Gordon must wait to discover fate

CRAIG Gordon, the Hearts captain, said yesterday that the conclusion of the disciplinary process involving him and Paul Hartley could still be several weeks away.

The goalkeeper was limited in what he could say about his meeting on Tuesday, or Hartley's the previous week, with club official Pedro Lopez, but he did say he had no intention of seeking a move from the club when the transfer window opens at the end of the month. He clearly has no worries that the club will try to punish him unduly, but he said it was too early to say if he felt happy either with the outcome of the meeting or with the state of Hearts in general.
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Giving Gordon the captaincy after Steven Pressley left Hearts following a hearing of his own was an obvious sign by the club that they valued the Scotland No1 - for his worth in the transfer market if not for his opinions on how a football team should be run. Gordon's and Hartley's support for Pressley's statement about unrest at Tynecastle led to their being disciplined.

"It would be fairly easy just to draw a line under it and give a final verdict, but I don't think that can happen for a few weeks yet, from what was discussed at the meeting," Gordon said, accepting that supporters were frustrated by the lack of information on the matter coming out of the club.

"It's in the club's hands. If they wanted to come out and say something, they could, but they've chosen not to. I've been told not to disclose any information that went on in that meeting, but to be honest with you we probably won't hear a lot more about it. It is in the process of being concluded. It was a good meeting. We were told to explain our reasons [for the statement].

"We did that and both parties had their say. We'll wait and see what happens over the next few weeks. It was very amicable. Both parties had their say and that was that. It was an internal meeting and unfortunately that's the way it has to stay. It would be good if the situation was clarified and there was a bit of transparency about it, but that's not my call.

"It could be handled a lot more clearly, and hopefully over the next few weeks we won't have to go into details of the meeting, just say what the outcome is and hopefully we can move on from there. It has been difficult, but it can be fixed and, hopefully, it will be."

Asked if he now regretted having supported Pressley when that statement was made, Gordon explained he could add little on that topic either. "That was one of the major questions in the meeting, and that's something I'll not be able to discuss. That is something that is still ongoing with the club." The Hearts management have so far given no sign to the outside world that they are even prepared to contemplate the possibility that Pressley's analysis of the club was correct, and that significant unrest had arisen in the dressing-room because of some of the ways in which the club was being run. Instead, they have shot the messenger, ousting Pressley, leaving Hartley disillusioned, and subjecting Gordon, too, to an absurd meeting with Lopez, who has done nothing to show he has the ability to run the club.

Given that lack of resolution, Gordon surely cannot be happy with the way things are going. "I can't really say at the moment," he explained. "That is something I am still talking to Fraser [Wishart, the players' union secretary] about. After what happened to Steven I think the club had to be seen to be dealing with everybody else."

That last remark was another hint that he had not been threatened with serious action. It remains to be seen, however, how Vladimir Romanov, the club's majority shareholder, reacts to Lopez's report on how the disciplinary hearings went. Given Gordon's implicit commitment to stay at Tynecastle until the end of the season at least, the opening of the transfer window cannot be the event in a few weeks which will determine his happiness. It appears likely that Lopez has come to an accommodation with Gordon, that the goalkeeper said he did not regret supporting Pressley and would not apologise for doing so, and that both parties are now waiting to see if Romanov accepts this situation.

He will surely have to, or risk losing the most valuable member of the playing staff. Gordon, whose current contract has two and a half years to go, knows he is in a strong position. "Not at the moment," he said when asked if he had plans to put in a transfer request. "I don't think it's at that stage. I wouldn't say it would never reach that stage, because you never know. I'm still fully committed to Hearts, and I would only think of leaving if I thought it was a much better deal that was on offer. And obviously, with the length of time I still have on my contract, it would have to be something Hearts were happy with."

Things might be different come the summer, if Hearts decide they want to cash in on Gordon or if the player himself feels, for whatever reason, that it is time to move on. At present, though, Gordon is in no hurry to leave the club he has supported from childhood.

"There is no timescale. At this club at the moment you deal with every single day as it comes. Anything beyond that, you are likely to be wrong."

Hearts' opponents today, Dundee United, are managed by Craig Levein and his assistant Peter Houston, the team who gave Gordon his big break a few years ago. "They gave me my chance and set me on the road to where I am now," he said. "It's going to be a very difficult game for us."

Somehow, you suspect he has had a lot of experience lately of coping with difficulties.
Beslija cash paid

MIRSAD Beslija, Hearts' record signing, is very much part of the club's plans for the New Year, Valdas Ivanauskas said yesterday.

The coach was speaking after it was revealed that Pedro Lopez, Hearts' director of infrastructure, did not inform the club's public-relations department or PR company that the balance on the injured Bosnian winger's £850,000 transfer fee had been paid to Racing Genk weeks ago. The Belgian club had threatened to have Hearts barred from transfer-window activity for non-payment.

Taken from the Scotsman