Number one target

Craig Gordon's performances for club and country would make most teams desperate to hold on to him. But with Hearts in turmoil and Premiership suitors ready to pick up the pieces, the Scotland goalkeeper is set to be one of next month's biggest transfers

Nial Briggs
Sunday December 31, 2006
The Observer

Deep in the bowels of Hampden Park on 7 October 2006, inside a victorious home dressing room, Scotland managers past and present gathered to congratulate the players on a famous 1-0 victory over this year's World Cup runners-up, France.

That Saturday was historic for another reason: Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger agreed on something. They shared the same glowing opinion of the performance of Craig Gordon. Wenger said of the 24-year-old: 'Clearly, the Scotland keeper is very good. It is not the first time I have heard about him, but that is the first time I have come to watch him in person. Gordon has presence and good handling and looks a very good goalkeeper to me.' Ferguson sought out Gordon as the Hearts No 1 celebrated with the other players. 'He said that I had done really well and it was great to keep a clean sheet against some of the strikers that we faced. It was nice to be talked about by the big names in world football,' says Gordon.

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With Edwin van der Sar and Jens Lehmann nearing the end of their careers, it is quite possible they were putting in the groundwork for a future signing. Whether Gordon moves to Arsenal or Manchester United - he is valued at about £5million - he is clearly destined for a higher level than Hearts. 'I am ambitious and I'm ready to go and play anywhere. I'm happy at Hearts, but at the same time I know that if there was any big offer to come in for me they would listen.'

That was not the case last season, when owner Vladimir Romanov rejected an approach from Palermo. He persuaded Gordon, a fixture in the Hearts team for the past three seasons, to sign a contract making him the club's highest-earning player. Now, it seems, the first non-Old Firm winner of the Scottish Football Writers' player of the year award since 1991 is likely to be heading to the Premiership, even though he bought a house in Edinburgh this month. That view was strengthened on Friday when Hearts took Lithuanian keeper Eduardas Kurskis on trial.

Gordon was one of 'the Riccarton Three', along with Paul Hartley and Steven Pressley, who made a public statement of 'significant unrest in the dressing room' at the club's training ground on the fringes of the Scottish capital. Pressley, the captain, left, without a club to go to, before signing for Celtic on Friday. But has the public airing of their grievances improved things?

'There is nothing changed that much since the players made the statement,' Gordon says. He hesitates before answering a question on the disciplinary hearings that each player faced: 'It is very difficult because there is an investigation going on so I can't really talk about that.'

Many of the players who muscled in on 11 years of Old Firm dominance last season by winning the Scottish Cup and finishing in second place in the league have been disregarded. Jose Mourinho has found success in the Premiership by consistently fielding his 'untouchables', while, in contrast, the rotation system employed at Hearts by coaches Eduard Malofeev and Valdas Ivanauskas, under the stewardship of Romanov, has been criticised by supporters and players alike. Gordon has played behind many different back lines this season.

'We've had to readjust our aims,' he says. 'We were looking to be up there challenging for the league, but that's not going to happen now.'

Although reluctant to speak on the running of the club and the controversial departures of three key players - Rudi Skacel to Southampton, Andy Webster to Wigan, and Pressley - he does share the supporters' unease over club traditions being trifled with by those now running the club. The upheavals have been difficult for the players.

'We had one manager on sick leave and another coming in and then leaving. There were so many differences in opinion between the coaches that the players didn't know which one they should follow,' Gordon says. 'There were times when players took it upon themselves to make managerial decisions. That was a bit strange at a professional club, but that was what we had to do for the benefit of the team.'

A fairly standard inquiry as to who the jokers are in the dressing room receives an unexpected reply hinting at fractured relations between players. 'It's a strange atmosphere in the changing room just now,' he says, lowering his voice. 'I know that in the Premiership you have teams with many different nationalities and many different languages, but here it is fairly new and it has taken a bit of getting used to. That has been a contributing factor in our performances this season.'

Gordon says he is looking forward to talking purely about football in the not-too-distant future and shrugs off claims that he will have to sign a gagging order to stop him talking about the events he has witnessed in his time at Tynecastle. 'No. Real Madrid will pay me enough so I won't have to,' he says, smiling.

Gordon credits working with Gilles Rousset, the former France international who is now goalkeeping coach at Lyon, and Fulham's former Hearts keeper, Antti Niemi, for having helped his career. Gordon's shot-stopping and composure are qualities associated with Niemi, which, he says, is no coincidence. 'I've never been one for getting too uptight about things, but seeing the way that Antti dealt with situations on the park is definitely one of the main reasons I made a conscious decision to be like that. He is so calm and collected about everything.'

The pair enjoy cult status among supporters. 'Fans here will always remember Antti for the amount of match-winning saves that he produced at Hearts,' says Gordon. 'That was really the stepping stone in his career before he went to the Premiership and he has done very well for himself. It was great to learn from such a world-class goalkeeper.'

Gordon's dedication took him to Easter Road, home of city rivals Hibs, as a spectator to study Jim Leighton. 'He was a great goalkeeper,' he says. 'When he was playing at Hibs, I used to go and watch him play - don't tell the Hearts supporters that - just to sit behind the goals and observe him. I was lucky enough to work with him with the Scotland under-21s, where he was the goalkeeping coach.'

Jim Jefferies, then manager of Hearts, signed Gordon as a 16-year-old. He had delayed doing so because of concerns that Gordon was too small, but was unable to find a replacement in the close season and had to take the chance. A late growth surge and the development of Gordon's game have turned him into an inspired - and profitable - acquisition.

Taken from the Guardian/Observer