HARSH realities of the past have taught Calum Elliot not to look too far into the future.
Elliot may be currently one of the hottest strikers in Scottish football, but his focus will drift no further than Livingston's eagerly-anticipated trip to f
ellow First Division promotion hopefuls Queen of the South today.
In the close season, Elliot was facing the prospect of a troublesome spell at Tynecastle after Hearts failed to reach agreement with Inverness over his transfer; a trial spell at MK Dons also proved fruitless. Five goals in three league outings with Livingston have lit the touch paper on a subsequently negotiated loan spell, yet Elliot is content to consider his new team rather than personal performance.
"I think it is important to hit the ground running when you come to a new club, either on loan or permanently," Elliot explained. "And I have been fortunate enough to do that. But I have also been lucky to come to a club which has had a few good results, is sitting top of the league, and confidence is high.
"Hopefully that will continue. I have settled in quickly and want to score more goals to help the team. There are no personal targets for me, how the team does matters more."
A move to a club which is apparently brimming with team spirit is all the more significant for Elliot, given his turbulent 2008. Despite regular backing from Stephen Frail, then Hearts' caretaker manager, and being afforded plenty game time in the latter part of last season, Elliot found himself the subject of vociferous criticism from a large section of the Edinburgh outfit's support. An ill-advised home-made dance video, which subsequently appeared on the internet, hardly helped the striker's cause.
Frail believed the level of antipathy towards Elliot from the stands rendered his hopes of enjoying a successful career in maroon as negligible. With more than three years left on his contract, though, the 21-year-old's future is far from clear-cut.
"I don't know if I'll ever go back to Hearts, that is something I'll have to play by ear," added Elliot, whose progress has stalled, the odd glimpse of hope aside, since a starring performance for Hearts against Celtic on New Year's Day, 2006. "It was a difficult last season at Hearts but you have to get on with your own job and hope things don't effect you personally. It was nice to always have support from people like Stevie, but my main objective has always been just to play football."
It has surely not escaped Elliot's attention, though, that the club he joined straight from school have been the recipients of unwanted attention for their lack of goalscoring prowess in recent weeks. "That has nothing to do with me anymore," he insisted. "All I think about is what is happening at Livingston, which means taking this loan spell game by game.
"I am initially here until January but if both clubs are happy, I would consider extending that, it is definitely something I'd be interested in. People will say I have taken a step back but sometimes you just have to look at where you can go and play regular football; in football terms, this was a good move for me.
"My objective here is to play every week, help the team, and hopefully something good will come from that."
By Elliot's own admission, Livingston's three-point lead at the summit of the First Division is less important than the gathering of early-season momentum. "I think most teams hit a spell where they don't pick up so many points, so it is good that we have got so many in the bag already," he said. "We have a lot of good players, there is no doubt about that, and like a lot of other teams in the league it will be important for us to keep everyone fit."
Vital, too, is the role of the hitherto unknown Roberto Landi. The Italian has brought fresh ideas to West Lothian – he does not, for example, engage in anything other than brief half-time team talks – and, according to Elliot, a confidence which is rubbing off on the playing staff.
"Every manager has their own ideas, I know that from seeing quite a few at Hearts, and you can only try to learn from all of them," said the Scotland Under-21 international. "Roberto is different to what I have encountered before, he leaves the players to it a lot of the time, but I think he has confidence both in ourselves and in our system.
"At half-time, he will come in for a very brief chat, then leave us to talk among ourselves. The adrenalin among the players kicks in from there."
For Elliot, the return of that energy rush is long overdue.
The full article contains 824 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
