Most, if not everyone, thought that Craig Gordon’s Scotland career was over when he gained his 75th cap as a substitute versus Finland.

It came not long after the 41-year-old Heart of Midlothian goalkeeper had fully recovered from a double leg break and while he was playing back-up to Zander Clark at Tynecastle Park.

Gordon travelled with the team to recent Euros despite missing out in the final 26-man squad. Since then, he has regained the No.1 spot and, with Angus Gunn out injured, could very well earn his 76th cap away to Croatia on Saturday.

He should, according to former Hearts and national team manager Craig Levein, with uncapped duo Jon McCracken and Robby McCrorie the other options available to Steve Clarke.

Levein, who gave Gordon his Hearts debut in 2002, said on BBC Scotland’s Sportsound at the weekend: "Craig Gordon is the best goalkeeper Scotland have… It would calm everybody down – that's what I'd say."

Gordon deserves masses of personal credit for even being in contention again following his horror injury at the end of 2022. That is after a comeback in the 2010s when he missed two seasons to a career-threatening injury.

But he credits Levein with giving him his chance at such a young age, in a position where it can be difficult to put that responsibility on such a young player.

“He was great for my development,” said Gordon. “When he first came into Hearts, he was the one that put me on loan to Cowdenbeath where he had just come from. That was brilliant for me to be able to go out and play for three months. I was meant to be there longer, but we had an injury and I had to come back.

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"Those three months of just playing what would be League One now, to play at that level with experienced players when I was 18 was huge in my development. Coming back to Hearts then, knowing that I was able to play in a men's game, all I'd ever done was play against guys my own age. He was great for that.

“The year after that, he started playing me in a couple of games in the first team and then eventually put me in and kept me in, which was a very brave thing to do for a goalkeeper so young. It still isn't really the done thing. I think that's maybe why we don't have as many goalkeepers coming through. It's difficult for a manager to put in such a young goalkeeper and deal with the fact that, yes, he's probably going to make a few mistakes. That's how he's going to learn. It's very difficult for managers to be able to do that when they're trying to save their own skin. It's hard for goalkeepers to come through.”

One goalkeeper who hasn’t made the recent squad, even when Gunn pulled out, is his Hearts team-mate Clark who hasn’t played since the second league game of the season at Dundee.

The lack of recent playing time is likely why the Scotland manager turned to Kilmarnock’s McCrorie over Clark, a situation Gordon said “wasn’t ideal”.

“He's done very well,” said Gordon. “He went to the Euros as part of the squad so there's huge competition there, probably more so than any other club team, where you wouldn't have two international goalkeepers at this level.

(Image: SNS Group)

“Maybe when you go to the top end of the Premier League in England, you get a couple of internationals vying for the place. But, especially for Scotland, to have two at the same place – I think Allan [McGregor] and David [Marshall] were both at Hull at the same time. That probably wasn't ideal for the Scotland manager then either.

“That's the situation we're in. It's going to be a battle at Hearts to keep myself in that position. “Whoever wins that battle at any particular time is going to put themselves in the front seat for [Scotland] as well.”

One player who the Hearts fans probably did not expect to see in the Scotland squad anytime soon when he left for Turkgucu Munchen in Germany is Andy Irving.

The now-West Ham midfielder earned his first call-up after making three substitute appearances for Julen Lopetegui’s side last month.

McDonald’s Fun Football ambassador Craig Gordon said:

“It’s great to see that McDonald’s are providing these Fun Football sessions all across Scotland for free. McDonald’s Fun Football is free, fun and open to all abilities, so perfect for kids who want to kick off their football journey. I’ve had first-hand experience of these sessions before when I took my girls along and they had a great time. I wish I had them when I was a youngster!” 

“He was a really excellent young player coming through at Hearts,” said Gordon. “He played quite a lot for us. When I first went back to Hearts in the Championship season, he was a really good player. He scored some great goals. He's a really good left foot and can shoot from range. It was actually disappointing that he never stayed on at Hearts.

"I kept up with him and spoke to him a few times. We turned up at the hotel right at the same time. It was nice to walk in together and show him around. He's a real good prospect. I'm delighted to see how it's panned out for him. I'm not sure he thought it was going that well all the time. It's been difficult for him. It's been a rocky road but where he's got to at the moment it turns out to be a fantastic decision.”

Craig Gordon was celebrating the latest free wave of McDonald’s Fun Football sessions this Autumn, available to all children aged 5-11 across Scotland. Sign up now for your nearest free session at mcdonalds.co.uk/football.