NO U-TURNS, KIERAN.. ESPECIALLY ON HAMPDEN
Gordon takes glove battle in stride as he looks to impress with Hoops displays
National Stadium critic Scott Brown and team-mate Kieran Tierney test a sleek new sponsors Ferrari yesterday at Lennoxtown. CELTIC LATEST:
CRAIG GORDON insists he’s ready to slug it out to be Scotland’s No.1 as he has no intention of ever turning his back on his country.
The Celtic keeper played in the friendly defeat to Belgium but was replaced by Allan McGregor for the Nations League win against Albania on Monday.
Gordon admitted his Rangers glove rival now has possession of the shirt but he is determined to fight his way back into the starting line-up.
The 35-year-old won’t spit the dummy if he is hanging around the next few squads as he wants to remain part of the set-up that’s bidding to end more than 20 years of major tournament woe.
Gordon said: “I’ll continue to play until I’m no longer asked to.
“I’d love to go to a tournament and I like to think we have a good chance of reaching the Euros.
“I’m definitely not going to say I don’t want to be involved – I want to be the first choice but I’d be happy to go along as back-up if need be.
“I won’t be chucking the toys out of the pram because I want to do the best I can for my country. I want to play as many times for Scotland as I can.
“If the decision is taken out of my hands then fair enough but at some point we are going to have to bring young goalies through.
“It’s a balancing act between being selfish and giving others an opportunity a couple of years down the line.”
Gordon moved a step closer to becoming Scotland’s second most capped goalkeeper with his Belgian appearance and he insisted he’s far from finished.
He did get the rough end of the stick taking on the second best side in the world though.
Gordon said: “I think so! At the same time, I managed to get my 53rd cap which puts me equal second with Alan Rough in terms of Scotland appearances for goalies.
“There is only Jim Leighton ahead of me now. I’d like to get another one to get ahead of Roughie. He did a great job for Scotland, getting that many caps.
“Unfortunately I’m the odd one out of the goalkeepers who have made it to 50 caps in not getting to a major finals.
“It was a good start against Albania so hopefully we can progress in the Nations League and give ourselves a chance of getting to Euro 2020.
“Jim got 91 caps – I know my goalie stuff. I’ve got a few years yet – that’s just 38 more I need!
“I need to play as well as I can for Celtic. I need to train well with Scotland – I was happy with how I trained this time – then it’s up to the manager who he chooses. That’s all I can do.”
Some snipers pointed the finger at Gordon for Belgium’s opener when his throw out was miscontrolled by John McGinn in the build-up and there were even criticism of the second goal when Eden Hazard nearly took his head off with a thunderbolt.
Gordon is used to copping the blame but he’s not used to his club goalie coach Stevie Woods handing the gloves to a Rangers
rival. The Hoops backroom man is also in the Scotland set-up but the Parkhead shot-stopper insists there are no hard feelings.
Gordon said: “The manager picks the team and that’s just the way he is. Stevie put on some good sessions and there are no problems whatsoever.
“It was the same the other way round when Jim Stewart was at Rangers with Allan and I was playing for Scotland. These things happen.
“Goalies know the situation, only one is going to play. We both respect each other and the abilities we’ve got. There’s no problem between us and Woodsy enjoyed the coaching with all of us.
“That’s the position of a coach but I wouldn’t hold anything against him.
“It’s ultimately not his decision, although he can put his points of view over about the strengths and weaknesses of the keepers and then it’s down to the manager and his assistants to make their choice.”
Gordon will put his hand up for selection for Israel next month but he’s out to impress with his club displays in the coming weeks.
Celtic get back to business at St Mirren tonight and the keeper insisted the champions are looking to build up a head of steam on the home front after a few slips-ups in the opening weeks of the season in the Premiership and Europe.
He said: “We want to do better and improve our game and that would definitely be doing that.
“We want a good run of victories with as many clean sheets as we can. We had three in a row before the international break and we want to continue to improve on that.
“We played very well in the Rangers game and to only win 1-0 was a little bit less than what we deserved.
“We should have scored more goals but we didn’t. We were very dominant and we looked at some things again this morning in terms of what we did well and things we want to keep going.
“Everyone is back and it was good to look at that again as we want to push forward.”