For 24 of the last 36 months – actually, for longer than that, and thank God for Joe Hart – Celtic has been repeatedly beaten with the Craig Gordon Stick.
It was tiresome at the time. It is tiresome now.
It outgrew itself at birth, and I have hoped ever since that his ghost would be laid to rest.
When Craig Gordon left this club he was facing the prospect of continuing to be our second choice goalkeeper. Fraser Forster was supposed to come back and Gordon knew that and made his decision then to leave.
We have been beaten for allowing him to go.
Please note; we are not being beaten for allowing him to leave without signing a first choice keeper.
We did sign a first choice keeper, and we always intended to. We are being slagged because we let him go at all, as though keeping him would have been a masterstroke.
I cannot repeat this enough times. Gordon wanted to go because he knew he would not be Celtic’s number one.
Had he stayed he’d have been the stand-in for Barkas. That scenario might have had a happier ending for him, because he’d certainly have supplanted the Greek based on the form he had, but we never got to find out.
Because Craig Gordon did not want a battle for the jersey, and knew he’d face one.
The one scenario which could have avoided it all was to make Gordon himself the first choice keeper, and nobody believed that was a good idea. Nobody. Celtic had no intention of making him the club’s number one, it wasn’t in the running at all.
Craig Gordon has too many deficiencies in his game for that to have been a consideration.
As a backup he was fine.
For our club, that’s as good as it was going to get except in an emergency. Yet ever since – more than 2 years now – we’ve been getting hammered for letting him slip through our fingers as though that’s what actually happened.
Gordon went to Hearts for less money than we were offering him.
Fair play to him, he turned down the bigger pay-packet to play regular football.
He, at least, understood the reality of that position even if the media never acknowledges that.
Tonight against the Republic of Ireland I thought he was plainly and simply dreadful.
Every one of the reasons why I was glad Celtic got shot of him was on display.
This is the guy who many of the hacks voted for as the player of the year … anything not to give it to someone in Hoops, and if they could regurgitate all the old lies about how we were stupid to let him go then they were more than happy to do so.
Again and again and again and again.
I have never missed him. I think we did the right thing in letting him go elsewhere.
We didn’t fight that decision. We didn’t struggle against it. We offered him a good deal and he chose to turn us down, and that’s what happened regardless of what the press says.
I just wish they would spare us this tired claptrap about how we were stupid.
Chris Sutton is amongst those who thinks we should have paid Hearts a handsome sum of money to take him back at the start of the last campaign … give me a break with that.
After months of hearing nothing about how brilliant he was – from people who otherwise would have had to vote for Carter Vickers or McGregor – tonight proved what any Celtic fan who has watched the guy knew already; on that bigger stage he isn’t nearly good enough, and I write that as someone with tremendous respect for the service he gave us.
It’s time the media retired that old joke.
It’s time Steve Clarke did as well.
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Nonsense.
Gordon is an outstanding goalie still.
He’d have been much better than all of the goalkeepers who played in the season we lost the 10.
Our abysmal board wouldn’t pay him what he was worth.
Another poor decision , one of many made by them.
Our Board wouldn’t pay him what he was worth?
So he took a pay cut and moved elsewhere.
Please explain the logic in that situation.
As JF rightly said he wanted to be first choice keeper and that wasn’t going to happen.
If Fraser Forster had extended his loan from Southampton or permanently signed for us Craig was going to be number 2 again. The Board, despite all our misgivings, was scouting out a first choice replacement for Fraser and Craig knew he would be number 2 again.He wanted to play every week as a number 1. That’s why he took a pay cut and moved to Tynecastle where he has links.
He wasn’t chased out of Celtic or disrespected.
He made an informed choice and left.
Gordon gave us excellent service a very good keeper for celtic regarding Scotland poor team getting beat by a poor ireland team we where led to believe.
Talking nonsense! He was and it a big light weight dumpling! As he proved at our club on many occasions! Sold many a game especially in Europe he at his level with no expectations, never ever disliked a player that played for great club till this guy! He would even say Celtic on bbc last summer ! Them and they was his talk , big weirdo to boot tho he got his wee wannabe wag through being at our club eh which also tells you plenty about this dumpling!
Wouldn’t even say Celtic I meant!
NEVER liked him. Couldn’t keep weans out a close. Genuflected every penalty awarded against Celts. Must have conceded 60 goals in Europe while playing for Celtic, in 3 seasons. HH
I listened to the game on hunsound and Kenny Miller was making excuses for Gordon from the get go
For example . Third goal . Miller ‘ The ball dipped , it swerved , it did , it dipped over him ‘
The media wants him to be the best keeper in the world ever just to try and stick it up us
Never a top class keeper. His record against top european teams was very poor, Inter Milan at Celtic park for instance. He had two very good seasons at the Celts and then reverted to form.
As James has said, on the bigger stage he could not cut it.
Bonner is another who shouldn’t be lauded by Celtic fans. Was at a game v huns at Celtic Park where he punched it into our net from a corner. Never forgiven him. HH
really? Had fantastic saves throughout the centenary double and his brilliant peno save for Ireland in 1990 are some of his many highlights
Yeah, he saved a penalty for Ireland at Italia 90 just a month after being unable to save any of Aberdeen’s 9 penalties in the 90 SCF! . An absolute dumpling.
Gordon has become an iconic figure for the SMSM who exaggerate his abilities at every opportunity, basically to try and stick it to Celtic.
He stands out at a diddy club like Hearts, but is certainly not better than Joe Hart or indeed Benjamin Siegrist.
His shortcomings get exposed when he comes up against decent opposition.
No loss to Celtic, and if Siegrist arrives, Gordon would have been behind him in the pecking order.
I can honestly say I never disliked s Celtic player in my life until this clown! Total weirdo was at one greatest clubs in the world a had a face tripping him! He is happy at his diddy hun club as no real expectations! He sold so many big games especially in Europe and saved 1 yes 1 penalty! In over 40! I at one point thought he was appreciating where he was when he was doing work at ticket office with Celtic tv and meeting fans but now we know why he doing that eh, she saw that mug a mile off eh ” wannabe wag sure plenty players passed that up before clown shoes!The press know the facts Bain was even in front of him in the TREBLE TREBLE! Never known a player like this and I never ever rated him him, he threw plenty goals in against us in his first spell at the diet huns one I recall just after we came back from benfica in November 2006 as we scored 2 in last 10 well in fact he scored our winner! A big bottle job as he proved , player the year dont name me laugh also he needs a good feed and workout regime arms like pip cleaners! Diabolical a pro to be un that shape
Pipe cleaner even! And thin pipes they be at that
Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought Craig Gordon left Celtic because he had spat the dummy out after being offered a reduced deal to stay at Celtic Park. It may well have been less than he was eventually offered at Hearts, but nevertheless he was unhappy to accept a wage cut from Celtic.
Releasing Gordon was a mistake ffs. Anyone can see that. He was offered 4k a week to stay , a cut of 16k a week. It was as good as telling him to piss off. He did. We ended up with zbar kn as at a cost of many millions. Try to be fair ffs.
Gordon is not a great keeper, yes he gave Celtic some decent service and is a decent shot stopper but there are things missing from his game that cost goals. He can block shots but fails to hold, the ball being returned from him to the danger area, how many times have we seen this. Balls from corners beat him regularly, dropping short to front post or dropping at back post he starts or should I say stays central on the line where the ball is top of its arc. Fails to close men down or put them under pressure to shoot hastily. Ukraine first goal in no mans land to be lobbed when attacking the dropping ball he is closer for a lob and closer for deflection on a low shot, a great take down by the scorer but Gordon helped. Third goal make yourself big as you go forward, not just stand in no mans land again and let the player pick his spot. Reminded me of Chalmers fourth goal in cup final against the other mob.
I thought Gordon was a good goalkeeper for a time. He deteriorated and clearly was going to be second choice. He knew that would mean he’d be unlikely to feature again for Scotland. That was the deciding factor in his move to hearts I believe. He took less money but he got his rewards with being placed between the sticks for Scotland. It’s pretty clear that to win the league and progress in Europe Celtic need a goalkeeper better than Craig Gordon. I doubt Celtic would have won 10IAR with Craig Gordon – there were too many other non-performers in the team and a manager who had clearly lost the dressing room. Reporters like to keep things simple hence their approach to the Craig Gordon story.