There is something of a paradox about Craig Gordon. Statistically the most active goalkeeper in the Scottish Premiership this season, off the pitch the Hearts captain gives off a relaxed, almost Zen-like air, easing back in his chair like a man without a care in the world.
Gordon turns 39 at the end of this month but is enjoying the form of his life. The numbers back it up, too. Going into this weekend’s fixtures, the former Celtic player had made 75 saves in his 17 league appearances, more than any other goalkeeper in the division. Many have fallen into the spectacular category, too, the sort that tend to get watched over and over on social media, jaws dropping as he contorts his 6ft 4in frame to stick out a hand or leg to deny what would otherwise have been a certain goal.
Hearts’ success this season hasn’t been all down to the form of their goalkeeper, but the number of opposition managers left to bemoan another highlights reel of Gordon heroics tells its own story. The Tynecastle club sit third in the table in their first season back after winning promotion from the Championship and can thank their captain for a large chunk of that success.
Goalkeepers generally enjoy a greater career longevity than their outfield counterparts, while Gordon is perhaps also reaping the benefits now of the two years he spent out of action while dealing with a persistent knee problem. Scotland’s first-choice goalkeeper is a contemplative, cerebral figure for the most part but, with things going well, doesn’t feel the need to reflect unduly at the journey he has taken to reach this point.
“I am probably too busy concentrating on the here and now to spend too much time thinking about [the bad times] at the moment,” he said ahead of this afternoon’s match with Rangers at Tynecastle that will provide a useful barometer of Hearts’ progress.
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“It is very busy and the role of the captain here is demanding as well. There is always plenty on the go. It is about staying in the moment. If I think back about what could have been or what happened in the past then I am taking my focus away from what we are doing right here, right now, and I think I need to do that.
“There is plenty of time when I finish playing to look back and see all the ups and downs that most players have in their career, although I have probably had a few more than most. Certainly there are a lot more ups to remember and those are the ones that I will remember more.”
Those fortunate enough to keep playing into their late thirties and beyond often credit some kind of quirk or discovery that have allowed them to do so. In Gordon’s case, he believes it is the advances in sports science that has helped extend his playing days.
“If you look back to when I first started playing to now, the training methods and sports science have all hugely developed over the last 20 years,” he added. “The coaches, how they monitor training loads — it’s a lot more high tech than it used to be.
“The work that I can do in the gym with the sports scientists and everything that the club puts on is much better these days. It’s easy for the players to follow and I’m reaping the benefits of that in the later stage of my career.
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“I am enjoying one of those spells where I go into games feeling good and expecting to do well. I have had to make a few saves this season but that is what I’m there for and what I enjoy doing. It has been a good run, making some good saves and contributing to team performances that are getting points.”
Gordon was in his first spell at Hearts when they split Celtic and Rangers by finishing second in the 2005-06 season to qualify for Champions League football, while adding the Scottish Cup for good measure.
Their start to this season, coupled with Celtic’s and Rangers’ struggles at different points, has given hope to their supporters that perhaps they can pull off the same trick once again. At the very least, Hearts are in a strong position to finish as the best of the rest and Gordon does not shy away from that ambition, even if he acknowledged they need to show greater consistency to do so.
“This is where I feel Hearts should be,” he adds. “Trying to get up to Rangers and Celtic and, on a very good year, try to split them and do something very special.
“At the moment we are doing well but we want to keep trying to improve. We have ground out a few results recently but would still like to play better. There are a few that have got away, times when we have played well and not won games. So, we could have been a few points better off if things had gone to plan, but we are still in a good place.
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“Success now is being there consistently. There is no point doing it over half a season. It has got to be a full season or even two, three, four seasons in a row to fully establish ourselves back as a major force in Scotland and then trying to move forward. There will always be a turnaround in players and we have to continue to develop, evolve and remain at that level. That is the challenge for everybody here.”
Gordon will allow himself a brief period of reflection this afternoon in the name of a worthy cause. Both Hearts and Rangers have been visited of late by the spectre of motor neurone disease (MND), with Marius Zaliukas and David Hagen, who both represented both teams, and former Ibrox captain Fernando Ricksen losing their lives to the debilitating condition. Funds will be raised at today’s match for MND Scotland to help in the search for a cure.
Zaliukas’s death last year was most painfully felt at Tynecastle where the Lithuanian had been the club captain when they lifted the Scottish Cup again in 2012.
“I was here the first time around when Marius first came over,” reflected Gordon. “He was one of the loudest and bubbliest characters, and if there were jokes going on he’d always be involved in them.
“It’s not an easy thing for a foreign player to come in and captain Hearts the way that he did. But he had the personality for it and the performances to match. He was a real leader and everyone who remembers him who’s still at the club will likely have a little moment [thinking about him] during the lead-up to the game.
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“We’ve been doing a lot on social media to try to raise awareness and support the campaign to try to find a cure. Hopefully days like this will help.”
On TV today
Hearts v Rangers
Sky Sports Football, kick-off 12pm
