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Personal
Fullname: Craig Sinclair Gordon
aka: Craig Gordon
Born: 31 December 1982
Birthplace: Edinburgh
Signed: 3 July 2014
Left: 30 June 2020 (Freed, then signed for Hearts)
Position: Goalkeeper
Debut: St Johnstone 0-3 Celtic, League, 13 Aug 2014
Squad No.: 26
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 74 [Complete at end of career]
International Goals: 0
Biog
| “That moment, where all the Rangers players were standing with their hands on their heads, is why you do this job.” Craig Gordon |
Previously, he was a high purchase player having been bought by Sunderland from Hearts for £9m, to make him the then most expensive goalkeeper transfer in the UK to time of purchase. The problem was that Sunderland was a club going nowhere and under management difficulties. There were some great moments, including a reflex save v Bolton which in 2012 was voted as the best save in the 20 year history of the English Premier League.
However, injuries were to blight his time and from season 2008-09, he was in & out the first team due to recurring injuries and surgery.
After being let go in 2012 from Sunderland, he did not manage to sign for a club for two years when Celtic picked him up, and things were to finally get back on track again.
Ronnie Deila Era
He had a lot of lost time to make up for, and a lot of pride as well. After everything, getting a chance at Celtic was probably beyond his dreams and an opportunity that he just had to grasp by the nettle.
If the challenge wasn’t daunting enough, he was to take over from Fraser Forster who had made a name for himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the UK at Celtic, and had set new records for clean sheets in goals. Craig was to be up for the challenge, and more than met what could ever be asked of him.
Gordon’s time was to begin like a fairytale. After all the heartache of recent years, he cemented the Celtic First XI goalkeeper spot, and was a consummate professional. Even when the side was playing poorly, Gordon’s saves were what were keeping the side in the game. In the first half of the season this was too often the difference between defeat and victory, and the quality of his performances belied his rather calm demeanour.
When Celtic won the league cup in 2014-15, there was no prouder moment than seeing Craig Gordon (with his children) feeling a sense of redemption as well as tasting success, he truly deserved it. His career had been regarded by all as over only a year or so earlier, and it was through good fortune and a leap of faith by Celtic to give him his place. He’d repaid everyone back already. It was a humbling story.
As one commentator was to put it, everyone was running out of superlatives to describe Gordon’s form. He was saving Celtic and at times carrying the first team. His fine form fitted in well with his central defence, and the popular centre half duo of van Dijk and Denayer gained much from playing in front of him. Ironically led to his front men winning end of season awards and plaudits ahead of him.
As happens, assistant manager John Collins remarked unnecessarily in an interview that Craig Gordon’s transfer was on par with Henrik Larsson’s. Pure hyperbole and an unnecessary burden for the player. So in the following match v Inter Milan in the Uefa Cup (2015) he duly had a notable poor match gifting two goals from uncharacteristic mistakes. Thankfully the team rallied to draw at home but everyone hopefully had learnt a lesson.
As a measure of his success, Craig Gordon was named Scottish Football Writers’ Player of the Year. The whole arc of his season was inspiring, and to be awarded this by the journalists appears apt. Gordon never hid his joy and relief, and his honesty about his predicament really brought it all home if what the had endured just to get here. He was genuinely thankful and it was humbling to the support, but his performances meant we were in his debt too. Celtic mat have won the double that season but it meant more to Gordon than anyone else for good reason, the true reward being something more deeply personal.
One of the more humourous games he played in was the inaugural match against TheRangers in February 2015. Despite all the pre-match hype about a belligerent match, TheRangers had only one shot on goal and it was way off target. Craig Gordon had probably the easiest 90minutes he will ever have in goals. The comments afterwards made light of the situation with messages passing around such as that post-match Craig Gordon had to be taken to hospital after the match due to hypothermia.
After that wonderful debut season, things didn’t necessarily reach those heights again under Deila but Celtic were still on top although the side were faltering. The departure of the wonderful central defence of Denayer and van Dijk lost him a crux in the defence, and his form fell with it. Numerous goals were being lost from set pieces, and the Ronny Deila era was sinking fast with the defence a notable bugbear.
Quite a contrast to the past season, and Gordon had lost a lot of confidence it seemed. Not the most confident with the ball at his feet, his distribution was often poor (and never improved thru his entire time at Celtic). Errors were increasing too, such as the away lost goal v Fernerbahce which resulted from an unenforced calamity involving Gordon. Didn’t help that his defenders were unsettled and too often rotated (partly due to injuries). Things had to change, and they did under Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers Era & Beyond
Brendan Rodgers managerial reign was a breath of fresh air, and for Gordon it was another time to reboot, but unlike others it was a trickier transition it seemed. Craig Gordon was one who seemed to always need a reboot in his career.
An early debacle in a Champions League qualifier in Aug 2016 v Hapoel led to the introduction of the manager’s old club favourite De Vries who took over from Gordon soon enough. If anything, the competition was welcome. As De Vries faltered, Craig Gordon was soon dragged back, and his form unsurprisingly reappeared, and with a defence in front of him who were once again functioning he was producing fine performances again. If there was one bit of luck, he missed out on the 7-0 thumping by Barcelona.
As a measure of his reputation, Chelsea stepped in for Gordon for a £3m offer as a back-up keeper in Jan 2017. If he had opted for this at his age and at his stage in his career, in fairness few would have begrudged him, but he stayed for various reasons, which created further respect for him.
As Gordon was to finally find his form again, many were loathe to lose him. He was another who had their careers boosted by Brendan Rodgers, and his part in the back-to-back treble seasons cannot be understated, especially with the long record unbeaten run being a clear indication of his value to the Celtic team.
One iconic moment came as Celtic won the treble, and as scene was replayed repeatedly of Gordon sinking to the ground, with clenched fists in the air with the mass Celtic support in view celebrating after the end of the dramatic Scottish Cup final v Aberdeen in 2017. Captured the emotions of the moment and the era.
However, into season 2017-18, his faults seemed to resurface and there were concerns. Gordon really was poor at distribution of the ball, and was not comfortable with the ball at his feet too often. This was a weakness that many had complained of. The defence in front of him was not functioning too well, and this all combined to see Celtic dip in form, but still remain dominant. Gordon though needed to work harder, but there were concerns it was now getting too late in his career to iron out these faults. He was really uncomfortable with the ball at his feet way too often giving the ball away to the opposition.
The defence could be quite a concern, and some pointed to the often lack of confidence in Gordon that hampered efforts especially in European matches where Celtic were humiliated by PSG. On paper, Gordon was doing a fine job in season 2017/18 with the goals conceded generally remaining low again, with just 25 goals conceded in the league, and Celtic won back-to-back domestic trebles.
Season 2018/19 was to be a crux season for him, and as Celtic stuttered in the league and in Europe, criticisms in general of Rodgers & Celtic that had been bottled had finally opened up into the public. Gordon was part of this, but he wasn’t the biggest issue.
Things were to change, Craig Gordon said that when playing out from the back that he was under strict instructions to play it into the space where the player should be no matter if he wasn’t there, if he was tightly marked or whatever. Brendan Rogers would deal with the player if he wasn’t there or not good enough to deal with the pass. He simply had to pass it. He said that it has changed under Lenny to a more direct approach from goalies.
Into mid-season 2018/19, he was finally overtaken by Scott Bain in goals who was increasingly showing confidence and reminding all of the best of what Craig Gordon had been offering. It was clear that Bain was learning from Gordon, and it was a boon to have both on the club’s books at the same time. One big advantage of Bain was that he was far more confident with the ball at his feet, which was a major issue as playing the ball back to the goalkeeper was an increasingly used tactic, and too often Gordon with the ball at his feet gave fans the jips.
When Fraser Forster returned for a loan-season for 2019/20, it was all over for Craig Gordon, apart from a few appearances over the season. It was great to have two great keepers on our books at the same time. The coronavirus pandemic meant that big decisions all round were going to have to be made.
With Forster and Bain at Celtic, and reports of transfer attempts to bring in another if Forster did not remain at Celtic for season 2020/21 (which he didn’t), Craig Gordon opted to leave Celtic. The final days were a bit hectic, as Craig Gordon revealed in an unnecessary tabloid interview that the new contract earnings offered to remain were a fraction of his previous earnings at the club. Two sides to the story, and really should have been kept behind closed doors:
“It has dragged out and I feel it could have been handled an awful lot better.” (Craig Gordon)
He announced via social media on 28 June 2020 that he was to leave, and we wished him the very best.
Craig Gordon was a very capable goalkeeper who when on form with confidence was top level. A great shot stopper and good teammate on the pitch to work with. When his confidence dipped, he was a major problem.
He was very well decorated, and his decision to come to Celtic was very much vindicated.
Must add a note on the amount of charity related work with Celtic he has done, including the Celtic Park sleepout. During the summer while majority of the players were on holidays he was with the Celtic Foundation in Kenya helping out. It showed a great personal side to him as well, which was very humbling.
Post-Celtic
Ironically, he ended up facing Celtic in the COVID-postponed Scottish Cup final (Dec 2020) to complete the quadruple treble but as part of the opposition Hearts side. Edouard scored a Panenka penalty with Craig Gordon enraged throwing the ball back at him after the goal. However, the match went on to penalties after a 3-3 draw after 120 minutes. Despite his poor reputation for penalties he actually saved a penalty against Christie to give Hearts the advantage, only for Celtic’s goalkeeper to reply with two penalty saves himself to turn things around for another Celtic title victory, and now Celtic had completed the historic quadruple treble!
It would have been Gordon’s tenth trophy in a row, and it was a curious way for it to end for him as part of this record setting accomplishment by Celtic. It also marked the end of a glorious era, as Celtic collapsed that season under incumbent Neil Lennon, and many began to wonder if Gordon should have been retained as his successors faltered badly in season 2020/21.
He went on to have a good career with Hearts and was a very popular player at the club, and captained the first team too.
As a measure of his good form post-Celtic, in 2022 Craig Gordon became the first player to win the Scottish Football Writers Player of the Year on three separate occasions. Taking into account that he was up against competition from the highly successful Joe Hart in goals at Celtic in 2021/22, that was some achievement. It also proved just what a mistake it was to lose him for the hapless Barkas which will go down as one of the poorest transfers ever in Celtic’s history (not a shortlist).
However, it all came to a near end for his playing career on Christmas Eve of all days in 2022, when in a challenge during a 2-2 draw with Dundee Utd, he sufferred a horrific leg break. He was just shy of his 40th birthday too, and after such an injury, there was little hope for a return at this stage in his life. An unwanted way for him to end his playing days after all the ups & downs he’d experienced in his career. He’d actually become one of the most popular players across the Scottish football supports, especially with his commitment to the national side, some even tagging him as the best Scottish goalkeeper ever.
He vowed he would keep going “until the muscles are too tired to work“, and incredibly he returned to play his first senior match for Hearts in January 2024, playing v Spartans in the cup. He even made the Scotland national squad for Euros 2024, and made history by becoming Scotland’s oldest ever player at 41, ableit he conceded twice and was at fault for one in particular in a 2-2 warm-up match v Finland at Hampden Park.
[….]
Quotes
“That moment, where all the Rangers players were standing with their hands on their heads, is why you do this job.”
Craig Gordon
“Achievements like that, the number of caps you earn, they’re the things you’ll hold on to and remember rather than how much money you’ve earned.”
Craig Gordon on turning down the Chelsea bid (2017)
“To play 200 games for Celtic and be a champion of this country in every single one of them is something to look back on when you’re finished and be very proud of, and I will be.”
Craig Gordon (2018)
“The last six years have been the most successful period of my professional career, and I would like to thank everyone who has played their part in making this possible. “The club, for initially taking a chance on someone who hadn’t played in nearly three years. And to Woodsy for encouraging me to make the move in the first place, and for training me ridiculously hard ever since. I’ve had the pleasure of playing alongside some brilliant team-mates – who without, my time at the club would have been very different. The fans, for their support. Home, away… all over the world. Thank you. My family, who have been there through it all. The ups and downs, the miles, the sacrifices, the celebrations. I hope I’ve made them proud. “At 37, and with a few years in me yet, I just want to play the game I love, and have played for 20+ professional seasons. Football can make for difficult decisions, but I’m looking forward to the next chapter and challenge. “Thank you, again.”
Craig Gordon (June 2020)
“Craig Gordon visited [Celtic’s charity] sleep out one year unannounced brought food mixed and stayed for hours – following year he mixed for hours then did the sleep out.”
Paul @peanutsir67 (link)
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 2014-15 | 33 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 52 |
| Shut-outs | 14 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 23 |
| 2015-16 | 35 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 52 |
| Shut-outs | 15 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 20 |
| 2016-17 | 35 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 55 |
| Shut-outs | 20 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 28 |
| 2017-18 | 26 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 45 |
| Shut-outs | 14 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 26 |
| 2018-19 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 32 |
| Shut-outs |
9 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 15 |
| 2019-20 |
0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Shut-outs | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Total | 147 | 15 | 17 | 63 | 242 |
| Shut-outs |
72 | 11 | 13 | 20 | 116 (48%) |
Honours with Celtic
Pictures
KDS
Articles
Craig Gordon: I was out of football so long my kids didn’t know what I did for a living
07:23, 16 March 2015
By Craig Swan
THE Celtic stopper spent two years out of the game recovering from knee operations and Gordon is savouring every moment of the League Cup win after fearing he’d never play again.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/craig-gordon-out-football-long-5342223
CRAIG GORDON stopped for a moment in the final seconds at Hampden.
With the League Cup in the bag and referee Bobby Madden preparing to sound the final whistle, the emotional-keeper took a deep breath and looked all around him.
When he did so, he didn’t just see packed stands full of Celtic fans partying.
Gordon also saw those long days when he wondered if he’d ever experience such an occasion again as his thoughts soon drifted to his family – and his two young daughters, Freya and Emma.
It was a dark two years he spent fighting to recover from the knee operations which threatened to deny him from ever-again savouring this trophy feeling on a football pitch. Gordon was almost overcome by the emotions.
Walking up the steps and collecting a medal for the first time in nine years since helping Hearts to the Scottish Cup, the 32-year-old had every right to soak it up.
And, as he stood in the bowels of Hampden afterwards, Gordon reflected: “I did take a moment or two towards the end to think of things.
“When the game was already won and United weren’t going to get back into it, it was nice to stand at the other end of the pitch and have a look around at the fans celebrating and singing the songs.
“I just wanted to take it all in, that this was really happening for me.
“I managed to do that. I’ve won a cup again and it’s been a long time coming since the last one.
“To be honest, at one stage, I just wanted to play a game of football again and once I managed that I realised I was capable of getting back to a high level. That’s when I started to think about what is possible. But to do this in my first season back is just amazing.
“When I first signed for Celtic, Fraser Forster was still here.
“So to get in and have 40 games under my belt plus a medal in the bank is hard to contemplate.
“It was always the aim to get back to the best level that I possibly could. So to have done that and to already have won a trophy at Hampden and to have a medal in my pocket is more than anything I could have ever have hoped for when coming back.
“It’s a dream come true, all over again.”
Craig Gordon lifts the Scottish League Cup
Having savoured his own personal moment, Gordon’s thoughts immediately switched to the loved ones who backed him in every step of his rehabilitation.
Both Freya and Emma joined him on the pitch for the post-match celebrations and, poignantly, he added: “It was nice to be able to do that for them.
“They have stood by me and they have supported me for two whole years when I wasn’t working.
“When I was concentrating fully on getting back into football, it must have been a hard thing for them to have to deal with.
“They were so young they never really knew what daddy did for a living. They were a big part of my inspiration to get back to top-level football. I wanted to show them what their daddy used to do!
“It means the world to me to share that moment with my girls out there on the pitch and they absolutely loved it, dancing around and picking up all the confetti. It was special for me and for my family, a moment I will never forget.
“To come from where I was, all the hard work makes it special.
“At times it might have been easier to give up, but the support I’ve had to keep going, to carry on and to get to here is just brilliant.”
Gordon, however, admitted that his time for reflection would not, or could not, last.
Such is the nature of life at Celtic, one trophy had no sooner been collected than thoughts turned to the next.
Celtic go back into action for part-three of their battles with Dundee United when the teams clash in Wednesday’s William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final replay at Parkhead.
With the Treble firmly in his mind, Gordon said: “I can’t look back because we’ve got a busy run-in to come.
“We’ve got a difficult game on Wednesday and this might give United an added incentive to come out and have an even bigger go.
United played pretty well today even with 10 men. They stuck to their tasks and are a tough team to break down.
“So if we’re not at our best, 100 per cent ready, they’ll have every chance to do well against us.”
However, there is no question Celtic will now go into the clash on a major high.
Gordon, who didn’t lose a single goal in the League Cup run, was also keen to acknowledge the achievement of boss Ronny Deila in the lifting of the trophy.
Having been surrounded by doubts in the opening weeks of his reign, the Norwegian is now excelling and enjoying his job.
With the pressure of winning the first trophy now lifted from his shoulders, Deila is charging for a domestic clean sweep and the keeper is on board.
He said: “It feels brilliant, absolutely fantastic. It’s the manager’s first competition and he’s won it, so it’s great for him,
“It’s also great for me personally.”
Craig Gordon ‘gave up pay-out to rescue career’
by STEPHEN HALLIDAY
published 23:52 Tuesday 19 May 2015
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl/craig-gordon-gave-up-pay-out-to-rescue-career-1-3777634
JUST a matter of weeks before he put pen to paper for Celtic, one flourish of Craig Gordon’s signature would have ended his playing career at a stroke and earned him a seven-figure insurance pay-out.
As he savours being named Scotland’s Player of the Year for 2014-15, the 32-year-old has revealed for the first time just how close he came to giving up on his often torturous battle to recover from the serious knee injury which sidelined him for the best part of three years.
“ To get the pay-out, I would have had to officially retire and not play any form of professional football. It would have gone to a settlement and it was pretty close to getting the go-ahead
Craig Gordon
Gordon has been rewarded for his perseverance, spectacularly restoring his reputation as one of Scotland’s finest ever goalkeepers this season as his exceptional form has helped Celtic retain the Scottish Premiership title and win the League Cup.
He has also reclaimed his place in the Scotland squad and vindicated the belief of those closest to him, most notably his wife, Jennifer, that he could revive a career which he now hopes he can extend successfully until he is 40.
“There were quite a few people within the game who told me that it was perhaps time to give up,” said Gordon.
“I had the possibility of getting an insurance pay-out had the worst come to the worst and I kept putting that off trying to get back. It was getting very close to the time limit expiring on that and I had to make a decision on whether to continue trying to play or take the money and run.
“There wasn’t long left on the policy as it had been a two-year thing, so it was very close. The paperwork was all looked out, I had spoken to lawyers, and it was very far down the road to happening. So I turned my back on a very large sum of money to give it another go.
“Things could have gone wrong after that but I wanted to give myself that opportunity. In my old age, if I had taken the money and not given myself that final chance, I don’t think that would have sat well with me.
“To get the pay-out, I would have had to officially retire and not play any form of professional football. It would have gone to a settlement and it was pretty close to getting the go-ahead.
“My wife has been very supportive. She was the one who would tell me to keep going and keep trying. I couldn’t fault the support I’ve had from family and friends. Everyone has been right behind me.
“I hope I can play on for as long as possible now. I’ve seen what it looks like not playing. Although it was nice spending time at home with my two young girls, I want to play football for as long as I can. You’re a long time retired and I got a little glimpse of that during my time out. I know how lucky I am to be able to keep playing.
“I’d like to try keep playing until I’m 40, if my body holds up to it. I see Brad Friedel has just announced his retirement aged 43, so that gives me another ten and a half years! I could have a while yet.
“I don’t see me moving on from Celtic, certainly not at the moment. I’m very happy here and the manager has been great with me. We’ve got a really good relationship and I work very well with goalkeeping coach Stevie Woods as well. I’m looking forward to next season and giving the Champions League a go.”
In becoming the fifth Celtic player in the last seven years to win the Scottish Football Writers’ Association’s Player of the Year honour, and only the sixth in the 51-year history of the prize to claim it twice, Gordon has exceeded his own expectations in his first season with the Parkhead club.
He signed on initially as deputy to Fraser Forster, although in the knowledge the big English international was likely to be moving on. Since Forster’s £10 million sale to Southampton last August, Gordon has hardly looked back.
“I had loads of doubts when I first signed,” he admits. “Fraser was still here, I didn’t have a great deal of options regarding what I was going to do. I didn’t know if it was the right decision to come in at this level and fight for a first-team spot, or should I have dropped down a level or two, get first-team games and try to work my way back that way. There were a lot of doubts whether I had done the right thing coming here. Anything could have happened from that point. I could be sitting here at the end of the season having not played a game and not achieved anything. And then I would have been kicking myself for not going and getting games under my belt.
“I was ambitious enough, though, and wanted to go in as high as I could. I wanted to prove I could still play at this level and thankfully I’ve been able to do that.
“I didn’t really set myself a minimum target for the season. I wanted to play some games, but I didn’t have an exact figure in mind. But if Fraser had stayed here, maybe I would have just played in the cup matches or before or after a European game if they were resting players. I really didn’t know.
“I didn’t know the manager coming in, his philosophy or his thinking. So it was a step into the unknown. I just wanted to back myself as I had done that throughout my rehab to get back. I was confident I could get back to those levels, but I didn’t have an awful lot to back that up. I had to go out and prove it. Thankfully, I managed to do that.
“Fraser moving on was how I wanted it to pan out. That was the best-case scenario for me and it happened. I knew there was also a chance I could have suffered another injury, or broken down in pre-season, and they then brought another goalkeeper in or Lukasz Zaluska could have played well in the first game and kept his place. So there were loads of variables that could have happened. In my mindset, Fraser leaving was the way I wanted it to happen and that’s the way it ended up.”
Gordon has a few memorable moments to cherish from a season in which he feels he has been an even better goalkeeper than when he first won the Player of the Year award when at Hearts in 2006, forging the reputation which earned him a £9m move to Sunderland.
For Celtic, his amazing display in the 2-2 Europa League draw away to Salzburg and the stunning late double save in a 2-1 league win at St Johnstone in February stand out. But it is his return to the international fold, especially his first starting appearance for Scotland in almost four years against Northern Ireland at Hampden in March, which tops his list.
“I was walking out behind Darren Fletcher that night, who was captain for the first time in a while after his battle with illness,” recalls Gordon. “I tapped him on the shoulder and said ‘we’ve not done this for a while’. It was like going back to the old days. That was a nice moment to share with him. We haven’t spoken about our individual circumstances at great length, but there’s a shared understanding there.
“We’ve both been down a similar path and missed about 300 games and a lot of international caps between us. But these things happen to footballers everywhere. It’s about how you react to that and whether you have the strength to come back. Darren has done fantastically well to do that.
“I’m a different goalkeeper now to when I was Player of the Year the first time. I was 24 when I won it the last time, so there’s a lot changed within my game. I’ve changed technically a few things that have helped me to cope with the injury and, overall, it’s improved my goalkeeping in general.
“Coming to Celtic, there’s been a different style of play, having to play out from the back, having a higher line and having to be a sweeper at times, is something I hadn’t done too much of at my previous clubs. That’s been a change. Now having experienced all those different styles of play, I think I’m better now than when I won the award before.
“The Salzburg and St Johnstone games stand out for me with Celtic so far. The Salzburg game set us up to get through the group stage in the Europa League, while the saves so late at St Johnstone felt important because the league was still quite tight with Aberdeen at that stage.”
It hasn’t all been plain sailing for Gordon, of course, with his red card in the Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Inverness at Hampden a low point. After all he has been through, however, a sense of perspective is easy for him to find.
“We were still winning 1-0 when I went off, so I don’t know what happened after that,” he smiles. “It was nothing to do with me. Seriously, though, these things happen. It was disappointing. On that day we didn’t play particularly well, even in the first half.
“It’s only the second time I’ve been sent off and only the third or fourth penalty I’ve conceded in my career. You hope these things won’t happen in big games, but I remember Jens Lehmann being sent off in the Champions League final for something similar.
“You just have to take it on the chin and try to put it out of your mind. I’ve probably become better at doing that with experience. It helps you to do that, having come back from two years out.”
The forgotten men grab the silver for Celtic
Surveying the scene as the ticker tape fell, two men caught the eye at Hampden . Not Scott Brown – from slumped by the road-side to looking at the stars in the space of four days. Nor Ronny Deila, who had won his first trophy as Celtic manager. Nor Stefan Johansen, man of the match in a final that was enjoyable but too one-sided to be considered fully absorbing. Craig Gordon kept another clean sheet as Celtic lifted the Scottish league Cup. Craig Gordon kept another clean sheet as Celtic lifted the Scottish league Cup. The first guy was Craig Gordon, the day’s great Cinderella story. Gordon’s comeback from injury and near-retirement has been remarkable, a tale of quality goalkeeping, of course, but also of perseverance. Gordon has been to some pretty dark places on his journey back. He was a forgotten man. Written-off. Unwanted. A £9m goalkeeper with no goal to keep. It was Celtic’s wisdom that made them sign him. It’s been Gordon’s brilliance that has made the move a success. The concept of footballers as role models is a hopelessly flawed one, but if you had to pick a character to fit the bill then you wouldn’t look beyond Gordon. In the face of such uncertainty, he refused to buckle. Play media With a medal around his neck and his children at his feet, Gordon represented the most heart-warming image. At one point in the celebrations Gordon was joined by Kris Commons, another of Celtic’s true go-to men. You think back now to all the uncertainty about his future in January and you wonder what madness befell the club at the time. Commons scored the goal that unlocked this Cup final and nobody should have been too surprised about that. Hampden, after all, is his footballing home from home. He scored there against Rangers in the League Cup semi-final last month, he scored two in the Scottish Cup semi-final in 2013, scored again in the League Cup semi-final of 2011 and scored once more in the Scottish Cup semi-final of the same year. Commons scores. In all bar one fruitless season, that has been the way of things. He now has 11 goals this campaign to go with the 31 he got last season, the 19 he got the year before and the 14 he got in his first half-season at the club in 2011. Balance the goals, not to mention the assists, against the price tag – about £300,000 – and you are talking about one of the shrewdest signings in Celtic’s modern history. In all the joy of Deila’s first trophy, it was hard to take your eyes off the one who stayed and the one who saved.
Craig Gordon recalls major Celtic milestone and has say on Old Firm goalkeepers ahead of Viaplay Cup final
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/craig-gordon-recalls-major-celtic-milestone-and-has-say-on-old-firm-goalkeepers-ahead-of-viaplay-cup-final-4037673
You would be ill-advised to tell Craig Gordon that the League Cup is of less significance in the wider context of all domestic honours.
By Darren Johnstone
10 hours ago
Comment
The Hearts goalkeeper, currently fighting his way back from a double leg break, will likely try and watch some of Sunday’s Hampden final between his old club Celtic and Rangers should fatherhood responsibilities and rehab work allow. It is a competition that holds sentimental as well as professional value to the 40-year-old.
His 2015 triumph in the competition with Celtic was a tangible reward for his steadfast refusal to throw in the towel on a career that had been in grave danger of being brought to an untimely end due to a knee injury that kept him out for two years prior to joining the Bhoys in summer 2014.
“The League Cup was my first winners’ medal with Celtic,” said Gordon. “I have fond memories of the game, beating Dundee United in the final. We had a really good first season and it was my first one back after my knee troubles.
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“The adrenaline of coming back and proving people wrong carried me right through that campaign. It was probably to the detriment of the season after that as I had to put so much into the comeback. But that first year was incredible and it was great to win a couple of trophies.
“That final was a big moment in my career. It’s important to everybody. It’s a major trophy and you don’t get many chances to win silverware. Players and fans will celebrate because it’s a big deal. Some people might put more importance on the Scottish Cup with the history or whatever. But it means something when you get your hands on a winners’ medal and there is no better feeling than going up those stairs at Hampden to lift a trophy.”
With Celtic also nine points ahead of their fierce Glasgow rivals at the Premiership summit and with a Scottish Cup quarter-final at Hearts to look forward to next month, the treble is very much on the radar of Ange Postecoglou’s side.
“You can’t win a Treble without it? That’s true,” added Gordon, a five-time League Cup winner. “I managed to win a few of them as well, which was nice. It’s part of Scottish football. You have three trophies to aim for and while sometimes the goal is to try to get one, it’s sometimes the target to win all three.
“It’s difficult to win. You have to win five games or more with the group stages and it’s something you want to have on your CV. It’s a great feeling to win and a horrible feeling to lose in a final. I’ve faced that a few times as well, but more often than not it was happy memories for me. We’ll just see what happens this weekend.”