ELVIS TOLD ME TO TAKE ARMBAND

CRAIG GORDON has revealed that he accepted the captain's armband ripped from Steven Pressley only after being urged to do so by the sacked former Hearts skipper.

The Tynecastle keeper and Paul Hartley, who stood shoulder to shoulder with Pressley at the press conference that ended the defender's Hearts career, went to Elvis for guidance on what to do if they were offered the chance to replace him.

And Pressley insisted they must take it if offered because it was vital that the captaincy of the club remain in the hands of a Scotsman.

Gordon fears a whispering campaign against him may be suggesting that he has taken advantage of Pressley's demise but the Scotland No. 1 said: "I know some people will be thinking I stabbed Steven in the back by taking the captaincy but that most certainly isn't the case.

"Myself and Paul had a long chat with Steven over what we should do, should the situation have arisen where one of us was offered it. Steven stressed the importance of a Scottish player being club captain and Paul and I agreed if it was offered to one of us we would take it.

"It was Steven who convinced us that we should take it. He wanted one of us to take it."

Despite being selected as captain, Gordon will still be hauled before the club's mysterious "director of infrastructure" Pedro Lopez tomorrow to explain his role in the press conference that revealed the dressing room disquiet about how Vladimir Romanov was running the club.

Last week Hartley was summoned before Romanov's henchman and Gordon, who will have players' union boss Fraser Wishart by his side, said: "I have been called to a disciplinary meeting on Tuesday but I've no idea what will happen. Paul has been very quiet about what happened at his. He hasn't wanted to speak about it so I'll just have to go in and see what happens on the day.

"But I'm not worried. It's something that they think is the right way to go, so I'll go and listen to what they say and I'll have my say and we'll take it from there.

"But I don't think I'll be losing my place over this. I'll just concentrate on my situation this week and we'll see what comes out of that."

The new Hearts captain admitted that lifting his team-mates in the wake of their defeat by Aberdeen at the weekend won't be easy.

He said: "We paid the penalty for not taking chances because we had chances to win the game.

"But we switched off at a throw-in which eventually cost us a goal. It was a stupid mistake to make and disappointing from a defensive point of view.

"Scott Severin's shot was swerving away from me. I only got one hand to it and knocked it out. But I thought Steve Lovell was standing in an offside position although the linesman said our left-back was playing him on.

"You have to look to your defenders to give you a hand in those situations and react first.

"It's a massively difficult task to get the players together again but I'll give it my best shot. I'll do all I can for the club and for the players who are here.

"Hopefully I can help resurrect our season and get us pushing back towards the top of the table."

Taken from the Daily Record