Celtic keeper thrilled he knocked back big payout
From Back Page injury that almost killed his career. The Celtic No.1 has been named Scotland’s Player of the Year by the Scottish Football Writers’ Association – becoming only the sixth player to win the award twice – after a stellar season at Parkhead.
Gordon will pick up the trophy at a glittering ceremony in Glasgow on Sunday and the 32-year-old admitted his decision to knock back a seven-figure insurance payout that would have forced him to quit the professional game has paid off.
The ex-Hearts and Sunderland keeper is back in the Scotland squad and has won Premiership and League Cup medals after two years in the wilderness, battling to find a cure for the damaged knee that drove him to the brink of early retirement.
Gordon said: “There were quite a few people within the game who told me it was perhaps time to give up. I’d the possibility of getting an insurance payout had the worst come to the worst and I kept putting that off trying to get back.
“It was getting very close to the time limit expiring on that and I had to make a decision on whether to continue trying to play or take the money and run.
“There wasn’t long left on the policy as it had been a two-year thing so it was very close. Things could have gone wrong after that but I wanted to give myself that opportunity.
“In my old age, if I had taken the money and not given myself that final chance I don’t think that would have sat well with me. To get the payout I would have had to officially retire and not play any form of professional football.
“My wife’s been very supportive. She was the one who would tell me to keep going and keep trying. I couldn’t fault the support from family and friends. Everyone has been right behind me.”
Gordon joins John Greig, Sandy Jardine, Brian Laudrup, Henrik Larsson and Barry Ferguson on the list of two-time winners and said: “That’s an amazing list of players who were fantastic for years. To join them is just unbelievable.
“I didn’t think it was possible to come back, especially as a goalkeeper, and win the award twice. It’s one of, if not the, biggest achievement of my career.”