CELTIC Goalkeeping Coach Stevie Woods has claimed Celtic poached one of their most influential stats of the past four years from under the noses of their Glasgow rivals.
Craig Gordon signed on at Celtic in 2014 but it was well known before that he was training with the Ibrox club with a view to getting his fitness back up to be able to return to the game after a series of debilitating injuries.
Gordon trained at Ibrox and footage from his exploits training there slipped into the hands of Woods who was convinced Gordon was capable of a major comeback.
Speaking about the move, the coach was instrumental in bringing Gordon into Lennoxtown to have him train and prove his fitness – swearing anyone at the top class training facilities to secrecy.
Once Celtic got a hold of the player a deal was done pretty quickly.
Speaking about the move to SunSport, Woods admitted he couldn’t believe the Ibrox club didn’t sign him up.
“I actually got footage of him training sent to me on the quiet.
“I felt convinced Gordon could get his career going again.
“I don’t know why Rangers didn’t sign him. History should have been different, they had Craig in the building.
“I said to his agent: ‘I want him in at Lennoxtown. I’ll clear the place, I don’t want people to know’.
“My fear was if it had come out he was training at Celtic after Rangers, and we also didn’t sign him, then it would be a big negative for Craig.
“People at the training ground were sworn to secrecy.
“Gordon trained with just me. We trained on the Tuesday and he had Wednesday off. I said to Craig: ‘If you can repeat that level on Thursday there’s a goalie still in there’.
“I pushed him as hard as possible.
Gordon has won so many medals and trophies with the club, it’s strange to even see him in the Ibrox club’s training gear from the old pictures.
