I am reviewing and selecting my team of the decade in celebration of Celtic’s Decade of Dominance and will select my XI that I feel have been the club’s best in the last ten years.
Essentially it is a toss up between Craig Gordon and Fraser Forster for the role of Celtic’s goalkeeper of the decade and it is actually quite a tough call when you look at what both have achieved in the last ten years.
Artur Boruc was the goalkeeper of the last decade and the man that replaced the big Pole was a youngster from Newcastle in 2010. Goalkeeping coach Stevie Woods was convinced that Forster didn’t have it in him to become a Celtic player from clips that he had seen – until he met the player himself.
Through the tireless work of Woods and the Celtic coaching staff, Forster worked to become a £10m player, representing England and breaking records in Scotland between the sticks. Forster spent two seasons on loan at Celtic before a permanent switch to the Scottish Champions after Alan Pardew saw him as surplus to requirements. Forster progressed from a lanky youngster who’s kicking was poor to a dominating, physical Internationalist that was one of the standout goalkeepers in English football for a couple of seasons.
Despite heartache in the title race in 2011, Forster won the Scottish Cup and the year after got his hands on the League, the first of our 8 in a row.
In 2012 he was the man that foiled Barcelona as the Catalan side left Glasgow empty-handed. He set a new Scottish record for the amount of time without conceding a goal and was a colossus in Celtic’s goal. His performances were that good that the Premier League move was inevitable – in 2014, Southampton paid up to sign Forster.
Before Forster left for Southampton, Celtic turned to the ex-Hearts goalkeeper, Craig Gordon. Goalkeeping Stevie Woods sought to rectify the career of the former multi-million goalkeeper Gordon and replace Forster with the Scotsman. Gordon’s career looked over in 2014 after nearly two years out of the game due to injuries incurred at Sunderland; however, Woods spied on him while he regained fitness at Murray Park with League 1 side Rangers.
Gordon was invited to train in secret and it was decided by goalie coach Stevie Woods knew that he was good enough to sign for Celtic. The club haven’t looked back since. Gordon went from the doorstep of retirement to becoming an Invincible, a Treble Treble winner and 50-cap internationalist. This was testament to the dedication of Woods and Gordon to restore the ex-Hearts keeper to his former glory. They did just that, Gordon has been mightly impressive in his time at Celtic, amassing 236 appearances. His performances in the 2014-15 were truly remarkable and throughout the years that followed he made some terrific saves as Celtic’s dominance was enforced domestically.
Gordon has achieved 13 major honours in his five and a half seasons at Celtic – 5 Leagues, 5 League Cups and 3 Scottish Cups. His achievements dwarf that of Forster who has won 3 League titles, 2 Scottish Cups and 1 League Cup. Both offer an incredible option in goals; however, due to the iconic performances of Forster in Europe – such as that night versus Barcelona and versus Rangers in the League Cup Final, the gloves need to be given to him.
Lubo98’s Goalkeeper of the Decade – Fraser Forster
