Sports writer Graham Falk sits down with the iconic Hearts and Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon to discuss his incredible career, playing in the English Premier League, his Tartan Army future and writing another chapter in his Tynecastle story, as he announces his testimonial fixture vs Sunderland on July 26.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Hello, just Graeme Falk here from The Scotsman. I'm here with legendary Hearts and Scotland
00:05and Sunderland goalkeeper Craig Gordon. How are you doing, you all?
00:07Yeah, good, thank you.
00:09Yeah, very well. Thanks for joining us here to discuss obviously your entire career here,
00:13Hearts, Sunderland, a bit of other things as well. But look, we're 23 years on from
00:18your debut at Hearts. You sat here, new contract, 42, and you're announcing a testimonial.
00:24If I take you back to teenage Craig Gordon, could you have imagined being here?
00:28No, absolutely not. I'm very proud and privileged to have had such a long career.
00:38You know, so many highs along the way, making my debut coming through at Hearts,
00:46you know, joining the club as a youngster. 1999 was the first time I came in here.
00:52Right through to winning the Scottish Cup, to leaving to go to Sunderland, playing in the Premier League,
01:02which is, you know, one of the best leagues in the world. To go there and test yourself against the
01:09best players was, you know, fantastic to be able to go and do that. And then coming back to,
01:15first of all, Celtic and then again, Hearts winning trophies along the way. So it's been some journey.
01:22Looking at the game itself, the testimony that you have, you've chosen Sunderland. Obviously,
01:27there's reasons behind that, but it's two sets of fans that have affection for you. I'm sure you have
01:31affection for them as well. But how much are you looking forward to A, the game and B, just seeing
01:34both sets of fans together? Yeah, absolutely. And the away fans from Sunderland are just incredible.
01:43And I know they'll come here and they'll probably pack out the whole stand and they're loud.
01:48They're a fantastic bunch. Thoroughly enjoyed my time at Sunderland. Five years in the Premier League,
01:57the whole time we were there, we were never relegated. A few seasons around the middle of the league,
02:03which were good, could have probably been even better. We had some good teams and some good
02:07players. So yeah, real fond memories of those games, mixing it with the big teams and then getting a
02:14few good results along the way as well. Yep, definitely. I think the game itself will be one
02:19of Derrick McInnes' first chances to meet the Hearts fans. Have you spoke to him yet? How much are you
02:24looking forward to working on Demar as well? Yeah, I think it's a really good appointment. I think it's
02:30exactly what we need from playing against these teams over the years. It's always a very difficult
02:38match. And I think that's exactly what the Hearts fans want us to be as well. So yeah, really looking
02:44forward to it. Can't wait for pre-season to begin and see how we go. I think it's going to be an
02:51exciting time. It's right at the start of a new year for Hearts. So we've got an awful lot to look
02:57forward to a new manager, new players and this game will be fantastic to see everybody bedding
03:04in and how we're looking towards the start of the league campaign. Has he spoke to you about his
03:08own ambitions at Hearts in the first season? And if he has, what are they? Yeah, I think he's been
03:13quite public with what he wants and how he wants Hearts to be and what he sees his Hearts team looking like.
03:21Getting back to being more aggressive, more physical. And I think that's what the Hearts
03:28fans want to see as well. Us to go out there and give absolutely everything for the jersey.
03:36And yeah, I think that's what him and his coaching staff will instil in this bunch
03:40of players going forward. So yeah, I think it's what the Hearts fans want to see. And beyond anything,
03:47we all want to be successful with the players and the management team coming in. So yeah,
03:52I think it's just the right time for everything of that to come together. And yeah, I'm looking
03:57forward to the season immensely. Talking about one manager, I'm going to take
04:00you back a couple of years to another one. Sunderland signed you and it was Roy Keane. That was the man
04:05that brought you to the club. I think everyone knows everything about Roy Keane and his character and what
04:09he was like at Sunderland. But how did you find working under a character and a personality like him?
04:13Yeah, I thought it was good. It was real good for me at that stage in my career. Still a very young
04:18goalkeeper when I signed for Sunderland. Possibly too young really to make that jump. But yeah,
04:29that was a really good time. The first couple of years we're probably scrapping to stay in the league
04:33to try and establish ourselves and the sort of work ethic that he instilled, the never say die
04:41attitude. There were so many late goals and just the togetherness of the group, the players together
04:49that drove us through those difficult moments and got last minute winners and equalizers that
04:56eventually got us enough points to stay in the league. You talked about last minute winners. Your
05:00Premier League debut came against Spurs. I remember being there, very, very late goal. Explosional
05:06noise, you make your debut. I think you'd only signed a few days beforehand, if I remember rightly. You
05:09hadn't really been involved that much in pre-season. What was the experience of the Premier League?
05:14Because look, Hart's a massive club, Scottish Premiership, big league, but you're going to the
05:17Premier League, it's a new experience for you. How was that? Yeah, I mean, the stadium alike was packed out
05:2249,000. You know, it was absolutely rocking that day. They'd just been promoted. You're right,
05:28I missed all the kind of build-up to that and got kind of chucked in a few days before we went and won
05:35the game quite deservedly, I feel. I thought we were the better team. And yeah, to nick it late on in that
05:44first game, the excitement, the buzz of the whole ground, you know, leading up to outside coming in
05:52on the bus. I remember thinking, wow, this is big. This is a huge club. And that's just why I'm delighted
06:01that they're back in the Premier League now. It's a huge battle for them to get back there. It's taken a
06:08while. But yeah, for everybody, you know, there's still a few that are still there, a few in the
06:13coaching staff that are still at Sunderland from my time and behind the scenes. So yeah,
06:19great for everybody there to be a Premier League club again and wish them all the best for the season.
06:24I was going to say, did you watch the game obviously at Wembley on TV?
06:27Yeah, I did. Yeah, I was cheering them on and yeah, it didn't look likely for a large part of the game.
06:34Yeah, I was a little bit nervous for them, but they stayed in the game. Partridge made a couple
06:41of great saves, the one after 70 seconds and also probably that's the one that gets the headlines,
06:47but the one with his left foot in the second half. If they go two goals down there, then I think it's
06:54probably too difficult for them to get back into the game. So yeah, from a goalkeeping point of view,
07:00I thought he was fantastic and to keep them out long enough to help the team get back in the game
07:06and then go on and win it. Talking about great saves, talking about your Premier League career,
07:10we remember a particular save. I think I'm still pretty convinced it's going in, but you still
07:14managed to save it all these years later. Talk me through that save because I think it's been voted
07:20the greatest Premier League save of all time and I'm not going to argue with that, but talk me through
07:24it, just like the reaction and kind of the feeling when you'd made that save, because you're going to have
07:28to defend the corner straight after you've got to organise your defence and all that kind of stuff,
07:31but years later you can look on it with a lot of pride, I imagine. Yeah, yeah, it was a fantastic save
07:37and at the time I'm probably not entirely sure how I've managed to make it. I remember the corner
07:43going to the back post and you know, I've watched it a few times since and it gets knocked back into the
07:49six yard line. My initial reaction was, oh, this is a goal, but I need to make an effort, I need to try and
07:55show that I'm trying to keep this out and when I've turned and made my dive, I've realised that
08:03it's probably still within reach and I've swung my left hand at it and yeah, luckily enough for me,
08:08it kind of rolled up my thumb. I got some spin on the ball which managed to take it up and over the bar
08:13from almost on the goal line. Yeah, I'm not entirely sure how I managed to do that, but you know,
08:19sometimes you get a little bit of luck along with a great reaction. Was that night if I remember
08:23a crack there, wasn't it? It was, yeah, yeah, so maybe not the most likely of goal scorer,
08:28but certainly from set pieces he was a threat and yeah, he managed to prod at goal boards and
08:34yeah, I managed to claw it out with my left hand. It was something I'm still very proud of.
08:39You touched on before about maybe it being almost too young when you went to Sunderland and it's a
08:43big move. You were the record goalkeeper, a record signing, sorry, for a goalkeeper in Britain.
08:48I think that's since been broken, but it took a few years for that to be broken. Did you feel pressure
08:51going there? Because obviously you achieved so much at Hearts already, you'd won the cup,
08:55you were in the Scotland team, you were the Scotland number one, and then you come to
08:59to Sunderland, do your record signing, and you know, big club, big expectations. I can imagine that
09:03really difficult because you were like, what, 24? Yeah, and that was my first move. I'd been here
09:09since I was 12. I'd come through the youth system and then sort of seven or eight seasons from
09:16being in here, going through the under 18s, the reserves into the first team. I'd always been at
09:24one place and now I've moved a couple of hours down the road. Everything's different. The training
09:30ground's different. People are different. The travel to away grounds is much further. So everything
09:37changed just in a matter of days. And that is going to take anybody a bit of getting used to, whether you're
09:43coming from the other side of the world or whether it's only a couple of hours away. So yeah, that was
09:48a lot of changes in a short space of time to get used to. Probably took me a lot of while to
09:54really get used to everything and the club. Yeah, once I did that, it was somewhere I really felt at home.
10:02Looking at the India time at Sunderland, Migny Laird came in. I remember, correct me if I'm wrong,
10:08Jermaine de Faubourg, your arm at Whitehall Lane, I think, had a few months out with that. And I always
10:13remember the end of the, I think your last game was against Bolton, coincidentally enough, 2-2 draw.
10:17And you never played again for Sunderland. You were released and you kind of think,
10:20all right, Craig might go back to Scotland. You might get another move somewhere else.
10:22You actually had over two years out of the game at that point, which is kind of unprecedented
10:27really when you think about it, especially how you've came back and you create longevity.
10:32Can you talk me through your mindset within those two years? I think you had a knee injury as well,
10:35the arm injury, and it just seemed like a succession of injuries that period before you went back to Celtic.
10:39Can you talk me through your mindset in those two years and how you felt?
10:42Yeah, I mean, Sunderland was probably my worst time for injuries. I just got unlucky, I guess.
10:50One was my arm injury, which is a contact injury that can happen in a game. My knee injury was
10:58obviously much worse and couldn't quite get to the bottom of it. And yeah, when I left Sunderland,
11:04probably for the first year, I thought I wouldn't play again. I wasn't particularly trying to come
11:10back. I thought my career was more than likely over. Until I got into the second year, just through
11:18time. It started to repair and get a little bit better. And yeah, that second year, as that went on,
11:25I thought maybe I could try this again. Started the rehab process up again and just thought,
11:33well, I'll give this 100%. I'll give it absolutely everything. I'll see as many specialists as I can,
11:38get as many opinions, and I'll make the decision. I'll just give it one last shot for another year to
11:48see if this is the end. And if that was the end, then so be it. But I would have known I'd
11:53have given it everything and given it one last shot. And luckily enough, I managed to turn the
11:58corner. It got better and managed to get back. And yeah, still going now.
12:04Do you value your time playing specifically now for club and international because of that two-year
12:09period you had out? Can you reflect more a little bit and realise how far you've come and how lucky
12:14you are still be playing, I suppose, in some ways? Yeah, it feels like I've almost had two separate
12:18careers. And they're both about as long as each other. So I've definitely got more out of the
12:26game than I thought I would have done. So yeah, that's just the way it's kind of panned out for me.
12:33Certainly when I first came back, back to Scotland and started playing again, it felt like a bonus.
12:42It felt like this was time that I was never going to get. And that was the extra time in my career.
12:52But as time has gone on, I've been able to play many, many more games back at an international level.
13:00And yeah, the more you play, the more the pressure starts to ramp up again. And you have to deal with
13:05all that side of the game too. So it's been, yeah, it's been two separate journeys totally different in
13:11both halves of my career, but ultimately very enjoyable and you've got to enjoy the moments
13:17that you can. And there's been plenty of those as well. Talking of comebacks, I was at the Finland
13:21game last year where, you know, we all were, I think, and it looked like it was a farewell. You
13:26came on as a sub, unusual for that to happen. You'd been left out of the squad for the Euros
13:30and you think, well, you know, Craig going to the national career might be at an end. And then you've
13:34played the last six games for Scotland, you've come back. That wasn't a farewell,
13:37it was just a substitute appearance. I know it's been a difficult season for Hearts and hopefully,
13:41you know, good times further ahead. But how awarding has the season been for you? The fact that, you
13:45know, this time last year, some people would have looked at that substitute appearance as a farewell
13:49from Craig Cole at the national level. You've played the last six games for Scotland in major
13:55competitions in the national league. How awarding is that for you?
13:58Yeah. I mean, you just never know what's going to happen in football. I also thought that was my
14:05farewell appearance. I didn't expect to be back. All I did was put everything into the pre-season at
14:13Hearts to refocus and try and be as best as I could be for Hearts and the season just gone. So
14:22that's all I know is to get back to work and work as hard as I possibly can to be the best version of
14:27myself, whether that's number one goalie, number two, you just got to be the best you can possibly be
14:33and focus on yourself. And that's all I did. And I managed to get back in as the number one at
14:40Hearts for last season. And as you say, six more appearances for Scotland after that. So yeah,
14:47the appearances over the season has been a really high number. Probably something I didn't expect
14:54going into the season, but something that I was desperately trying to achieve.
14:58You're not in the Scotland squad at the moment because of injury, but I'm sure you know this,
15:03you're 10 appearances away from equaling Jim Layton's record as the most capped Scotland
15:08goalkeeper of all time. What would it mean to you to reach that record and even break it if you could?
15:13Yeah, I mean, that still feels an awful long way away. And at this age, the long-term goals don't
15:20really come into it. It's all short terms. So yeah, at this moment in time, it's get fit,
15:26get back into pre-season, get back on the pitch as quickly as possible and prepare to go again.
15:34I say all I can do is focus on myself, be the best version I can and see what happens after that.
15:40Looking at that record, say you do break it, it's the dream to break it at the 2026 World Cup
15:44with Scotland's number one. It is. I say I've got more short-term goals than that. It's all about
15:52the next one. If that happens, that would be the fairytale ending, which everybody would like.
15:58But that does not really happen very often in sport. That would be great if it could, but I know
16:05to my cost that at different times, things like that don't often happen.
16:09Final question. Are you going on holiday tomorrow? Looking forward to rest,
16:14relax, recover, and then recharge for the next season?
16:18Yeah, I don't think it will be too relaxing a holiday. But yeah, next season's already on my mind
16:27and getting ready. Still doing plenty of work during the summer to make sure that I come back as ready
16:35as I can be to start pre-season and fight to get as many appearances as I can again.
16:40Craig, good luck. Thanks very much.
16:42Yes, thank you.
16:42Thanks, chap.