No way Souttar will down tools ..players would not stand for it
CRAIG HALKETT insists there’s no chance of Rangers-bound defensive partner John Souttar downing tools and freewheeling his way to the end of his Hearts contract.
The duo will be in action alongside Stephen Kingsley tonight as a three-man central defensive barrier designed to keep Celtic at bay.
And Halkett is convinced Souttar’s mind will be entirely focused on the here and now.
The 26-year-old’s belief stems from the fact he was in a similar position less than three years ago when, as a Livingston player, he signed a pre-contract with the Jambos.
Halkett saw out the season in excellent form for Livi and is adamant Souttar will do the same for Hearts if Rangers don’t strike a deal to take him to Ibrox in the next week.
He said: “It was slightly different because I signed mine in March, so there wasn’t the scenario where it was January and there was the possibility of leaving at the time.
“But for me – and it will be the same for John – when you are still at the club, you get the head down and you work hard.
“You are contracted to that club at that time, so you just keep doing what you’ve been doing and whatever will happen, will happen. But for me, it was pretty easy to get on with.
“I’ve said before that the changing room here is really good. We all get on and have a good laugh.
“I don’t think anyone would take too kindly to someone if they thought they were downing tools and weren’t going to try.
“That’s not the case at all. John’s been working hard and he’s a top professional. He comes in every morning, works hard
FULL BACKING and trains really well. As long as he keeps doing that going forward, everything will be great.”
And Halkett is backing his mate to continue to deal with negativity from the Hearts support, who gave him stick during their last match at Tynecastle against St Johnstone.
He added: “John is a strong character. He’s a big boy and can look after himself. There had been a lot spoken about him prior to that game and when he signed the pre-contract, it was maybe not expected but there was always going to be some sort of reaction.
“To be fair to John, I think he handled it really well and put in a really good performance.”
Hearts welcome Celtic on the back of four straight wins and beat Ange Postecoglou’s men at Tynecastle on the opening night of the season.
They also suffered two narrow Parkhead defeats in the League Cup and Premiership as Halkett said: “Being at Hearts, you want to believe and have the confidence that you can compete with every team in the league. We’re not a team that will sit back and play for a draw.
“We believe we have enough quality to try to win these games. That last game (against Celtic) we felt was a sore one, losing to the offside goal, and we had a number of chances.”