Zander Clark’s summer started on the Maldives’ sun-kissed beaches with new wife Robyn.
But the honeymoon period was well and truly over all too soon as the big keeper was hit with the realisation that his footballing future was up in the air. By September – when he was still without a club – the new Mrs Clark was desperate to get him OUT the house and back to work.
Incredibly, the former St Johnstone No.1 was training with his pals and a bunch of kids during three months of limbo. Now? He’s in the Hearts side and if he keeps up his current form could potentially be Scotland ’s first-choice keeper for the Euro 2024 qualifiers in March. It has been a rollercoaster ride of emotion for Clark since he left Perth at the end of May. After securing his future off the pitch by getting married, how he got back on it was uncertain for too long.
Eventually, the 30-year-old agreed a deal with the Jambos, initially as understudy to veteran Craig Gordon. But after the Scotland goalie suffered a horrendous leg break, Clark got his opportunity – and hasn’t looked back.
Reflecting on everything that has happened, he said: “I don’t know if I want to go back there!
“Listen, I made the decision I wasn’t going to renew my contract at St Johnstone. So it was a case of playing the field and seeing what came in. A couple of things fell through but I was fairly calm – I knew there would be options.
“I backed myself to find a club and never worried about it. The missus will probably say differently. I thought she was going to batter me!
“But I had to play the long game. Thankfully, she was all in.
“She’s a midwife so can do her job anywhere. She was loving it when we got married in the summer. The first couple of weeks were brilliant, being away on honeymoon.
“We thought: ‘What a life this is, we could get used to it.’
“Then, five or six weeks later, she’d be leaving for work and I’d still be lying in my scratcher. She’d come back and I’d still be there – with no housework done! That started to grind a wee bit.
“It got to a stage where you’re thinking: ‘When do I bite the bullet and get something done?’
“So I was delighted to come to Hearts. It’s a massive club to be part of and I’ve hit the ground running here.”
Most players can work with a ball on their own over pre-season to keep themselves ticking over. But not goalkeepers.
They need tailored coaching drills and, thankfully for Clark, two of his mates were on hand to help out.
He said: “It’s a specialist position and you can’t just train with a team. My pal John Gibson along with Tony Curran have their own goalkeeping academy.
“In the summer holidays they had camps with the kids so I was going in first thing and doing a session with them, just to keep the hand and eye in. That was brilliant for me and I owe them a lot of thanks. I tried to treat it like a normal week at a club where I’d do single and double sessions.
“That gave me a good baseline for when I signed for Hearts and meant I didn’t need to spend as long on the fitness side of it. It was more about sharpness because, with the pace our boys hit the ball at, it takes a bit of getting used to.
“Was I gambling on my future a bit? No, not for me.
“Being a free agent gave me a benefit that I could wait until the end of the transfer window and look at the options. Some stuff fell through, which was disappointing, but when you’re free you can sign any time.
“In the end, both sides were desperate to get a deal done and it has been brilliant so far.”
Clark’s emergence at Hearts has come at a cost, though, with the loss of skipper Gordon. Clark was devastated by the 40-year-old’s horror injury at Tannadice.
But at the same time he quickly had to get his head around the fact he was taking over – and had to grab his chance. Ahead of Sunday’s Edinburgh derby against Hibs at Easter Road in the Scottish Cup fourth round, the keeper said: “We speak daily because we’re a tight knit group here.
“You don’t wish that on anyone – it was horrible. My first thought was to be absolutely gutted for the big man.
“But then you need to have the mindset that it’s your chance to go in and show you’re worthy of being at the club and can perform at that level.
“It’s great to see Craig in and around the training ground now. He’s such a big presence and is so well respected within the squad. He’s a legend of this club.
“We sit and talk about games that have gone by and ones coming up. I still try to take wee pointers from him because the game looks different from the stand than at pitch level.
“It’s just great to get feedback from him.”
READ NEXT:
