Gordon backs Brown cap call
● Captain has ‘earned the right’ to decide whether he should make himself available for England game
Celtic captain Scott Brown has “earned the right” to decide whether he should make himself available for Scotland’s World Cup qualifier against England on 10 June, according to his team-mate Craig Gordon.
Brown, who led Scotland to the 1-0 win over Slovenia at Hampden on Sunday which revived their hopes of reaching the 2018 finals, has yet to commit himself to the summer showdown against the Group F leaders, which would curtail his rest and recovery time ahead of Celtic’s Champions League qualifying campaign in early July.
The 31-year-old has attracted criticism for flip-flopping over his international career, having previously reversed his decision to retire from Scotland duty last year. But Gordon insists that is unfair and has backed Brown to make the right choice for both himself and Scotland.
“Scott will know himself if he can do the team justice or not,” said the Celtic and Scotland goalkeeper. “If he feels that he can’t go out there and do as well as he wants to do then that is his decision.
“I think we should respect that because he has earned that right with the amount of football he has played over his career and the way he has gone about his business.
“He has played over 400 games now for Celtic and has a lot of miles on the clock. We want him to play in every game he possibly can. He is the same. He just wants to keep playing. He goes through injuries and knocks, no-one ever knows he is injured. He never makes a fuss, he just gets on with it and plays through almost any injury he possibly can. He is always out there leading the team.
“Whether he played against England will be a decision for closer to the time. He still has nine or ten games to go with Celtic this season, to see how his body is after that. He should take time, take the sting out of the situation, and re-evaluate things closer to the end of the season when he knows how his body is and whether it would affect him or not. Only he can really answer that. Only he knows how he feels and how he will be going forward.”
Asked if it would be difficult for Brown to return to the Scotland fold again if he opted out of the England fixture, Gordon replied: “It depends how it goes in pre-season. A lot of people had a go at him last season about not being up to his usual standard. People were wondering if he could get back to it.
“But he took the break over the summer, came back and had a great pre-season. He showed everyone he was right back up at the top of his game. If that’s what he needs to be able to play at that level, and to be able to play for Scotland in the next game, then in the long run that might be the best thing.
“He will know, he will understand his own position. I’m sure the two managers, at Scotland and Celtic, will help him out with that as well.”
Gordon, who has reclaimed the Scotland number one jersey, has no doubts about his own availability for the 10 June date.
“It is late, it is quite a bit after the season ends,” added Gordon. “For the guys in the Championship down south, especially, if they’re not in the play-offs it’s a big gap between games.
“For me, I’m not too bothered. I’m happy to be playing in any game I possibly can. I want to play as much as possible so it’s a sacrifice I’m happy to make. It might mean ten days or two weeks of a break between that game and the start of pre-season. But if that’s what it has to be then I’m willing to do that.”
He is now at a club where finishing second could never be a cause for celebration. As he prepares to return to Tynecastle with Celtic for a potential title-clinching match on Sunday, Craig Gordon can pause to reflect on a night in Gorgie when finishing as runners-up prompted a party.
Splitting the Old Firm in 2006 to earn a place in the Champions League qualifiers was one of the highlights of Gordon’s time at Hearts. Paul Hartley, below, converted a penalty kick to secure a 1-0 win over Aberdeen which ensured they finished above Rangers.
Gordon believes it could have been even better for Hearts in that remarkable campaign which saw George Burley controversially sacked as manager by owner Vladimir Romanov when the team were top of the table.
The disruption which followed eventually saw them finish a distant second to Celtic and Gordon still rues the dramatic New Year’s Day match at Tynecastle against his current employers. Hearts led 2-0 for almost an hour, only to lose 3-2 in the closing stages when Stephen Mcmanus scored twice after the home side had Takis Fysass sent off for a foul on Shaun Maloney – the dismissal later rescinded by the SFA.
“Shaun took a dive and I still think that was a poor decision ,” recalls gordon .“had we won that day, the gap would have been closed on Celtic to just one point at the top of the league. As it was, Celtic extended their lead to seven points and that was probably the day we knew we wouldn’t come back.
“We possibly could have done a little better that season too, as we started off so well. It would have been nice to see if we had been able to continue but there was a lot going on behind the scenes. It wouldn’t have taken a great deal more to push on and give Celtic a bigger fright. We still managed to get through and finish second behind Celtic and we won the Scottish Cup, so it was a good season all round.
“That 1-0 win against Aberdeen was the highlight of all the games I played at Tynecastle. It was a nervy night but we split the Old Firm and it was obviously the highest placed finish we achieved when I was there. Growing up, I always wanted to win the league at Tynecastle. I’m sure I would take some stick from my pals if I now do that on Sunday with Celtic!”
That scenario could come to pass if second-placed Aberdeen avoid defeat at Dundee on Friday night, leaving Celtic requiring a win against Hearts to formally clinch their sixth consecutive title. If Aberdeen lose at Dens, however, the champions will retain their crown without kicking a ball.
“I’ll keep a
“There are still quite a few games to go this season, so it’s still a big challenge for us to try and stay undefeated in the league. We just want to keep winning to keep the run going. We’ve not tasted defeat, so we don’t want to start now. That focuses the mind regardless of whether the league is won or not” CRAIG GORDON
look out for what happens on Friday but I don’t mind either way,” said Gordon. “If it’s won before we take the field, we’ve done the hard work to deserve to win it at this stage anyway, so it makes no difference
to me if it’s won on the pitch on Sunday or off it on Friday night. We want to keep our unbeaten run going so we want to win on Sunday. We want to keep our foot on the gas and keep going forward.
“There are still quite a few games to go this season, so it’s still a big challenge for us to try and stay undefeated in the league. We just want to keep winning to keep the run going. We’ve not tasted defeat so we don’t want to start now. That focuses the mind regardless of whether the league is won or not.”
Gordon admits Celtic will be able to take greater satisfaction from this season’s title success than they did 12 months ago when their often unconvincing form ultimately led toronnyd eila’ s departure as manager.
“It was probably more a feeling of relief when we won it last season,” said Gordon. “This one has just been about hard work, great organisation and everybody pulling in the one direction. We’ve had an incredible season so far but we’re really focused on making sure we have a good end to the campaign.” l Craig Gordon was speaking at the launch of Eden Mill St Andrews Gin’s sponsorship of the Celtic Women’s team.