Celtic - The Record Breaker's Stories - Craig Gordon

by Chris

Welcome to the sixteenth edition of the Sporting Lowdown advent calendar! This will be continued until the 24th December so any requests for my opinion will most likely be included in the 24 and in the future.

So after 69 matches of domestic domination, Celtic finally lost, and in style as Hearts smashed them 4-0 on Saturday. 16 year old Cochran slammed in from long range to put the Jambos ahead, swiftly followed by Northern Irishman Kyle Lafferty drilling in from distance also. David Milinkovic hit a double in the second half to secure Celtic's demise for the first time in Scotland since Ronny Deila was in charge. So who were the heroes who dominated Scottish football for so long? Here is one of the key men over the past two years, and this will culminate in more pieces in the near future. It's easy material guys, come on! ;)

Craig GORDON

Having actually began his career at Hearts, Gordon has certainly had an eventful career. He made 139 appearances for Hearts between 2002 and 2007. He made his debut at the age of 19 against Livingston, which finished 1-1.

Two seasons later he finally became the first choice at Tynecastle, playing the majority of SPL games ahead of Tepi Moilanen. His performances that season (03/04) saw him nominated the Scottish PFA Young Player of the Year. The then manager Craig Levein, who ironically is the manager now also, said Gordon was 'brilliant', and that 'he did so well that he couldn't take him out of the first team'.

He eventually won the SFW Player of the Year in 2006, becoming the first goalkeeper since 1993 to win the award. He was linked with moves away to Rangers, Aston Villa, and Arsenal, with Wenger actually attending Scotland's impressive 1-0 win in a Euro 2008 qualifier against France, in which Gordon kept a clean sheet. 

After being inducted to the Hearts' hall of fame in 2007, he moved to Sunderland for £9m, the then record fee for a goalkeeper by a British club. This record stood until Manchester United forked out £17m in 2011 for David de Gea, a bargain it seems nowadays. Gordon made his debut and kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 victory over Martin Jol's Spurs, and there was something peculiar about this match, because it was the first time since the beginning of the century when Scotland's number 1 and England's number 1 faced each other in a club match, when Seaman faced Sullivan in 2001. Comment who the England No.1 was in 2007, and no clues because it's very easy!

Following a 7-1 defeat to Everton, Gordon was dropped by Roy Keane to be replace by Darren Ward, but this was short lived and Gordon found himself back in the side three games later. 

After injuring his knee midway through his second season at the Stadium of Light, he failed to regain his place due to the form of Marton Fulop. He again regained his place at the beginning of the next season, but again was unlucky when colliding with Jermain Defoe sidelined him for three months. He missed the beginning of the 10-11 season after having surgery on his arm, but was the deputy to the newly arrived Simon Mignolet. He regained his place irregularly, but he did make the 'save of the Premier League' when making an outstanding reflex save to deny Zat Knight in a 1-0 over Bolton in 2010. He was released by Sunderland in 2012.

After periods of TV work and a casual coaching job with Dumbarton, Gordon finally resigned for a club when joining Deila's revolution at Celtic in 2014, originally as a backup to giant Fraser Forster, but he joined Southampton that summer. After three impressive games for Celtic, he would earn a recall to the Scottish National Team. 

After winning numerous titles and cups under Deila, Brendan Rodgers, a man steeped in pedigree for the Scottish League, was the new man at Celtic Park. His performances last season were so excellent that Premier League heavyweights and eventual champions Chelsea made an approach last January for Gordon. They duly rejected this approach and the Scot remains at the club to this day, having made 120 appearances and counting.

I hope you enjoyed the first of what will be a multiple part series. This will give myself and you all the chance to explore the careers of the British Record Holders.

Chris :)