Craig Gordon has finally overcome his injury nightmare at Sunderland by returning to first-team action after the appointment of manager Martin O’Neill.
Steve Bruce has largely looked upon Craig Gordon as someone who does not have the potential to be the first choice for Sunderland. However, with Steve Bruce gone, Craig Gordon can finally hope to reclaim the top spot at the Stadium of light. He was a £ 9 million signing during the Roy Keane days and is widely regarded to be the best Scotland goalkeeper. However, injury problems have limited the number of appearances the Scotland international has made in recent seasons, but he recently came back from the injury to make an appearance for the Sunderland reserve team.
Sunderland reserves recently beat Arsenal reserves 2-0, and it was a match that finally saw Craig Gordon back in action. He has been out with an injury for more than 11 months. He has to suffer the knee injury back in February and has not made an appearance since then. His final appearance for Sunderland came on February 12 against Tottenham. Martin O’Neill will be hugely boosted by the news that he is best goalkeeper has returned from the spell on the sidelines.
During this time, Craig Gordon has seen a number of other players keen to take over his position as the Scotland No. 1. This includes Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor, who is currently the number 1 for Scotland. He will be facing intense competition from Craig Gordon once again given that he is on the road to recovery. Martin O’Neill confirmed that the Scotland international is not far from making into the first-team. So far, Craig Gordon has made 40 international appearances for Scotland, and his international experience will certainly boost Sunderland in the fight against relegation.
Craig Gordon has had quite a lot of bad luck when it comes to injuries and he has not been able to represent Sunderland since the defeat at the last game which ended in the score of 2-1. However Sunderland coach Martin O’Neill still has hopes that Craig will manage to make it to the number one position once he fully recovers from his injuries.
However he also made sure that he mentioned that Craig definitely has a lot of effort to put in to make sure that he manages to make it to the first team of the Sunderland’s and finally manage to hold a position in the Scotland squad.
The knee injury of Craig Gordon will probably be recovered within the end of this year, but there might still be some time before he finally recovers from the arm injury he obtained during the clash with Jermain Defoe of Tottenham way back in 2009.
Read more »
The man credited with discovering Craig Gordon has been appointed as the director of football at Hearts.
John Murray was the man who discovered Craig Gordon as an youngster. He has gone on to feature for both Scotland and Sunderland, and is regarded as one of the best young goalkeepers in world football. It is hoped that John Murray will provide his vast experience in the bringing many more players like Craig Gordon to Hearts.
He was previously the academy director, but this promotion does not come as a major surprise. However, it may be surprising for a few who are hard of the financial difficulties that Hearts have been facing in the last few years.
Hearts have debts that have been estimated to be around £ 30 million, which can only be brought on with the presence of high quality youngsters, who can then be sold on for a high transfer fee. This is the business model that many clubs in England have been following. Hearts will become another major club to adopt the policy of appointing a director of football to oversee the transfer business.
Usually, managers undertake this role when it comes to British football, but it has been proven in the Continental football that the managers role has become expensive these days that it would be highly unproductive for him to oversee the transfer situation as well.
“Having been so closely involved in everything going on at Hearts for so long, it is obviously an amazing honour to be appointed director of football. I look forwards to the massive challenges ahead of us. The club in transition at the moment – some of our brightest prospects in the youth academy will be moving into the first-team squad very soon,” John Murray said after being appointed as the director of football at Hearts.
Uncategorized | admin | 
January 13, 2012 6:04 am | 
Comments (0)