TONY AWARD
Gordon: Nothing will break our spirit
CRAIG GORDON insists Celtic’s momentum going into the Champions League won’t be halted by the short summer break.
The Parkhead No.1 and his team-mates are enjoying a holiday after a gruelling campaign which began with a European opener against Lincoln Red Imps in Gibraltar 11 months ago.
But with crucial upcoming European qualifiers in midJuly, Brendan Rodgers’s squad will be back for pre-season training at the beginning of next week.
Gordon admits it’s a tight schedule but insists the team will be raring to go and are in an even stronger position than they were last season.
He said: “Will we be in better shape than the first game of last season? Yes.
“There are a lot of differences between the team that started then and the team now.
“There is so much more confidence running through everybody and we can take that into the qualifiers.
“It’s about 11 days off but we’ve got the biggest club games coming up to try to get into the Champions League.
“We just have to get into the best possible shape.”
Scotland keeper Gordon was delighted to experience Champions League football for the first time in his career last season.
Gordon capped a great campaign with regaining his place in the national squad and can’t wait to feature in more big games in Europe.
He said: “To only be beaten at home at club level by Barcelona and Gladbach is good. I’ve not lost many goals.
“It’s a pity we couldn’t finish it off with a win against England to make it extra special but I can’t complain.” TONY WATT looked set for a blockbuster career after his starring role in Celtic’s famous win against Barcelona.
His detractors would probably describe him more as a box-office flop these days after failing to kick on since that amazing Champions League night.
But the striker has now decided to take on his own role as a critic – after launching his own film review website.
The Best of Me is one of Watt’s topfive flicks and hopes people see it from him next season as he looks to bounce back from an injury-ravaged campaign.
And the striker reckons his new venture off the park can help him kickstart his career on it.
Watt’s passion for movies stems from his days as a kid at Airdrie when he used spend his days in front of the box after his weekend game.
The 23-year-old, who made his Scotland debut last season, knows people will knock him for his website but reckons that is par for the course.
The feedback has been mostly positive, apart from the usual ribbing from former team-mates Charlie Mulgrew and Grant Hanley.
Watt said: “I’m passionate about movies and I always try to think about different things to do.
“Football is only a couple of hours a day so instead of pottering about doing nothing I thought I could make movies meaningful and do reviews by creating my own website.
“I always like to test myself and see if I can be successful in different things so I thought about how many people were on the internet on their laptops. I wanted to see if I could make something a success and thought, ‘What am I passionate about other than football?’ And movies is probably up there.
“People are always going to shoot you down. But if I took it to heart when everyone shot me down when I was trying to make it as a footballer then I wouldn’t be a footballer.
“People say I’m not going to do this, like they said I wasn’t good enough, but you need to have a thick skin.
“When I was younger playing at Airdrie we’d kick off at nine or 10 on a Sunday. When I got back home I’d lie in bed and watch up to five films a day.
“Now instead of just watching the films and letting them stew in the back of my mind I wanted to have something on paper I could look back at.
“I clocked a review the other day about Pearl Harbour. It’s an unbelievable film and people give it six out of 10.
“I’m thinking, ‘Who is this, doing this review, has he actually watched it?’
“On my website there is going to be a proper introduction to the film and a few words from me. It’s maybe going to just be a paragraph where people can just read and not get bored. It will have pictures of the movie and be quite visual and my rating.
“I want to bring a movie star or an actor in once a month. I had Quinton Aaron from The Blind Side on talking about his foundation.
“He came up from hardship and there’s a lot of people in football who do the same and people who give up on their dreams.
“He came from a tough neighbourhood and has gone on to star in some good films so it shows people it can be done. You can have four or five-hour trips at times down in England so you can get three movies in.
“I’ve got a knowledge of movies I’ve seen before too, I’ve watched thousands of movies in the last 10 years so I can maybe use them as a base.
“I admire the likes of Martin Compston and James McAvoy. Even people who have passed away like Heath Ledger who was brilliant. My favourite film ever was Stand By Me and River Phoenix was great. Die Hard is one of my favourite movies and I really admire Bruce Willis too.
“It’s people who are just really good at their job. You might read stories about them and hear what it is they have had to do to get in shape for a role for example.
“I just watched Split and McAvoy does 23 different people. I can put on two accents, maybe three max, imagine doing 23! He’s borderline genius for that performance. At the start Grant Hanley and Charlie were the people who took the mickey out of me then they looked at it and thought it was good.
“Grant Hanley messaged me after my video to ask what I was doing and a week later said he watched Sully after I recommended it. Just wait until I’m invited to Sundance!”
Watt is preparing for his final year at Charlton and vowed to give it his best shot with injuries behind him.
He said: “Mentally this will help me. If you try to tell somebody to do 10 hours of physical exercise a day it’s impossible. You can only do a certain amount. I’ll go the gym and I’ll do my extra bits and bobs. But when it’s