Thomson: I may have to leave Hearts to get starts

BARRY ANDERSON
THIS summer will see Jason Thomson decide whether he has a long-term future at Hearts, for the full-back has admitted he is no longer satisfied being a peripheral player.
Speaking exclusively to the Evening News, Thomson today outlined his desire for regular first-team football and said he will consider leaving Tynecastle to get it.

With a contract running until 2011, the 21-year-old is not inclined to make any hasty decisions. He would dearly love to establish himself as a mainstay with the team he grew up supporting, that can be taken as read. Much will depend on his principal rival for the right-back berth, Robbie Neilson, whose contract is due to expire at the end of the current season.

Should Neilson fail to sign an extension, Thomson intends to stake a strong claim for his position. However, a renewed deal for the recently-appointed club captain would likely mean his deputy growing evermore frustrated, a feeling he has encountered all too frequently, having made just nine appearances this season. Thomson is also keen to see what recruitment plans manager Csaba Laszlo may have for the close season and whether they involve the signing of a new right-back.

It's very much a case of ifs, buts and maybes for now, but Thomson is certain about one thing: For the sake of his career development, top-team football is becoming a necessity.

"I need to wait till the summer and weigh up my options," he said. "I'll be 22 in July and I really need to be playing at first-team level. I don't know what Robbie's plans are, I don't know what the club's plans are or who is moving in or out. I'll wait till the summer and see if Robbie signs a new deal and decide what happens from there.

"The gaffer might be thinking about bringing people in or he might have other plans. That will all become clear in the summer. I have two seasons left on my contract after this one so I'm not in any rush to get out. But I need to playing, it's that simple.

"I think the most I've played is three games in a row this season. I want to play in every game and when I'm given my chance I need to take it. I've been in and out but the defence has been strong this year so it's hard to force someone out of the team. Robbie is captain now and he plays in my position. It's just a case of waiting and, if someone else is injured, then I'm happy to fill in. Obviously, I want to play so I'll just need to wait and see what happens from here."

While casting his mind forward to what may or may not transpire over the coming months, Thomson is also irked by events of the recent past. Namely Saturday's concession of a late equaliser against St Mirren.

"Even with Robbie slipping in to centre-back, I didn't think we looked like losing a goal," he said of Andy Dorman's strike in stoppage time. "Obviously (Jim] Hamilton and (Billy] Mehmet are a handful in the air because they are both big, strong guys. I felt we did well against them. Maybe it's just that we switched off or thought we had the win already. If you're in the 95th minute you still have to keep focused.

"As you can imagine, everyone was gutted that we lost such a late goal. Even though the performance wasn't great, I thought we deserved to win. I don't think St Mirren created much and I think their plan, with Mehmet and Hamilton up front, was to send long balls forward and take corners and free-kicks and play off them. Them scoring in the last minute makes it ten times worse because there was no way back for us with so little time left.We just need to take it on the chin and look to this weekend's game against Dundee United.

"Losing the goal was poor, even if we had been in the bottom six it would have been disappointing. But it's probably is that bit worse losing an equaliser when Dundee United and Aberdeen were drawing. We could have moved further ahead of them."

Since Craig Levein took charge of Dundee United, encounters with Hearts have invariably proved tortuous for the Edinburgh side. Tannadice in particular has been a depressing venue for some of Levein's successors, such as Graham Rix and Stephen Frail. Laszlo discovered United's ruthless side for himself last September during a 3-0 defeat, and Thomson is fully aware that the visit to Tayside carries great significance for his team's European aspirations. "We definitely need to pick ourselves up because Saturday is a massive game," he said. "With Dundee United and Aberdeen drawing last weekend, this is a great chance to move further ahead in third place.

"You could say this is the biggest game of the season now, then a few weeks down the line when we're playing Hibs it's a similar scenario. It's certainly a very important game, one of the most important of the season. If we beat Dundee United it would be a massive result because they, along with Aberdeen, are the two biggest threats to us."

The game will also see Thomson reacquaint himself with the manager who signed him for Hearts. Levein, a cultured defender in his playing days, would often give advice to the youth team protégés at Tynecastle in the hope that they would progress to first-team level. Thomson remembers it well.

"Craig was always good with me. He was the manager of Hearts when I joined.

"I don't know how much influence he had on that decision because John McGlynn was the under-19 coach at the time. Craig wasn't here that long before he left the club and I didn't play under him but he was a very good coach. When I was a teenager I had a few training sessions with the first team and he would always try to help you out.

"We were coached the same way for ages. John McGlynn drummed things into us that Craig Levein was also telling us. Be big and strong, show your opponent out wide, win your headers, just good all-round defensive advice."

That guidance hasn't yet got him the regular first-team exposure he craves. If Thomson does decide to opt for pastures new this summer, it would be no surprise to hear of interest from Tannadice.

Taken from the Scotsman