early September 1959 at the age of 15 and, henceforth, would train twice a week at Tynecastle. Hearts Having scored 13 goals in eight games for the reserves, Alan made his first team debut at Hearts, whilst still a pupil at Heriots, in a 1st Division match on 21 October 1961 against reigning League champions Celtic at Tynecastle . He was now 17 and his opposite man that day was the redoubtable Scotland international "right half", Pat Crerand. In only his second match, he played in the 1961 Scottish League Cup Final against Rangers at Hampden in front of 88,000 fans . He was fouled for the penalty from which John Cumming equalised for Hearts but the game finished a draw and he did not play in the replay, which Hearts lost. Gordon scored his first goal in senior football on his fourth appearance in an away league match against Raith Rovers and it proved the winner. He scored again in the next game at home against Motherwell but Hearts lost 6–2. In that maiden season he made 22 league appearances scoring 5 goals, including a double in a 4–1 victory against Hibs at Easter Road, with a further hat-trick coming in a Scottish Cup tie against Vale of Leithen. The highlight for the schoolboy may have been turning out on several occasions alongside Hearts' idolised forward, Willie Bauld and the friendships he struck up with other teammates such as Danny Ferguson and Billy Higgins. Gordon continued his studies after leaving Heriot's and gained a Master of Arts degree in economics from the University of Edinburgh, where he also studied Moral Philosophy and Spanish Literature. By the 1964–65 season he had developed into a first team regular, scoring 23 times as the Maroons narrowly missed out on the League title. Dundee United Following a spell in South Africa in 1967 and 1968, where he played for Durban United and worked as a company representative for Beare Brothers, Gordon left Tynecastle permanently in 1969 when Jerry Kerr paid £8,000 to take him to Dundee United. While with the Tannadice club he remained Edinburgh-based as he was now studying towards his professional Chartered Accountancy qualification, training twice a week with the Terrors. When Jim McLean was appointed manager a policy requiring all United players to live in Tayside was instigated, however, Gordon refused. Hibernian Eddie Turnbull paid £12,000 to take Gordon back