'Does my head in' - Derek McInnes lifts lid on early Hearts frustrations as goalkeeper situation arises

Many imagined that the Hearts manager would be tossing and turning in his sleep as he wrestled with the dilemma. Or maybe it would be something he would be churning over and over in his thoughts as he drove the hour-long journey from his home in Renfrewshire to Edinburgh, where he is currently overseeing the start of pre-season training at his new club.

What was he going to do about the thorny issue of goalkeeper? Would McInnes opt for Hearts legend Craig Gordon as his first-choice goalkeeper or would he go for the younger man in Zander Clark, for whom last season was an almost complete write-off. The quandary ought to have been niggling him as he lay in the sun at his holiday home in Florida earlier this summer.

Now a rested McInnes is back and in full-on work mode. He has just finished the first few days of bleep tests and the like.

“I was itching to get started,” he explained. “But you have to give over to sports science, which does my head in if I’m honest! Because we are kicking our heels dying to get started.” Having been appointed the day after the end of the league season, it’s been a strange hiatus before getting going. “I felt like I’d scored a goal and was waiting on VAR to give me permission to celebrate,” he explained.

So pesky sports scientists aside, it’s now all systems go? Well, yes and no it seems. There are some notable absences at training, chiefly striker Lawrence Shankland. McInnes has given the out-of-contract skipper until this weekend, when Hearts head off for a sunshine training camp in Spain, to accept the deal put on the table by the club.

It remains to be seen whether he is on the plane or not. Definitely not joining the party on this trip will be Gordon. The 42-year-old is struggling to be fit for his own testimonial against former team Sunderland, which is scheduled for 26 July at Tynecastle. He is certainly ruled out of Hearts’ League Cup programme, which begins against Neil Lennon’s Dunfermline two weeks on Saturday.

McInnes explained that Gordon has a nerve issue between his neck and forearm. “They have identified what the problem is,” he added. “It’s just been a bit of a slow burner. It is a bit frustrating but it is just something that we have to deal with.”

What it means for Gordon’s future going forward remains to be seen. McInnes presumably gave the green light to a year’s contract extension for the veteran ‘keeper, who is determined to keep his place as Scotland goalkeeper ahead of the start of World Cup qualifying in September (he has played in the last six competitive international games for his country).

After Clark signed a new two-year deal in January, Hearts were meant to be back where they were this time last year in having two international-class No.1s battling for the same jersey. Ryan Fulton, the former Under-21 Scotland goalkeeper, is also in this impressive mix and now 29 might feel he is due a chance.

Remarkably, all three were injured at the tail end of last season. “If Hearts had reached the Scottish Cup final, we wouldn’t have had a goalie fit!” remarked McInnes. It’s reasonable to wonder whether he would have been sitting where he was sitting on Tuesday as he met with reporters at Hearts' training centre at Oriam if they had reached the cup final.

But they didn’t and McInnes is in situ and was meant to be wrestling with a king-size dilemma with reference to Gordon and Clark – or, indeed, Gordon or Clark. Or has he now been spared a headache - the one all managers would like to have - in the short term?

“At the minute, aye,” McInnes said, with reference to Gordon’s current unavailability. “In the past, when I have been putting squads together, I have needed to sign two goalkeepers and normally the pitch to them is, ‘Listen, if you are first in through the door then you have the opportunity’.”

He explained that it had happened with Will Dennis, who he signed for Kilmarnock a week before Kieran O’Hara and therefore “got the jersey”. It was the same with Joe Lewis and Neil Alexander at Aberdeen. “I signed them more or less on the same day but Joe got in just ahead of Neil and stayed in the team,” he said.

Clark as it stands is the clear front runner simply by dint of being fit – or at least fitter than Gordon. He has been recovering from a foot injury that was exacerbated while making his supposed comeback in the last league game of the season against Kilmarnock, when he limped off after just 22 minutes. Fulton replaced him and then sustained an injury himself but soldiered on until the end with defender Craig Halkett on standby to go in goals.

McInnes confirmed both Clark, who turns 33 on Thursday, and Fulton will be on the plane to Spain. “We are slowly getting progress with Zander and Ryan,” he said. “Both lads are coming to Spain with a view to training. There would have been no point coming if they were not going to train. I’ve had assurances now they’ve had a good few days and have had the all clear.”

One or other or ideally both will be ready to play in the game against Crawley Town that Hearts have lined up in Spain although there is some concern further misfortune could befall them.

McInnes acknowledged they “would have to react” if Clark or Fulton suffer a setback prior to the competitive programme starting. “If you have two senior ‘keepers out of any squad at any time of the season, you need to react to that,” he said. “We are no different.”