Webster's way has net gains

NOT many people would drag themselves almost 250 miles to begin work early with their prospective new boss, but then again not many are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work with Malcolm Webster.

On Sunday, Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon drove, at the request of George Burley, from Edinburgh to Cheshire to initiate a relationship with his new tutor on Webster's week-long Pro-Keepers coaching course, which is staged annually at Crewe and Alsager College. It has been a trip well worth the sacrifice.

Gordon, along with the Tynecastle youth keeper Jamie McDonald, pictured right, travelled south to work on improving the technical aspects of their game under the scrutinising eye of one of the game's top goalkeeping mentors. They returned north last night and will meet up with Webster again on Sunday when he arrives in Dublin to formally begin his duties as Hearts' goalkeeping coach.

If Gordon required proof of Webster's stature, he need only have consulted any one of the other 34 professional keepers on the course. Like England internationalist Richard Wright, for example, who stands as Webster's greatest achievement. A goofy kid who was taken under Webster's wing at Ipswich, Wright's talent was honed and enhanced to eventually reel in £6 million for the Suffolk club when he moved to Arsenal in 2001. Webster admitted jokingly: "Richard has warned Craig about me already. He said: 'For the first three months you'll hate him.' But it's after that when you start to realise the rewards of the graft.

"Craig is a great lad. He trained morning, afternoon and night on Monday and Tuesday, then morning and afternoon yesterday before he left to go back to Scotland and prepare for flying to Dublin with Hearts on Saturday. It has been brilliant working with him. We do work hard and we focus on the right things."

Webster began coaching in 1976, but didn't properly establish his reputation until he terminated his playing career in 1984 after appearing for Arsenal, Fulham Southend and Cambridge United, where he played under Ron Atkinson and helped the club climb from the old fourth to second division.

He then coached Cambridge United and Peterborough United before first encountering Burley at Colchester United in 1994. "I seem to have a habit of moving around, but you'll have gathered that after doing your research on George, won't yer?" he says in a warm, northern English accent. "The pull of Ipswich was huge for George back then. He only lasted six months at Colchester. I don't think it would have mattered if he was managing Manchester United at the time, he would still have gone to Ipswich when the offer came.

"I was lucky enough to go with him, but I stayed self-employed and coached both the Norwich and Ipswich goalkeepers. I was the only person in East Anglia hoping for a 0-0 draw in the derby."

Webster held on at Ipswich for two years after Burley's dismissal in 2002 before eventually succumbing to the Scot's charm and moving to Derby. The same offensive has worked again as Burley telephoned Webster only minutes after signing his Hearts contract last week and convinced him to request a severance package from Derby the following morning. "Hearts are a big club and they are well known down in England," said Webster. "Once George had asked me about going there and I looked into it, I discovered they had a very good up-and-coming young goalkeeper, which is always an attraction to a coach.

"I have worked with some exceptionally good goalkeepers over the years, like Richard Wright. I've coached Kelvin Davis since he was about 18 and he has just gone to Sunderland, and Andy Dibble has asked me if he can continue attending my coaching course each year even after he retires because he knows what it does for him."

It is the youthful prospects which hold most attraction for Webster, for the simple reason that the scope for development is much greater than a goalkeeper in his mid-20s or older. Gordon and McDonald will clearly be tested to the limit and ordered by both Burley and Webster to put in a shift.

"I've said to Craig that when I get up to Edinburgh we will be working three extra afternoons a week on the technical side of things to make him a better goalkeeper. Working with young keepers can be very rewarding when they progress. You can work really long and hard and I get tremendous enjoyment."

Gordon's sojourn to Cheshire gives him his own place in history in that he has become the first Scotsman ever to enrole for Webster's legendary course. And it would be no surprise were he to make a habit of early-July journeys across the border throughout the remainder of his career. Webster's course makes that impression on its pupils.

He continued: "To be honest, we have never touched Scotland and it is something I would like to do at some stage because of the success we have had with it down here.

"We don't advertise this course, it speaks for itself in the game because there are so many goalkeepers who want to come back year after year. Andy Dibble is a perfect example of that, and of course he had a spell in Scotland too with Rangers. The course is supported by Nike and Reebok, who come and test their new gloves and balls out on the boys. It is mutually beneficial."

Burley and Gordon will be eager for Hearts to see the fruits of Webster's expertise on the Riccarton training fields, onto which the club's newest employee will step for the first time next Wednesday after returning from watching the team perform on their pre-season tour of Dublin.

Soon after, he will help his family relocate from their Cambridgeshire home to the Capital, which is a wrench for the Websters given that they will be required to leave their grandchildren behind down south.

"It's not all that far to travel to see the family, although Craig might not agree after making that journey this week," laughed Webster.

If he can do for Gordon's career what he did for Wright's, a few extra miles on the clock will have taken the Hearts No.1 on the road to goalkeeping superiority.

Taken from the Scotsman