It's been an incredible year for Hearts but I feel 2022 is ending on a bit of a sour note.
It was another big result up at Perth on Wednesday which ensures we’ll hit the Premiership halfway point sitting where we want to be come May, in behind the Old Firm as best of the rest. Robbie Neilson and his players have done a fantastic job this past year, finishing third and taking the fans on a European adventure. But I’m still struggling to shake off the disappointment of that horrendous injury suffered by Craig Gordon on Christmas Eve.
Given how vital a figure he is for the club as a whole, it feels like it’s put a huge downer on things. I won’t lie, I just feel so sad for him because I know what he went through to rescue his career after that brutal lay-off down at Sunderland. I did my knee twice and coming back from it was hard enough the first time. When it happened a second time, I was ruined. My head went.
I just couldn’t face having to go through that long, laborious process with the physios all over again. Yeah, there will be some of you getting the tiny violins out when you hear us pampered footballers talk about having to rehab while the rest of you are grinding away at real jobs.
But being injured really is a bleak time when all you’ve ever dreamed about is playing football. I used to despise going in to the training ground in the morning.
OK, you’d get a bit of banter in the dressing room but you’d feel so lonely when all the other lads headed out for training and you’d be left to trudge your way to the gym by yourself. So the fact Craig has already sat down to plan his recovery blew me away.
The guy is 40 for God’s sake yet the first thing he did after waking up in his hospital bed was get the calendar out and circle the date for his injury comeback. This is a guy who has done it all before.
He doesn’t need the money or the medals. He certainly doesn’t need the pain, the anguish, the stress that comes with rehabbing.
He’s won trophies with Hearts and Celtic, he’s played on the biggest stages with Scotland and down south in the Premier League. Let’s be honest, no one would blame him if he said, ‘Sack this, I’m not putting myself through all this again!’
But he’s earned the right to go out on his own terms and for me, it’s the mark of the man that he just cannot accept this is the end. I suppose this is a guy who refused to pack in through two years of setbacks and disappointments as he fought for his career before joining Celtic, so maybe it’s no surprise.
Hopefully we do see Craig back because, as I say, it would be galling to see such an incredible servant to both this club and Scottish football in general bowing out after such an awful injury.
It’s a huge blow for Robbie to lose his captain at such a vital time. But if there’s one crumb of comfort to come from all of this it’s that Hearts certainly do have another top-class keeper already on the books in Zander Clark.
For me it was a ballsy move to choose Hearts after he left St Johnstone – but he saw the bigger picture and realised Craig won’t be there forever. Zander will have known he’d be moving to Tynecastle with no guarantees of game time given just how well Craig was playing.
I’m sure Robbie will have spelt it out to him he was going in as No.2. As unfortunate as the circumstances are, now it’s his turn to fill the sticks for Hearts… and maybe also Scotland. Steve Clarke has a huge call to make ahead of the Euro qualifiers in March on who will be his new No.1.
But we’ve all seen what Zander is capable of having helped St Johnstone win a couple of trophies. All he has to do over the next three months is perform at those levels and I’m sure it will be enough to convince the national team boss he can be trusted.
Games like Monday’s derby are the perfect time to show his capabilities. The clash with Hibs is also a huge game for Robbie and his team as they look to cement third place.
It’s remarkable given everything the team has had to deal with in terms of injuries this season that here they are, still flying so high. The club will have learned so much from this year in terms of how they deal with the extra workload that comes with reaching the group stages in Europe.
And that’s why I’m expecting even better things to come in 2023.
