CRAIG Gordon has come back from worse.

His once all-but ruined body was days from the knacker’s yard and he refused to retire, instead joined Celtic, won ten medals, three trebles, became an invincible, got his Scotland place back and won Footballer of the Year.

So, losing his place, as he did to Scot Bain after this year’s winter break, which was followed up by another injury, wasn’t going to end the career of the 36-year-old.

However, Bain, almost ten years his junior, has been superb and it seemed that he would continue as No.1 goalie under Neil Lennon.

“It’s up for grabs - a clean slate, a new season,” insisted Lennon. “They’ll both be challenging for the shirt.

“That’s the way I want it. They have to be competitive. Craig was out for a concerted period of time and we have to keep an eye on it with his injury record, but he’ll let us know.

“Craig is doing modified training, he’s not back into full training but hopefully when we get to Austria he gets the green light. He was unlucky to lose the jersey in the first place.

“And I think Scott’s been unlucky as well, getting left out of the Scotland team. That’s Steve Clarke’s prerogative, his choice, but Scott had played for Scotland and importantly played really well for me at the back end of the season.

“So I think the two of them may have a few points to prove going forward, which is great. That’s what you want as a manager.

“I’ve not seen Craig since I came back - he’s had a course of injections in the knee over three or four weeks and it took a long time to settle but he’s doing bits and pieces now on the training ground and hopefully he’ll be full-time next week.”