James Wilson returned to the Hearts training ground yesterday morning having spent the day after his Edinburgh derby heroics with his head stuck in his books back at school.
The hitkid was first on the grass at the Oriam according to Neil Critchley. Had he not been then the manager reckons he’d have been given a flea in the ear by his elders in the Jambos dressing room. But Critchley insists there’s no danger of the 17-year-old getting too big for his boots even after grabbing the headlines with his late leveller in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Hibs at Easter Road.
Not when he’s a perfect student of the game whose playground is the opposition 18-yard box. Wilson is now on two goals from two sub appearances in the last week - and Critchley says he comes into contention for a start for tonight’s visit of Kilmarnock. The Hearts manager said: “He was first on the training pitch this morning. If he'd been amongst the group or coming out later, he would have got an ear bashing! But he's a humble boy. I think he's slightly embarrassed by the attention.
“He just lives for scoring goals and playing football. That's all I want to keep his focus on at the moment. How do I manage a 17-year-old? Like you would a 34-year-old. You treat every player as an individual, everyone's different.
“You have certain sort of parameters of how you want to work. But then how I deal with certain individuals might be different because they're different people. James is obviously 17, so I'd speak to him differently than maybe I'd speak to Craig Gordon, for instance. But your values and your morals always remain consistent.
“James is a lovely boy, humble, wants to listen, wants to learn. And I say I think the attention and that slightly embarrasses him a
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