I’ve won titles and trophies and played in the Champions League ... but if I can play in the World Cup I could retire happy
SAYS CRAIG GORDON
If I had taken the money and walked away, it wouldn’t have sat well with me
THE lawyers had done all their talking. The insurance documents were laid out in front of him on the table. One swish of the pen would have brought an end to it all and no little financial recompense.
Craig Gordon remembers it well. The day four years ago when the stark choice was between a seven-figure pay-out for conceding defeat in his long battle with injury or soldiering on in the hope he could yet get back.
Then 30-years-old, the keeper had a Scottish Cup winners’ medal with Hearts, a £9million move to Sunderland and 40 Scotland caps to his name. Not a bad treasure trove of memories. But not yet enough.
In the end, the cap was put back on the pen and the documents placed in a drawer still unsigned.
‘To get the pay-out, I would have had to officially retire and not play any form of professional football,’ he later recalled.
‘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.’
It can safely be assumed that many others would not have been so principled. Gordon had achieved a great deal up until that point. And there was absolutely no guarantee that he’d ever again reach the levels he still aspired to.
But there were simply insufficient ticks on the list of career ambitions he’d drawn up as he came through the ranks at Tynecastle. Champions League football had not yet been sampled. Nor had winning that 50th cap and entry to the SFA’s international roll of honour. Plus another small matter.
‘I’ve won titles and trophies with Celtic and played in the Champions League, but to be able to play in the World Cup, then I could sit back once I retire and be very happy,’ he explained.
‘It would be at the top (of my list of ambitions). That would be the final thing — to be able to go to Russia and compete in the World Cup finals would top it all and complete everything that I wanted to do.
‘It’s still in Scotland’s hands to do that. But we’ve got to win a play-off, as well, if we can finish second.
‘We’ve now gone four games undefeated and we will need to go another four to get there. So we need to do eight in a row.’
Whatever transpires over the coming month, Thursday night against Slovakia will almost certainly see the keeper cross another item from that list.
Having retaken possession of the international jersey from David Marshall, the half century of caps that seemed almost unthinkable in those dark days out of the game will be clocked up. It’s another achievement money cannot buy.
‘To get my 50th Scotland cap in a game of that importance would be huge for me,’ he mused. ‘I was stranded on 40 when I got injured and that seems like a million miles away to get another 10 after that.
‘That was part of the reason I came back to football with Celtic. I wanted to get back to that level. At one stage, I would have been delighted with one more cap. Just to be able to say that I had come back and done well enough to play for my country one more time, that would have been enough.
‘But to go and get another 10 to make it to 50 and get into the Hall of Fame is amazing. I think I’m right in saying that I will only be the third goalkeeper to do that, after Jim Leighton and Alan Rough. I don’t think anyone else got 50 caps in goal.
‘Getting 50 is something I’ve wanted to do and as I’ve progressed in my career, I wanted to try and get closer to it. So it will be very special if I can get it against Slovakia.
‘I’ve managed to come back and play in the Champions League with Celtic but to do as well as I have over the last four years is incredible.’
One of the gang of Celtic players to have taken their imperious club form into the international arena, Gordon has been pivotal in revitalising a campaign which threatened to flat-line in Trnava a year ago.
If there’s commendable life and optimism about Gordon Strachan’s side ahead of the final two acts in Group F being played out, no one is under any illusion as to the task of firstly taking the required three points from the Slovaks.
It was a tall enough order one week ago. The loss of Scott Brown and Stuart Armstrong to injury only makes it even more so.
‘It’s still a difficult task, but we have given ourselves a chance,’ continued Gordon.
‘The next game with Slovakia is the most important one. We’ll hopefully have a big home crowd behind us and it will be a lot busier than the Malta game. The fans will give us a great backing to produce a great effort.
‘Slovakia are a really good side. They gave England a scare in their last game and we are going to have to play really well to come out with the win. But, with everyone behind us and the way the team is playing now, we’ve given ourselves a chance.’
It would indeed be a great pity if another campaign was to end in failure. As much as the surrendering of a lead to England at Hampden back in June was stomach-churning, as much damage was done by failing to see off Lithuania on home soil at the outset of the campaign.
As the collective performance in Vilnius last month proved, Scotland do still have the beatings of such nations.
‘We were brilliant in Lithuania,’ said Gordon.
‘It was a complete performance. The manager said that was one of the best he’d seen, not just in his time, but also for quite some time. We passed it really well, our movement was excellent and we created so many chances for an away team.
‘We dominated the game and we felt totally in control. It was one of those nights when everything seemed to click and everyone was on form. It was really enjoyable to be part of a team that plays that well.’