Craig Gordon

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Craig Gordon (born 31 December 1982 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish professional footballer, currently a goalkeeper for both Hearts, where he is also the current club captain, and the Scotland national team.

[edit] Early career

Gordon is a graduate of Hearts' youth development programme, which in recent years has also produced fellow Scottish Internationalists Gary Naysmith, Allan Johnston, Paul Ritchie and Robbie Neilson. Regarded by many as possessing great agility, shot-stopping reflexes and secure handling, he is also considered to be comfortable with the ball at feet in backpass situations. Criticism has been levelled at his decision-making, while detractors have also suggested that he doesn't command his penalty area as authoritatively as his tall stature suggests he should; however his relative youthfulness affords him ample time to improve in these areas as he matures.

He made his debut for Hearts, his boyhood favourites, in a 1-1 draw with Livingston on October 6, 2002 and within 12 months had replaced Tepi Moilanen as the regular custodian of the Hearts goal. His performances during the 2003/04 season resulted in him being short-listed for the Scottish PFA Young Player of the Year award, which was won by former Celtic midfielder Stephen Pearson.

[edit] Scotland's World Class Keeper

Gordon made his Scotland debut in a 4-1 victory over Trinidad and Tobago at Easter Road Stadium on May 30, 2004 during Berti Vogts' disastrous reign, latterly establishing himself as the undisputed number 1 under Vogts' replacement as national coach, Walter Smith.

Many see him as a potential Scottish great with pundit Chick Young recently describing him as being likely to be Scotland's only "World class" player^{[citation needed]}. After a 1-1 draw with Italy he drew praise from his hero Gianluigi Buffon who claimed he could be one of the best goalkeepers in the world^{[citation needed]}. Christian Vieri also heaped praise on the young keeper^{[citation needed]}.

His consistent performances in 2005-06 saw him voted Scottish Football Writers' Association Player of the Year, the first Hearts player to win the award since Sandy Jardine in 1986 and also the first goalkeeper since Andy Goram in 1993.

[edit] Future prospects

Recent rumours have linked the towering goalkeeper to clubs such as Rangers, Arsenal and Manchester United. Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger recently observed Gordon in action in Scotland's victorious 1-0 defeat of France in a Euro 2008 qualifying match.^[1] He touted Gordon as having "presence and good handling and [he] looks a very good goalkeeper to me." Gordon confirmed his rising stock with a spectacular cross-goal save in the October 2006 Edinburgh Derby.^[1] He has been named as the new Hearts captain, replacing the departed Steven Pressley. Despite Hearts' claims that he was ill, he was 'dropped' to the bench for the game against Dundee United in December 2006 for what many believed to be a disiplinary measure by the club following his comments about how the club was being run^[2]. He was reinstated, however, for the Edinburgh derby match against Hibernian three days later.

He was not listed in the squad to face Rangers on 27 January 2007, just four days before the closure of the transfer window, and it was confirmed by the club that they were negotiating his transfer.^[3] Despite strong speculation, Gordon was still a Hearts player when the window closed.

In March 2007, Gordon expressed his interest in playing for Arsenal, after reports had cited that he was linked as a candidate to succeed Jens Lehmann as Arsenal's first-choice goalkeeper, stating "Arsenal is one of the top teams in Britain, in Europe, if not the world, so it is something that would definitely interest any player".^[4]

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Craig Gordon career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile at londonhearts.com