As a self-confessed failed goalkeeper in my own time, I love a broken stopper. And when it comes to FM06, few come at a better value than Craig Gordon.
In every Football Manager game, you need somebody who’s cheap, reliable and has a large-enough shelf life so that you can focus on building out other areas of your time.
Craig Gordon on Football Manager 2006 was absolutely one of those players.
Mention ‘FM06’ to older Football Manager fans and you’ll hear the usual names — wonderkids, bargain strikers and hidden gems in faraway markets – much like we did in this article here for FM 07.
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But Craig Gordon somewhat sat in his own realm, as he seems to be grossly overlooked by older fans as a player who they felt was a shoe-in to sign for their first transfer window. For me, he was the first.
No matter which team I managed.
Why Craig Gordon Was So Good On Football Manager 2006
The thing people remember about Craig Gordon on FM06 wasn’t one specific stat because his entire profile looked absurdly balanced. Especially for his height and age.
His reflexes were excellent, his handling was strong and his aerial ability immediately stood out. Then you’d start looking deeper and notice his positioning and physical attributes sitting there as well.
This is where things became interesting because most young goalkeepers on Football Manager usually had obvious weaknesses. And maybe this game (and his own personal profile) benefits slightly from the database not being as in-depth and/or overly technical as it is today.
I mentioned this recently in an article about Saba Kharabashvili, and how rare it is to find someone of those types of attributes in modern Football Manager games. But even back in the day, it was difficult to find cheap alternative young goalkeepers who gave you that peace of mind for the longer term.
Some had incredible shot-stopping ability but poor handling. Others had potential but needed years of development before becoming reliable. Craig Gordon didn’t really have that problem.
Why Craig Gordon Was Incredible Value On FM06
This is probably the reason Craig Gordon became such a cult Football Manager player.
You weren’t paying world-record goalkeeper money to sign him either. Compared to the Buffons and Casillas of Football Manager, Craig Gordon felt like finding elite quality without destroying your transfer budget. And how much was he?
Anywhere between £500,000 to £1.5m.
Usually depending on when you bought him. It would lean more toward the lower end if you got in there early, and then Hearts may leverage later offers to get towards the higher end if you waited.
But either way – that’s a steal in anybody’s book!
What Happened To Craig Gordon In Real Life?
The funny thing is Football Manager wasn’t completely exaggerating.
Craig Gordon went on to have a very respectable real-life career. He became Scotland’s number one and earned a move to Sunderland that made him Britain’s most expensive goalkeeper at the time.
Injuries disrupted parts of his career, and it’s probably fair to say reality never quite reached the level FM06 players imagined. But that’s almost irrelevant when people talk about him now.
Because most Football Manager fans don’t immediately think about Sunderland or Scotland when they hear Craig Gordon’s name. They remember that UCL-winning goalkeeper from FM 06.
And I personally remember him for that TikTok I showed you earlier where I confronted him of his decision to move to Chelsea away from my Walsall FC dynasty instead. Lovely guy, though!
Did you ever sign Craig Gordon on FM 06?