[1] Though Edinburgh born, the earliest account of young Alan's precocious footballing talent recalls a blonde eight-year-old scoring freely for Sunnybank Primary School in Aberdeen.
With his awareness in the box, lethal left foot and uncanny heading ability he proved a perfect foil for the mesmeric wing play and crossing of teammate, Willie Henderson and he scored 120 goals in 80 games over two seasons.
In the 1959/60 season Edinburgh Athletic won the prestigious Lord Weir Cup at New Meadowbank, beating league rivals Edina Hearts 4–1 in the final with both Gordon and Henderson on target.
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 .
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 died on 18 February 2010, from a brain tumour, having suffered a recurrence of the cancer[1] which had initially prompted the removal of part of his tongue eight years earlier and which curtailed his media involvement.