‘I left Celtic for Hearts with pay cut and was accused of disrespect’ | Football | Sport
Scottish football legend Craig Gordon once dismissed speculation of any disrespect after leaving Celtic for Hearts. Two clubs very dear to the goalkeeping icon will collide on Saturday in a match to decide the destination of this year’s Scottish Premiership crown.
Hearts lead at the top of the table by a single point, with Celtic hoping to leapfrog them with a win. That means even a draw in Glasgow would wrap up their first top-flight crown since 1960. Five-time Premiership-winner Gordon, 43, was no longer considered No. 1 by then-Celtic boss Neil Lennon when he departed on a free transfer in the summer of 2020. But there were no hard feelings as he returned to his boyhood outfit. “Things just petered out over the last few weeks,” he said after moving back to Edinburgh. “The one thing I always wanted to do was get back playing football. The money side was always going to be secondary. It was about doing what was right for me.”
At the time, Gordon had stiff competition for Celtic’s No. 1 jersey after Fraser Forster impressed on loan from Southampton. They then spent big to bring Greek stopper Vasilis Barkas in from AEK Athens, though he failed to impress in Glasgow, before Joe Hart took over in 2021.
The veteran, who has made just three league appearances this season, underlined his support for Hearts as a boy and said he “loved playing” for the club at the genesis of his pro career. The decision was made significantly easier when Celtic told him he could only stay if he agreed to take a pay cut, which he was taking anyway in search of regular minutes.
“Everybody seems to worry about playing against former teams,” Gordon continued at the time. “I tried everything I possibly could when I was at Celtic to beat Hearts in those games and I would do exactly the same against Celtic now.
“People will look too much into that and say, ‘The player’s not being respectful,’ but you have to go out and try and win. I’ve always done the best that I possibly could in every single game to make sure that my team wins.”
Fast-forward to today and Gordon remains a reliable bench option at Tynecastle. Alexander Schwolow is the man set to start between the posts for Derek McInnes’ side, though Gordon will be ready and raring in the event he’s called upon against his old employers.
After winning 12 major titles in just six years at Celtic, he has already tasted silverware since his return to Hearts. He lifted the Scottish Championship in 2021 following the club’s relegation to the second tier, adding to the Scottish Cup he won as a youngster back in 2006.
And he’ll have no qualms about putting former allegiances to one side in a bid to land this Hearts team a place in the history books.
