Ally McCoist believes Celtic should have done more to keep Craig Gordon, telling talkSPORT (25 February, 9:00am) that the Hearts ace is a ‘better goalkeeper’ than both Scott Bain and Vasilis Barkas.
Age matters little when you do your work between the sticks and, even at 38, Gordon’s reflexes remain as sharp as ever.
After falling out of favour at Celtic, departing on a free in August after rejecting a new contract, the veteran stopper has been a man reborn at Hearts.
Gordon has helped the Edinburgh giants move 11 points clear at the top of the Championship. But, while Hearts are closing in on a title, the same cannot be said of Celtic.
The crisis-hit Glasgow giants parted company with Neil Lennon on Tuesday after their ten-in-a-row dreams descended into a nightmare.
And, amid all the problems at Parkhead, the goalkeeping dilemma has been the source of plenty of headaches. Neither Scott Bain nor Conor Hazard have done enough to suggest they can be relied upon full-time while the £4.5 million Barkas has endured a miserable debut season in Scotland.
“A lot of the blame has to be pointed upstairs,” said Rangers legend McCoist, who believes Celtic should have pulled out all the stops to sign former loan star Fraser Forster on a full-time basis.
“If you are really serious about going for number ten and making an impact in Europe, you spend a couple of extra quid on Fraser Forster.
“Even Craig Gordon, I think Craig Gordon is a better goalkeeper than the ones they’ve got there.”
Despite becoming Celtic’s eighth-most expensive signing of all time when he arrived from AEK Athens, Barkas has made just two Premiership appearances since the turn of the year.
Lennon, in January, publicly admitted that the Greece international has been a disappointment, stating that Barkas has not adapted to the Scottish game (BBC).
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