Craig Gordon: I'd play for Hearts in lower division - Celtic talks have not gone well

Goalkeeper says Parkhead club offered him much lower wage

Craig Gordon says he would be interested in a return to Hearts.

Craig Gordon today confirmed he is in talks with Hearts about a return and admitted contract negotiations with Celtic have not gone well.

The 37-year-old goalkeeper has been offered a two-year contract to go back to Tynecastle Park, a deal which would include the option of a further 12-month extension.

He is out of contract at Parkhead and has held discussions about staying. However, he labelled the gap between his last Celtic contract and the proposed new one as “enormous”.

Gordon is now assessing his options for next season but confirmed he would willingly play in Scotland’s second tier following Hearts’ enforced relegation.

“There are teams in Scotland I have been speaking to,” he told TalkSPORT. “It’s been widely talked about that I am in talks with Hearts so we’ll just see what happens. I’m in no rush to make my decision just yet.

“Hearts is Hearts. It’s such a huge club. That was my boyhood club and they mean so much to me. It doesn’t matter what league Hearts are in, they are still a huge club.

“You look at what they are doing off the field, the amount of season tickets they’ve sold already is huge compared to a vast number of teams in Scotland. They are still going to be a massive club regardless of what division they’re in.

“That doesn’t come into play too much. Everything that goes on will all go into my decision – what division teams are in, how many games they are playing, it’s all things I’m going to have to consider over the next few weeks.”

Asked about Celtic’s offer, he commented: “They did speak about it a few weeks ago. The negotiations haven’t been particularly good, I’ve got to be honest. It has dragged out.

“I feel it could have been handled an awful lot better, but I don’t want to say too much on that.

“I had a fantastic time there over the six years. I still want to be able to speak to them and see what they have to offer – what they are thinking for my role for next season, if they want me to stay there.

“There is still a bit of chat still to be had there. I would have liked things to be sorted out before now with them, but that leaves the door open for everybody else to make an offer.”

The Scotland internationalist conceded that there is a huge difference in salary between his Celtic deal last season and what has been proposed.

“Yes, of course. It was absolutely enormous,” said Gordon. “There wasn’t much chance of that being a possibility of a deal because it was a long way short of what I was expecting from them. That’s what I told them.

“As yet, they’ve not come back with anything else. It's up to them still to come back. I said that a few weeks ago in the press that they could come back with a better deal and I would still be willing to listen. Absolutely nothing has changed since then.”

Gordon would work again with Robbie Neilson if he rejoined Hearts after his former team-mate returned to Gorgie as manager on Sunday.

The goalkeeper came through the Edinburgh club’s youth system before becoming an established first-team regular in 2003.

He won the Scottish Cup in 2006 and left for Sunderland in a £9million deal in 2007 – a British record fee for a goalkeeper at the time.

He also holds 54 Scotland caps and is keen to move into a coaching role in years to come. He would be given the opportunity to do so at Riccarton should he agree to return.

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