CRAIG GORDON
hit a new level at Pittodrie as he was handed the captaincy by stand-in boss Malky Mackay.
Gordon insisted the youngster is made for the role – and tipped the defender to lead club and country in the years to come. The Celtic keeper said: “I was looking across the team and going through the potential captains and he was one of the top ones on my list.
“He has done it at Celtic and I’m sure there will be a lot more occasions when he is captain of his club and his country.
“He has always had the potential to be a captain. He’s a leader, he leads by example and he’s good in the changing room as well. He has such a strong character.”
Scotland might have gone down to the Dutch but it was a decent night’s work. New faces such as Ryan Jack and Ryan Christie slotted in seamlessly while John McGinn impressed and Callum McGregor finally got his cap call and looked the part in midfield. Gordon is hoping his Celtic pal can be a permanent fixtureinthe national squad under the new regime next year and is convinced there is cause for optimism despite the disappointment of World Cup failure still painfully fresh.
He said: “There were good performances all round, although I know from Celtic how good Callum can be. He can pull the strings with both his passing and his finishing.
“He was always going to be a good player to come into this squad.
“He is one of the fittest guys in our team so he covers the ground as well.
“Defensively that is always going to help. Right across the pitch it was an energetic performance.
“The quality of the move and the finish was the difference between the teams. We created a number of chances against a team of Holland’s quality. From that point of view it was quite successful.”
It was also a sweet night for the keeper as he received a special presentation from Scotland defensive legend Willie Miller to mark Gordon clocking up a half century of caps. The 34-year-old has a keen sense of history and is delighted to get in to the hall of fame.
He said: “I didn’t know that was happening. I knew at some point I would get a medal for reaching 50 caps and it was nice to get that from Willie, especially in Aberdeen.
“He made a little speech and it was an absolute honour to receive it from someone like him. It’s also an honour to reach 50 caps for my country as not many people do.
“I’m only the third goalkeeper to do it. I’m only one behind Alan Rough so I’m gunning for him.
“I have two more to get second place although I’m still along way behind Jim Leighton.”
Scotland will go into cold storage until the friendly fixture dates next March but Gordon is gearing up for a crucial time with the day job.
The big games are coming thick and fast for Celtic, with the Betfred Cup Final against Motherwell on the horizon along with Champions League clashes with PSG and Anderlecht as well as a hectic league programme.
Gordon is ready to get the foot down as the next few weeks will shape the season.
He said: “I don’t think we have a free midweek between now and the winter break.
“We have a lot of games in a short space of time so we need to knuckle down. It’s a tough run and the Final is not far away.
“We want to go into that in as good a frame of mind as we possibly can. There’s going to be no let-up so we need to be ready.
“We want to try and keep the record going as long as we can.
“A lot of hard work has gone into getting it and we want to try and stretch it as far as we can. We know it will go one day so we need to enjoy it while it lasts.”