Greece v Scotland: Hearts’ James Wilson on meteoric 12-month rise
While Wilson seems to have a trick already, scoring goals is not without decent pressure.
But Critchley assured him that he had no spotlight from the canoe.
“We didn’t have the pressure, he just had to go out and play his own game,” the former Blackpool boss said. “He has been great for the past few weeks.
“He is a willing learner, eager to get information, he wants to improve. We can help him, and James just has to do it himself.”
Sometimes it’s easy to say and do, but Wilson’s wise move on his young shoulders, Clark responded to Cridgeley’s positive comments.
He had previously talked about the fun of good friends playing with the youth national team.
Hearts Academy product Adam Forrester will be under 21 in Scotland this week. Wilson just completely bypassed this age group.
Not surprisingly, he looked forward Lawrence Shankland like a hawk in training, “trying to feed him.”
The captain won’t be with Clark this week after failing to advance to Clark, but his “mentor” Craig Gordon will have a familiar face nearly three years before Wilson’s birth.
“Obviously, he has valuable experience,” he said of the 42-year-old goalkeeper.
“He asked me questions, I asked him questions. We just feed each other; he really mattered to me.”
Wilson’s interaction at the other end of the age scale is more visual than hearing.
“In school, the little young man asked you about the picture was cool, a little weird,” he added. “I think it’s different now.”
This has been different, and if his pace of progress continues, the person who asks for selfies will only be the more regular incident of the boy who can solve the Scottish striker’s problem.
