back then gave me a lot of security and it was a lot of years to give a young guy but it helped give me the security to develop my game.

"It took me a couple of years to get into the first team and in hindsight that security was good as it gave me the time to knuckle down and work on my game.

"I’ll be 22 when this current contract runs out but hopefully we can get something sorted for the next couple of years. Wages maybe coming down and down but there is still a decent living to be made out of football. I hope I can do that now that I am playing first-team football.

"It was encouraging to hear what the manager had to say about me but until everything is finalised I am not taking anything for granted."

Despite his tender years, the keeper has been tipped as a future Scotland No.1, possibly as early as this coming season.

Gordon, though, is not one to get carried away by his headline-grabbing performances.

"I am further down the line than I thought I’d be at the moment but it’s not really the time to reflect on that now," he said. "There are new challenges to look forward to and I don’t want to look back at what I have achieved so far. I must look to the future.

"I don’t think you can afford to set yourself too many goals in this game. Sometimes opportunities just come along and you have got to take them. I’m not thinking too much about the Scotland thing. I am concentrating on Hearts and the aim is to get myself fit and playing well in the first team. Performances will then dictate what happens with the Scotland squad.

"If I can keep performing to the level I have been - and want to at Hearts - hopefully I will be knocking on the door."

Gordon watched from the stand as Hearts opened their tour with a 1-1 draw against Canada B in Burnaby, an offside-looking injury time goal denying them victory over Frank Yallop’s development side. He will be a spectator again tomorrow morning in Victoria and is desperate to shrug off his thigh problem as soon as possible before the forthcoming league campaign kicks off against Dundee at Dens Park on August 7.

"Hopefully it is nothing too serious and is a result of over use," he said. "It has been difficult coming back to pre-season training. We did some running and then a lot of hard goalkeeping work. I’m hoping it will ease off over the next couple of days and I can get back into training and get a game before the end of the tour as well as some matches before the start of the season."

Taken from the Scotsman