Craig Gordon admits he ‘may never play again’

By ANTHONY BROWN
Published on Monday 11 February 2013 00:00

CRAIG Gordon has admitted for the first time that his career as a professional goalkeeper could be over.

After taking on a casual coaching role with First Division side Dumbarton, the 30-year-old former Hearts and Sunderland No 1, who has 40 Scotland caps to his name, revealed that serious knee problems may cut short a career which promised so much and earned him a big money move from Tynecastle to Wearside back in 2007.

“It’s very unlikely I will be playing again this season,” he told the Dumbarton club website. “In fact I’m not sure if I’ll play again, so I’m looking to get into coaching as I want to remain in the game. I’m not ruling out playing again, but I need to get things in place if the news is not good in that respect.”

Gordon has played only one match in the last two years – a 2-2 draw for Sunderland against Bolton last April – while his last appearance for Scotland came in the 3-0 friendly win over the Faroe Islands in November 2010.

He has been without a club since being released by Sunderland last summer and has been trying, without success, to find a solution to his chronic knee problems.

Rumours surfaced on Saturday morning that Gordon was about to make a return to action in Dumbarton’s First Division match at Livingston, but it soon transpired that he was only going to be involved with the Sons in a coaching capacity. The link-up came about as a result of Gordon appearing on Sportscene with Dumbarton manager Ian Murray recently. “I spoke to Ian when we were both together at a TV studio a few weeks ago and we discussed coming in to help out,” said Gordon.

“We agreed last week for me to come in and start things at Livingston and it may become a regular thing. I enjoyed the game and viewing it from a coach’s point of view was fascinating. I was impressed with how Ian and [assistant] Jack [Ross] go about things behind the scenes. Very professional.”

Taken from the Scotsman