GORDON’S GRIEF FOR PAL FULOP
CELTIC keeper Craig Gordon has spoken of his emotional turmoil after losing close goalkeeping friend Marton Fulop to cancer — and then being caught up in the Paris atrocities.
He learned of the death of his former Sunderland team-mate Fulop before travelling to Disneyland Paris in the hours leading up to 130 people being killed during the attacks by Islamic terrorists.
The Parkhead side joined other clubs in hosting a minute’s silence for the Paris victims before Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Kilmarnock, Gordon paying his own personal tribute to his Hungarian pal following his death at the age of 32.
‘It certainly puts things in perspective,’ said the Scotland keeper. ‘We are very lucky to come out here and play a game that we all love.
‘It was a horrible thing that happened in Paris.
‘The minute’s silence on Saturday was absolutely impeccable. There was not a single sound from anywhere in the ground.
‘Everybody was wearing black armbands and I also had the number 32 on there for my old team-mate Marton Fulop as well, who died last week.
‘That was his squad number at Sunderland and that was just my little tribute to him.
‘Marton was just 32, he was only slightly younger than me.
‘That brings it home because he has a young family as well and it’s desperately sad.’
Gordon, who joined Sunderland in a record-breaking £9million move from Hearts in 2007, added: ‘I spoke to him even after we left Sunderland and I was in touch with him right up until a couple of months ago.
‘I knew they were running out of treatment options for him and it wasn’t looking good.
‘I knew the situation was pretty bad and was probably expecting the news.
‘They were experimenting with different treatments.
‘Nevertheless, it was still sad to hear when it comes. It was a desperate situation.’
Shortly after learning of Fulop’s death, Gordon took his wife and children to Paris before a series of attacks brought terror to the streets of the French capital.
‘I didn’t experience the atrocities directly because I was towards Disneyland, which is half an hour away,’ revealed Gordon.
‘But it was scary when we heard about it, I was busy searching places to see how close we were.
‘It was an eerie atmosphere, it was very strange. No one was really talking about it, it was just so quiet. It’s hard to describe how it felt.
‘They closed Disneyland and my kids only got an hour there on the Friday night until we had to explain that it wouldn’t be open for a couple of days because of what had happened.
‘We didn’t go into the centre, we just stayed in the hotel for two days and then came back. We arrived on the Friday and they closed the park the next day.’