CRAIG GORDON, the Scotland and Celtic goalkeeper, has admitted he will avoid watching most of Euro 2016 on television as he tries to escape from the pain of not being there in person.
In three days’ time the eyes of the continent will fall on France where England, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Wales will join Europe’s elite. While this feast of football takes place, Scotland’s players will have to content themselves with looking on from afar on the back of a promising qualifying campaign that ultimately came undone in Georgia.
Gordon admits he will not be one of them, at least not if he can help it, as he still struggles deal with the disappointment at another near miss.
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"It is difficult when the games are on TV over the summer and you won't be able to escape it whether you want to watch it or not," said the 33-year-old.
"It is disappointing - we had an opportunity and we weren't able to take it.
"We did put ourselves in a decent position, but we just failed to get over the line and, to be fair to the other teams in the group, they came up with big performances and big results right at the end when it really mattered.
"It is annoying not to be there. I don't think I'll watch every match, but I'll probably take in a few now and again."
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Gordon was left at home to rest by Scotland manager Gordon Strachan as he took his squad to Malta and Metz for two sobering friendly defeats against Italy and France, respectively. While the Celtic goalkeeper was grateful for the break, but is keen to get back into a team that that toiled badly in the last fortnight.
He said: "Personally, having been left behind to rest was probably good for me and hopefully it'll stand us in good stead going into the Champions League qualifiers. Hopefully, if I can do well, I can force myself back into the Scotland team as well."
Turning his attention back to Celtic, Gordon, who was speaking at The Emirates Arena in Glasgow to promote next year’s World Badminton Championships, strolled across London Road afterwards where he met the thousands of supporters queuing up to buy season tickets for next year’s first season under new manager Brendan Rodgers.
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“Everyone at Celtic Park and all the staff here are excited and the players are the same,” he said.
“We can’t wait to get in and see how the new manager wants us to play and how he wants us to go about games, so it’s exciting for everybody and I can’t wait to get started.”
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