McLaughlin has made his family green with envy
HE’S just a Hibee, from a Hibs family, spare him the curse of a monstrous derby … Apologies. To Queen fans. Not to new Hearts goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin, the globe-trotting son of Edinburgh who makes no apologies for his blood links to the green-andwhite half of the capital.
Regardless of their own preference for Easter Road over Tynecastle, parents Margaret and Paul are thrilled by young Jon moving back among his ain folk.
Even if some of those diehard Hibs-loving uncles haven’t quite managed to embrace the prospect of their nephew playing for the Jambos.
Whisked away to the Middle East before his first birthday, given a formal footballing education as a late starter down south, McLaughlin can’t help but marvel at the twist of fate that has returned him to the city of his birth.
Articulate and affable, the sports science graduate said yesterday: ‘It’s funny the way things work, small world and all that.
‘You go off in all different directions, yet end up coming back to the place you were born.’ Funnier still is that, in landing a former Harrogate Railway Athletic, Harrogate Town, Bradford and Burton Albion goalie, Hearts have ended up with someone well aware of how the Edinburgh rivalry works.
Having revealed the depth of his family ties to the city, McLaughlin answered the inevitable question head on, saying of his clan: ‘The majority are from the Hibs side, I’ve got to say.
‘So it was a little bit awkward, some of those conversations! ‘Growing up, with the parents and uncles who were Hibs fans, that was who I would look out for.
‘But having never lived here, having never been given the opportunity to go and support any Scottish side, I’m certainly less of a diehard Hibee.
‘But definitely the family are more Hibs than the Hearts side.
‘We’ve always come up and visited the family, mum and dad love coming up as often as they can.
‘I didn’t get many opportunities to go to games up here, just because we mostly visited in the summer.
‘So I’ve never experienced going to Easter Road or Tynecastle to even watch a game. It’s going to be interesting.’ Asked how he’d broken the news to his folks, the 29-year-old — who didn’t turn pro until after he’d graduated — said: ‘Yeah, well… like anything, they practically knew before I did that I was signing for Hearts. That’s the way of the world with the internet these days.
‘My parents were made up for me. But I wasn’t getting too many phone calls back from some of the uncles! They’re a bit more diehard.
‘I think there will be a few family members in the away end, giving me some stick.’
McLaughlin, definitely signed as more than just a challenger to current No 1 Jack Hamilton, got an early taste of derby action by playing for the Hearts Under-20s in a 4-1 win over their Hibs counterparts.
‘Yeah, it was nice of them to chuck me into that one straight away,’ he said, grinning as he added: ‘Just to test me and make sure there was no old affiliation still there. I showed that I’d burnt all the bridges, I suppose!’
Living in Saudi Arabia up until the age of 11 gave McLaughlin a taste for a lot of different sports. Just not football.
Incredibly, he played ice hockey in the Gulf state, giving him a passion that continued during family holidays back to Edinburgh; there were regular visits to games at the Murrayfield rink, apparently.
‘It’s quite a good upbringing over there because you get a taste of everything,’ he said.
‘It’s something I’ve always been really glad about, that I wasn’t just drilled down one route my whole life.
‘I see a lot of lads, all they have ever known is football and, for a lot of them, it doesn’t work out.
‘I’ve been able to do everything. I’ve had a full school education, gone to university as well.
‘I now get the added bonus of still being a professional footballer, so I’ve been very lucky.
‘I had been speaking to a lot of clubs down south when I became aware that Hearts might be in the market for a goalkeeper.
‘As soon as I knew that, it was one I didn’t want to pass up on.
‘It’s nice because it’s something I did want to do in my career, at some stage, although I was thinking it might happen towards the end.
‘It’s fantastic that it has happened in the prime of my career, when I can hopefully be a real asset. For my wife and family, it’s a great opportunity to come up and live here.’