The papers
were on the table, the sums involved eye-watering. For Craig Gordon, the
quid pro quo for retirement was a sizeable seven-figure insurance
pay-out.
A
£9million signing for Sunderland, the cash involved was considerable. A
two-year claim limit was pending and he studied the small print time
and again. He could have lifted the pen and scribbled his name on the
dotted line at any point.
It
was the fear which stopped him. The worry that, years later, he would
wake up in the middle of the night with a headful of regrets unless he
gave his dicky knee one last crack at the big time.
'There were quite a few people within the game who told me it was perhaps time to give up,' says Gordon now.
'I
had the possibility of getting an insurance pay-out 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.
'The
paperwork was all looked out, I had spoken to lawyers, and it was very
far down the road to happening. So I turned my back on a very large sum
of money to give it another go.
'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 pay-out I would have had to officially retire and not play any
form of professional football. It would have gone to a settlement and it
was pretty close to getting the go ahead
'My wife has been very supportive. She was the one who would tell me to keep going and keep trying.'
He's glad he
did now. Twelve months since joining Celtic and enjoying an
extraordinary renaissance in his career, Gordon has joined the small,
elite band of players who have twice won the Scottish Football Writers'
Association Player of the Year award.
Indifference
is a common reaction to these things. Footballers wary of the Press
regard the PFA Scotland award as the real prize because the recognition
comes from their peers. Gordon is the exception.
Few
now remember the details of his injury nightmare. The rare patella
tendon problem which forced him to undergo three operations and
countless injections where the blood was taken from his arm and injected
into his knee.
This, more
than anything, explains his genuine delight at being crowned a player of
the year once more. Eighteen months ago he would just have settled for
playing again. That he has done so at a consistently high level both
domestically and in Europe for Celtic is, he believes, one of his
biggest achievements.
'Getting
this award is unbelievable really,' he said. 'Coming back into football
not knowing if I would even play one or two games, and then ending up
playing 50 games, winning two trophies and now to top it off with the
player of the year award – it's beyond anything I could have ever have
imagined coming back. It's incredible.'
John
Greig, Brian Laudrup, Henrik Larsson and Barry Ferguson all won the
writers' award twice with the same club. On Sunday night Gordon will
become the second player after the late Sandy Jardine to win it with two
different clubs.
'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.'
There have been special moments along the way. Snippets he would once have taken for granted have assumed a new importance.
Hearing
the Champions League theme music at Parkhead. His first start in over
two years for Scotland in an otherwise nondescript international
friendly against Northern Ireland in March.
That night had resonance, also, for Darren Fletcher – fully recovered from the debilitating effects of ulcerative colitis.
'We were
walking out together for the last game at Hampden, with him leading the
team out and me behind him,' said Gordon, clearly savouring the memory.
'I tapped him on the shoulder and said: 'We've not done this for a
while.'
'It
was like going back to the old days. So that was a nice moment to share
with him. We haven't spoken about our individual circumstances at great
length but there's a shared understanding there.
'We've
both been down a similar path and missed about 300 games and a lot of
international caps between us. But these things happen to footballers
everywhere.
'It's about how you react to that and whether you have the strength to come back.'
Fletcher
is now the captain of West Bromwich Albion. And, as a goalkeeping
merry-go-round begins in England, it's far from impossible Gordon will
catch the eye of Premiership clubs once more.
Gordon prepares to come on for Scotland during their clash against rivals England
In
his Sunderland days he won an award for the best save in the first 20
seasons of England's top tier. His form was never the problem, it was
the knee which forced him out.
'I
hope I can play for as long as I can,' he admitted. 'I've seen what it
looks like not playing. Although it was nice spending time at home with
my two young girls, you want to play football for as long as you can.
'I'd
like to try keep playing until I'm 40. I could have a while yet. I
don't see me moving on from Celtic, certainly not at the moment.
'I'm
very happy here and the manager has been great with me. We've got a
really good relationship and I work very well with Stevie Woods as well.
I'm looking forward to next season and giving the Champions League a
go.'
Celtic goalkeeper Gordon celebrates after making a good save late on against St Johnstone
By his own admission, he had doubts about trying his luck at Celtic.
'Yeah,
loads. Fraser (Forster) was still here, I didn't have a great deal of
options regarding what I was going to do, I didn't know if it was the
right decision to come in at this level and fight for a first-team spot,
or should I have dropped down a level or two, get first-team games and
try to work my way back that way.
'There
were a lot of doubts about whether I had done the right thing coming
here. Anything could have happened from that point. I could be sitting
here at the end of the season having not played a game and not achieved
anything.
'And
then I would have been kicking myself for not going and getting games
under my belt. I was ambitious enough, though, and wanted to go in as
high as I could.
'To go away, play one game in three years, then come back from that and do it all over again makes this more special for me.'
Credit: Daily Mail
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