THERE has been much for Craig Gordon to reflect upon of late. The silences which bookended an afternoon of frustration and recrimination within Celtic Park allowed his thoughts to swirl between the absence of a friend and the closeness of his family before making his voice heard on what, in this often overamplified world he lives in, is real.

The hush which descended upon the stadium before kick-off offered respects to the 130 people killed in the Paris terror attacks of November 13, atrocities which Gordon was too close to for comfort.

He had travelled across the Channel to visit Disneyland with his wife and children that day. The excitement of the trip was quickly extinguished, though, as events around the city created a chilling backdrop to an anxious weekend spent in a hotel.

For the 32-year-old, though, the black armband worn alongside all players and officials as Celtic welcomed Kilmarnock carried an added significance. The day before he embarked upon that ill-fated family holiday, he received the news that his former Sunderland team-mate, Marton Fulop, had passed away following an exhausting battle with cancer.

Gordon wore number 32 at the weekend. It was the squad number Fulop was allocated during their three years together on Wearside.

As Gordon stood in the Main Stand after time-up on Saturday, Paradise stood silent again, the jeers that greeted the final whistle of an ordinary match long forgotten.

Such outbursts are necessary pantomime. The Celtic goalkeeper’s observations on a most affecting time, however, brought similarly essential reminders of the rawness of our existence.

“We are very lucky to come out here and play a game we all love,” he said. “Marton was just 32, only slightly younger than me.

“That brings it home because he has a young family as well and it’s desperately sad.

“I spoke to him even after we left Sunderland and I was in touch with him right up until a couple of months ago.

“I knew they were running out of treatment options and it wasn’t looking good.

“They were experimenting with different treatments. I was probably expecting the news.

“Nevertheless, it was still sad to hear when it came. It was a desperate situation.

“I wasn’t in constant contact, but we would exchange messages a couple of times a year.”

Such emotions, such recollections, both pleasant and unpleasant, must have drifted through Gordon’s mind in those 60 seconds of quietness before hostilities commenced against Kilmarnock.

“The minute’s silence on Saturday was absolutely impeccable,” he pointed out. “There was not a single sound from anywhere in the ground.

“Everybody was wearing black armbands and I also had the number 32 on there for Marton.

“That was his number at Sunderland and that was just my little tribute to him.”

The wider tributes, of course, were paid to the victims of those appalling events in Paris.

“I didn’t experience the atrocities because I was towards Disneyland, which is half-an-hour away, but it was scary when we heard about it,” he said. “I was busy Googling places to see how close we were.

“It was an eerie atmosphere, very strange.

“No-one was really talking about it. It was just very quiet.

“They closed Disneyland and my kids only got an hour on Friday night until we had to explain it wouldn’t be open for a couple of days because of what had happened.

“We didn’t go into the centre. We just stayed in the hotel for two days then came back.

“We arrived on the Friday and they closed the park the next day.

“It certainly puts things in perspective. It is a horrible thing that happened.”

From a professional perspective, Gordon has also been dealing with questions over his form this season following a splendid campaign last term. He concedes, however, that much of that criticism has come from within.

“You hear it, you feel it, but I don’t really need anyone to tell me,” he said. “I went away and worked hard over the last month or so - especially coming back from the away game in Molde.

“We have not lost so many goals and I have felt a lot more confident in the way I have been playing.

“I was working on my footwork and just going back to basics and doing what I know I do well.

“I feel much more confident and happier with where I am.”

Whether that can be said about the team, in general, ahead of Thursday’s Europa League visit of Ajax is less clear. Their European campaign is close to flatlining following two dreadful performances against Molde.

In the final warm-up before the Dutch side’s visit, Celtic were guilty of a real lack of tempo and creativity against Kilmarnock. Leigh Griffiths had a couple of chances and Dedryck Boyata saw a stoppage-time header palmed onto the crossbar by goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald, but Ronny Deila’s side will have to be far sharper.

“We need to start well,” stated Gordon. “Sometimes, we tend to start games slowly and it becomes hard for us to lift the pace.”

That certainly applied against Kilmarnock. Lack of concentration in defence almost cost them dearly, too. With the visitors defending in numbers and hitting on the counter, it took a last-gasp tackle from Jozo Simunovic two minutes from time to deny a dithering Greg Kiltie after Kallum Higginbotham had sent him clean through.

“Jozo is so quick and you can see that when he gets back to make some great recovery tackles,” said Gordon.

“I think he can effectively replace Virgil van Dijk. You will never get another like Virgil, who could stick a free-kick in the top corner. He was just a bit of a one-off, but Jozo can take the ball into the next third and play a pass.

“Over time, he could be a very big player for us.”