Craig Gordon

[SouthLondonSpur]

Large article in the Current Bun this morning about Jol targeting Hearts keeper, Craig Gordon.

There's been talk before about Gordon being the best. Room for discussion there. I know Wenger even looked at him as a replacement for Lehman a while back.

 

[RobboforPM]

Being a keeper myself, I keep an avid eye on goalie's.

Craig Gordon would be an excellent keeper in the premiership. He is similar to Ben Foster but with more international experience.

 

[The Apprentice]

While I think he is an improvement, it's not an area we need to spunk £8 million on.

 

[SpurSince57]

Simply haven't seen enough of him. Does anyone watch Scottish football unless they have no choice or are some kind of masochist?

 

[SouthLondonSpur]

An article in the Independant last year....

Moving to north London can have a dreadful effect on a young goalkeeper's reputation. So Craig Gordon would do well to resist any thoughts of a move to Arsenal just yet. The Scotland goalkeeper won the admir-ation of Arsène Wenger in a week when Paul Robinson was losing the faith of a nation, but what Gordon really has his eye on is a place at Euro 2008.

He and Scotland appear to be on an upward spiral after a productive week justifying his promise in front of Thierry Henry and Andriy Shevchenko. It would be little surprise if the Heart of Midlothian goalkeeper is earning his living in the Premiership alongside them when the finals are played in 18 months.

Wenger was perhaps the only satisfied Frenchman to leave Hampden Park last Saturday, after he had witnessed Gordon defy his country and his own talisman, Henry. "It is not the first time I have heard about him but that is the first time I have come to watch him in person," said the Arsenal manager. "He definitely has the potential to play at a higher level. He has presence and good handling and looks a very good goalkeeper to me."

Shevchenko would probably agree. Chelsea's £31 million man warmly congratulated the Scot after Ukraine's 2-0 win in Kiev in midweek, which still leaves Walter Smith's side at the top of qualifying Group B alongside France. Shevchenko was thwarted by Gordon on numerous occasions, and needed a last-minute dive to earn the penalty that finally allowed him to score.

Scotland, though, are no longer a joke team now that Smith is in charge, and Gordon has ensured that joke goalkeeping is someone else's problem. Indeed, a former French international goalkeeper, Gilles Rousset, who spent six years with Hearts, believes Gordon is already the best keeper in Britain.

"I don't think Paul Robinson is as good as him, even though he plays for England," said Rousset, who now coaches goalkeepers for the French champions, Lyon. "Craig is one of the most talented keepers in Europe and has the potential to be a big, big star.

"I think he is probably the best keeper in Britain. I remember him as a smashing young lad looking after my training kit. Technically, he was very good even then but was very, very slim and, although he's built up his body since then, he still needs to work on that. However, he has been magnificent for Hearts for three or four years now, yet he is still only 23 and still learning.

"What Craig needs now is to play more international games, and play more games in Europe with Hearts. That would be a massive help in his development. He has great technique, and I can see him staying Scotland's goalkeeper for the next 12 years."

Gordon is under contract at Tynecastle until 2009, and Hearts have already rejected a bid from the Italian club Palermo for their goalkeeper. "It is nice that somebody like Arsène Wenger is backing up what we think," said John McGlynn, the Hearts coach. "No doubt, as Craig matures, he'll want to try that level, as he's an ambitious guy."
Smith has a track record of working with good goalkeepers. He had Chris Woods and Andy Goram - an England and a Scotland international - during his time at Rangers, and the Scotland manager's faith in Gordon, who has swiftly assembled 19 caps, is understandable.

"The manager said to us after the Ukraine game that there is absolutely no criticism from him," Gordon reflected. "We gave everything we had and we just came up against a better team. We got greedy after beating France and we wanted another three points, but we are still in with a chance of qualifying."

 

[BoringOldFan]

Can't help thinking the Sun just picked this up from the boards yesterday. It does become somewhat circular at times.

Remember the de Cler/Valiens farce in January.

 

[PT]

More of a "let's see which site is gullible enough to stick unlikely players on their website".

 

[nidge]

Having seen him play for Scotland a few times, I think he is a good keeper but, I am not so certain he is better than Robbo.

He would be good competition for the starting place but, not at £8m

There is a colleague in the office that is a Hibs fan watches most if not all Scottish football he can. I know it will be hard for him to give an unbiased opinion of gordon but, I will ask.

 

[SpurSince57]

Well, he's not going to be getting too much European experience with Hearts.

 

[striebs]

Like Cuddicini , Craig Gordon and Paul Robinson are too good to be bench warmers . Even our existing bench warmer is .

Whether to stick with Robinson along with whether to continue with Zokora or find a replacement midfield general is one of the toughest decisions Spurs have to make .

Let's not forget Robinson rode an almighty storm and held it together and started to look back to his old self towards the end of the season .

Although Gordon is potentially a step up , I don't think we would see a points improvement until his second season .

 

[chrisd2k]

Robinsons not had a good season by his standards but I'm happy for him to be our No1 next season

 

[SpurSince57]

Shame DC wasn't our DOF when Cech was still at Rennes, really.

 

[Bill_Oddie]

True, but then how many of us would have been happy to spend 13m on a keeper?


Have we established whether this is indeed just nicked of the ITK's or whether in fact the ITK is at the Sun and knew of this story from yesterday?

Not that it matters, but if other Sun stories tie up with that ITK, then it does raise interesting questions.

 

[mkkid]

Simply haven't seen enough of him. Does anyone watch Scottish football unless they have no choice or are some kind of masochist?

Actually i have watched quite a lot of the spl, as my brothers a St holder at ibrox and its not as bad as its made out.
As for Gordon,he a good keeper but he isnt tested enough,2 years ago he was brilliant when hearts finished second.Last vlad the chairman blew hearts chances out the water.
He got more potential than Robbo as hes nearly as good,no way for 8 million though.
Naysmith is the player we should be buying.

 

[Yid-ol]

Simply haven't seen enough of him. Does anyone watch Scottish football unless they have no choice or are some kind of masochist?

i have seen a fair share of Hearts games over the last 3 or so years, the only reason this rumour is about is because Martin O'Neil has expresed an intrest with him and i think Hearts slaped an 8Million or 10 million price tag on him (which is why the rumour is so high)

Hearts tried to offload him last season to some rusian club or some club from eastern europe (cant remember which one it was now) Gordon had no idea about the move and only heard it in the papaers, but the deal never ended up going threw, so ended up being the only player out of the 3 who slated the running of the club to stay (Hartley and Presely both got sold to celtic)

He is a good keeper but is prone to mistakes, and this is against teams who are sub standard compaired to the EPL, the only thing that goes for him is that he has played well in some big games for Scotland, but IMO he has been lucky with playing some of the big teams while they have been strugling with form or there top strikers being injured (not taking away he has done it now and then) not worth 8 million, not better than Robbo...

 

[AberdeenYid]

Can't help thinking the Sun just picked this up from the boards yesterday. It does become somewhat circular at times.

Remember the de Cler/Valiens farce in January.

I believe this started on COYS yesterday, as one of their ITKs is a Sports Editor for the Sun.......

 

[DogsOfWar]

Robbo's had a piss poor season but whilst I think 'resting' him may have been justified I don't think we should be looking to replace him.

We need continuity at the moment which means we really need to establish the spine of the team, namely Robbo, Dawson and Jenas who have now had a couple of seasons together.

If we are still fifth, with the same question marks being raised about them, next year then we should look to move on but loyalty has to be a two way street.

 

[double0]

Craig Gordon would be an improvement on Paul Robinson period.

Robbo's a nice bloke and has the affection of many Spurs supporters but take away the sentiments and study the facts. Paul Robinson's a poor keeper compared to others in the premiership and IMO was the main reason why we did not push for CL football (much easier to blame Zokora and Co.)

I've said before Robbo has improved his distribution and I have noticed he mixed it much better than last season i.e throws the balls out instead of the trusted punts. What I find astonishing about Robinson is his lack of judgment example IMO SWP's goal in the QF FA Cup and his continued lack of movement at set pieces etc... he fails to command his domain both for Spurs and England (Think it was the Swedish coach in the world cup that said they had identified a weakness within the England team-Robinson) also his saves to shot ratio isn't good enough if we want to seriously challenge the CL spots.

Although what I've said may sound harsh to the boys in blue its may considered thoughts on the matter. Robinson should be replaced and Craig Gordon is technically better.

 

[Comolli_Flower_Cheese]

If he leaves his line, doesn't dive three days after the ball has past him and is not obessed with hoofing the ball to 5ft midgets, then he's worth a good look.

 

[double0]

Robbo's had a piss poor season but whilst I think 'resting' him may have been justified I don't think we should be looking to replace him.

We need continuity at the moment which means we really need to establish the spine of the team, namely Robbo, Dawson and Jenas who have now had a couple of seasons together.

If we are still fifth, with the same question marks being raised about them, next year then we should look to move on but loyalty has to be a two way street.

How can you have Dawson as the spine of our team ahead of KING.:duh: