Craig Gordon believes that it is only a matter of time before Ange Postecoglou gets it right at Celtic Park and expressed sympathy for his former club’s goalkeepers, after being largely responsible for Hearts inflicting a first opening-day defeat on the former champions in 24 years.
Celtic’s decision to allow the 38-year-old to depart last summer and replace him by spending £5 million on the unconvincing Greek Vasilis Barkas has been widely criticised, but reached crescendo point when the Scotland goalkeeper produced two remarkable saves in injury time to maintain Hearts’ 2-1 lead.
Barkas watched from the bench having been dropped by Postecoglou and his replacement, Scott Bain, looked far from convincing when John Souttar scored the Tynecastle side’s late winner. It continued a disastrous start for the Australian manager whose side have been eliminated from the Champions League by the Danish club Midtjylland and lost an opening-day fixture for the first time since Henrik Larsson’s infamous debut in 1997, when his first touch presented Chic Charnley with the winner for Hibs in a 2-1 defeat, also in the capital.
Gordon pointed out that he too received his share of criticism when in goal for Celtic. He seemed more convinced than most Celtic fans that better days are ahead for them. And he insisted the win wasn’t about vindication for him.
He said: “No, that’s too far gone now. We are a couple of seasons down the line. I was looking forward to the game because it was the start of a new season and we got a few more fans in. Everyone was pumped up and ready to start the new season in the Premiership.
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“Being the captain and getting those duties gave me extra motivation this season to do a little bit more and I really enjoyed it. I wanted to go out and play a good game for the guys in the dressing room and I did my best to keep the ball out. I’ll more than take that.
“Yes, of course, I have sympathy for Celtic’s goalkeepers. It’s a hard position. I got plenty when I was there as well. It does seem to come with the territory. It does seem to come with the club. Any little thing that goes wrong, you are going to get criticised for it.
“It’s a difficult position, goalkeeping. You are always one step away from conceding a goal. We’ll see what happens there but, hopefully, whoever is playing can settle down and maybe get a run of games where they don’t do too much and aren’t in the line of fire.
“Certainly, if Celtic play like that they are going to score goals and win games. I think they are steadily finding their feet. We know it’s a rebuilding job for them. They showed signs of a team coming together; they moved the ball very well and made it very difficult for us.
“I’m just thankful we were able to deal with it. We had to give up a lot of possession and take the pressure. From Celtic’s side of things, if they can continue to do that, they will score goals.”
