LARYEA KINGSTON once apologised to all of Ghana for baring his buttocks in a testimonial match in Accra. Not the brightest period in his career it's safe to say. Not with all that scorn and all that outrage flying in his direction, not to mind all the humiliation. Kingston has spoken about the experience in a sombre tone and the same kind of earnestness was in his voice on Wednesday morning as he took stock of his season.
You might ask "what season?" He's asking it himself, so why not join in? He's had a terrible time of it. No hiding from the fact. He's been injured, he's come back, he's been injured again, he's missed out on a possible move to the Premiership or th
e Bundesliga because of a two month lay-off with a hamstring tear. And then what happens? He's set up camp in the treatment room and suddenly the team starts banging out the victories.
And now he's back again and it doesn't look like there's a place for him in Csaba Laszlo's first team. "Honestly, this has been a very frustrating season for me," he says. "Throughout my career, this is the worst season ever. My aim was to play every game and help us qualify for Europe and it's happening, but I haven't been there. So for me, it's sad. Last season I scored about seven goals (six, actually, plus three more for Ghana] and it was in my head this season to score more than 10. And after seven or eight games (not being pedantic but it was 16 games] I already had three goals, so I was excited. Then these injuries started to come."
On his day Kingston is a wonderful footballer; inventive and accurate and a real handful. But those days are not nearly as frequent as they ought to be. He's a bit of a conundrum. He's produced delicious moments in big matches but he's also been accused of idleness more than once. Earlier in the season he said he was grossly offended by suggestions that he was making a bit of a meal of some knocks and bruises he'd picked up and was missing games he really could have played in had he been made of sterner stuff. Kingston went loopy but his critics didn't exactly retract their reservations.
He's hardly even been mentioned at Tynecastle for a long while. When his name comes up in conversation these days it's usually to do with the money he's costing the club, the reported £16,000 a week he's being paid. He chatted last week about his injury "nightmare", how he got so low at the peak of his troubles that he couldn't watch football, couldn't talk to anybody, couldn't do anything bar go into a darkened room, stick on a set of headphones and chill to the music. And perhaps roll around on a carpet of £50 notes.
He sings his manager's praises for helping him through the frustration of it all and mentions his good mate, Michael Essien, into the bargain. He goes way back with the Chelsea man, all the way to Ghana where they play together for their national team. They speak often even now. "Yeah, I speak with him two or three times a week. When he had his injury I encouraged him, 'keep your chin up' I said. When I got my injury he was the first person who called me. Said to me, 'bro, keep your head up man. You did the same for me'. Every week we talk. He used to advise me. He said, 'I know you, they say two months and in one month you'll want to be back'. He advised me to stick to the rehab time so I would come back confident."
Whether he's confident or not remains to be seen but he's certainly motivated. Missing out on much of Hearts' bid for Europe has made him determined to make an impression in the last five games of the season, starting today against Rangers. He's fit and he's ready. He wants to play some part at Ibrox this afternoon and he's well up for the Hibs game on Thursday. He wants to show the fans why Hearts are shelling out all that lovely dosh on him every week.
There's no doubting his desire on that score. But there's another carrot in front of his nose right now. And it could make him a real danger to Rangers should he get a decent amount of game-time at Ibrox this afternoon. It's the wish to rekindle the interest of those managers he says were sniffing around him back in January. It's the desire to prove himself a talent worth having, a man who can operate at a higher level.
If anybody happens to be looking on today from the Premiership, the Championship, the Bundesliga, La Liga, the Eredivisie, the Allsvenskan, the Superligaen, the Veikkausliiga, the Meistriliiga or any other league, liga or ligaen in the western world (or not) then they're likely to find Kingston in an energetic mood. And when he's switched-on he can do some truly excellent things. Kingston, you feel, sees himself in the shop window right now. He's available. He's got a year to go on his contract but you wouldn't lay any money down on him being at the club beyond the summer. For all the nice words Kingston has for his manager, this would look like a relationship that has run its course for several reasons. Hearts cannot afford to stump up that kind of money in wages anymore, so they'll move on the top earners if the opportunities arise. And Kingston sounds like one top earner who is willing to walk.
He talks about his disappointment in getting crocked in January, in part because he was going to miss important games for Hearts but also because of the lost chance to move onwards and upwards.
"Three or four in the Premiership and one in Germany," he says of the possibilities back then. "They (the clubs] are waiting to see if I'm back on the pitch. Every player has an ambition to play in the Premiership. It's the best league in the world."
He has had a nomadic football life, beginning in his native Ghana, before moving on to Libya, back to Ghana, onwards to Maccabi Ahi Nazareth and Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel and Krylia Sovetov Samara, Terek Grozny and Lokomotiv Moscow in Russia. He's been at Hearts since January 2007 which is a champion innings compared to some of the brief spells he has spent elsewhere.
He says he knows that things will be different at Tynecastle next season. "It's going to be hard for us because a lot of key players are out of contract. Hopefully we will look to retain them but I leave that to the management. They know better than me how to patch up things and get us going for next season. I can't say that without those players we are going to be bad. We wait and see what happens."
He's got five games to make himself feel better about his season. Or put it another way; he's got five games to secure the kind of move he's hoping for. The Premiership? Whoever it was that showed interest in signing him will want to see if he can handle the business end of the SPL first.
