CRAIG GORDON would consider it a privilege just to be judged again.

As unedifying as it might be for James McFadden and Kris Boyd to be compared with the formidable example set by their former selves, the 30-year-old former Scotland goalkeeper would regard such a fate as a cause for celebration.

It would at least mean he was fit to play again, having managed just one match in two seasons as he battles a patellar tendon complaint which troubles him when twisting, turning and jumping and has left him genuinely wishing he had only sustained a ruptured cruciate ligament. Instead, all manner of remedies and treatments have been tried: at one point the former Hearts and Sunderland player was even being briefed by an expert from the Royal Ballet.

Although the 40-time capped goalkeeper has begun preparing for life after his playing days by accepting coaching roles first at Dumbarton then the Scottish Football Association – he is serious enough about it to spend this week speaking at a Uefa Goalkeeper coaching seminar in Paisley – it is fair to say he hasn't given up hope of a return to playing just yet.

Indeed, working with renowned physiotherapist Fiona Mather at the Scottish Institute of Sport, who has transformed the very biomechanics of how he walks, he feels he is definitely making progress and all going well could even have as much as another decade in the game. Whether that progress is coming quickly enough for him to partake in pre-season training at a club this summer, however, is less certain.

"Lots of clubs have offered me training facilities for next season and, if I feel fit enough to take them up on that, then I will do that," said Gordon. "I don't yet know how far away from that I am. Unfortunately, it's such an unusual injury that at the moment there isn't a great deal of science or expertise behind it. Progress has been made, though, and it's definitely better than it was. I'll reassess my situation after the summer, see what stage I'm at and then, if it's possible, look to get back into playing."

Declaring yourself fit to play, of course, is only half the battle. Persuading a club to invest in your injury-wracked body, particularly in today's risk-averse football culture, is the other part of the equation. Gordon doesn't lack belief, but he would be prepared to embrace a trial period at a club to convince others.

"As long as the pain is under control then I don't see why I shouldn't be able to play at the highest level again," he said. "If I have to start again at the very bottom I don't care: it's a matter of getting myself healthy and I would play anywhere just to get back and prove myself again.