Gordon hoping Rangers are a Euro hit... but fall flat at Hampden

CRAIG GORDON hopes Rangers can do Scottish football a favour by winning the Europa League — then do Hearts a favour by turning up for the Scottish Cup final in a tired and emotional state. The Ibrox side face Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League final in Seville on May 18. Giovanni van Bronckhorst and his team then travel back to Glasgow to face Hearts at Hampden three days later. Win or lose, the physical and emotional exertions of Spain could extract some kind of toll. Crowned the Scottish Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year in Glasgow last night, the Scotland keeper can’t predict whether that’s likely to be good news for Hearts, or bad. ‘Rangers have done fantastically well to get there,’ said Gordon after a 4-1 defeat to Celtic. ‘It’s a major achievement and you’d want to see them go there and do well for Scottish football. ‘Potentially, to win a European trophy, that would be amazing for everybody in Scottish football, for our coefficient, Champions League places, all the things that go with it. ‘We want to do as well as we can as a nation at international level and also our club teams doing well, too. ‘You can play it out two different ways. Could it go to extra-time, penalties, travel, so many things come into it. ‘It boils down to the fact they are a good team. They came back from extra-time in Europe (against Braga) to beat Celtic in the semi-final three days later, so they are a fit team and very capable of putting up with the schedule. ‘They have done it all season and consistently performed well, especially in Europe. I don’t think it has a great bearing. ‘They are conditioned to deal with that and we’ll have to be at our best.’ In a quirk of the fixtures, Hearts host Rangers at Tynecastle in the final league game of their first season back in the Premiership since promotion. Third place secured weeks ago, Gordon expects to face a second-string Rangers team ahead of their date with destiny in Seville. ‘We’re unsure what will transpire between now and then, who they will play with a European final after it, so it’s just about preparing ourselves,’ he added. ‘We were 12 unbeaten before Celtic and we want to get back to winning ways. We have a couple of games before the final to do that.’

HEARTS winger Jamie Walker will leave Tynecastle at the end of the season after agreeing a two-year deal with League Two Bradford City.