Former Scotland team-mate, Alan Hutton, has expressed his surprise at Craig Gordon being so vocal about his current contract status at Celtic after claiming the club have made no attempt to discuss any possible extension to his deal as reported by the BBC.
Gordon’s deal expires in the summer and looks like he is on his way out of the club despite Neil Lennon claiming he would be “loath” to lose him.
So what has Hutton said?
Speaking to Football Insider, Hutton thinks there may be another motive for Gordon speaking out:
“Personally I would rather keep it in but he feels the need to let it out”.
“Maybe he’s a bit unhappy with the way that things have went so far, there’s obviously no talk of things with contracts or stuff which again, the writing is possibly on the wall it’s time to move on”.
“It’s one of those decisions that he’s come out and talked about it, which is fine, it’s his choice if he wants to let everybody to know but I’d rather keep it in, it creates a storm really so maybe he’s saying that to ruffle up some interest, who knows?”.
So is Hutton correct?
First and foremost, Gordon has to look after himself, with Celtic openly trying to secure Fraser Forster permanently and Scott Bain signing a four-year extension, it doesn’t look good for the former Scotland number one.
By publicly announcing that the club haven’t spoken to him about a new deal, other clubs may be alerted to the fact that he will be available to sign for someone else on a pre-contract agreement in January and Celtic may even let him go early because of the cover they have at the club.
Gordon should at least be rewarded for the service he has given the club and if he isn’t to be offered a new contract he should be allowed to leave.
Is Craig Gordon out of order for opening up about contract situation?
Yes
No
He has been a model professional since losing his place in the first-team and as such should be treated with the same level of respect, Hutton may have kept things to himself but the former £9m keeper wouldn’t have anything to gain from doing that, his reputation has hardly been tarnished and the manner in which he has conducted himself ensures that there will be no such “storm” created.