Craig Gordon has one big Hearts question to answer but Scotland CAN'T afford to write him off - Ryan Stevenson
He's yet to force his way back into the Hearts team but even if he doesn't, Steve Clarke can't write Craig Gordon off.
If you ask me, Steven Naismith has some set of balls operating with two top-class keepers in Craig Gordon and Zander Clark.
I’ve said it for years – all goalies are MENTAL, so dealing with not one but two guys who think they should be the man wearing the No.1 jersey is brave of the Hearts manager. I spent 20 years in the game and didn’t meet a shot-stopper who wasn’t mad in some way.
Listen, anyone who is willing to spend their life rolling about in the mud must have a screw loose. I know from experience having done it a couple of times myself! There was Alan Main at St Johnstone. What a player he was ... but also an absolute crackpot. The thing about playing in nets is that you have to be very vocal. But Maino didn’t know how to turn that off once he left the pitch.
He was the type who would call a spade a spade. There were no punches pulled with the big man and if he had something to say you got it with both barrels. I remember him going mental at so many new signings if they would shout ‘keeper’ at one of the young goalies. “Learn their f**king name,” he’d roar.
I played with a few others during my time in Perth like Kevin Cuthbert and Allan McGregor. There was Craig Nelson at Ayr, Richard Wright at Ipswich. They all seem to have anger-management issues.
We called Kev “the Cat” because he was quite small but had great reflexes. But if you tried to dink him he’d spend the rest of the day trying to smash balls down your throat.
Greegsy was the same, an absolute fruit loop, as was Marian Kello at Hearts. If you dared lob the Slovak international in training, you were taking your life in your own hands. He’d genuinely chase you around the place looking like he was ready to kill you.
If you survived, you’d then have to deal with the silent treatment. He’d literally blank you for weeks! Still, the scariest moment was when I was playing for Hearts against my old side at McDiarmid.
Saints had Alan Mannus in goal and we ended up having a bit of a rammy after he threw me into the net. At one point I had my hands wrapped round his throat and we both got sent off. I was first to see the red card but on my way off one of the St Johnstone lads goes, “you do know he’s a black belt in Thai kick-boxing?”.
I swear, by the time I got back into the dressing room the big man was trying to boot the door down. Young Dylan McGowan had followed me back up the tunnel and I was pleading with him, “Prop up that door, please don’t let him in!”. And that’s all because I know that when keepers lose it, they lose it big style. If Mannus had got through that door I’m convinced he’d have taken my head off.
So it’s fair to say Naisy is living dangerously standing in between big Craig and Zander as they both eye up a startling slot. Both men will be desperate to play week in, week out – especially with the Euros coming up.
That’s a huge prize and you’d think that to secure a slot in Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad they have to be playing regularly. Fair play to Zander because everyone is waiting for him to slip up now that Craig is back fit after that sickening leg break a year ago.
Everyone is looking for that fairytale ending with Gordon returning to reclaim his place in the national team – and Naismith will feel that pressure to pick him too. But he simply can’t drop Zander while he is playing so well.
That would be so unfair on him given the way he’s dealt with the whole situation in Craig’s absence. Taking over from someone who is the club captain, a living legend at Tynecastle, won’t have been easy but he’s handled that every bit as well as he has the shots he’s faced lately.
Craig will want to be back playing as soon as possible but so long as Naisy handles everything with honesty, he won’t have to barricade the door to his office like I did with big Mannus. I remember playing under Owen Coyle at McDiarmid and he always said to players who found themselves out of the team, “Before you come to my door wanting to know why you’re not playing, look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself the same question.”
And if Craig answers that, he’ll know he won’t get his shot until Clark’s form dips. I don’t think the big man will have an issue with that. He’s been around long enough and knows how the game works. If I was Steve Clarke, though, I wouldn’t necessarily write Craig off for this summer even if he can’t get back in.
Scotland are going to need all the experience they can get in Germany and nobody has played at such a high level for such a sustained length of time as Craig. Having someone like that on hand is a great position to be in for the national team boss and it’s fantastic too for Naisy.
The Gorgie gaffer has had to overcome some tough moments this season, most of which I think were caused by the shambolic situation at the start of the campaign where everyone knew he was the man calling the shots even if the club couldn’t admit it.
When results slumped, that was an easy thread for the frustrated fans to pull at. But he’s undoubtedly the man in charge now and he’s got Hearts on the right path.
We’re a point ahead of where we were after 21 games last season. The team only won six games after that as their push for third collapsed but I don’t see a repeat this season. With Naisy, Hearts are in safe hands.