Scotland's next crop of keepers CAN be as good as Craig Gordon and David Marshall as new SFA goalie guru makes pledge

He lived through Scotland’s golden generation of goalies - and now Graeme Smith wants to play his part in helping to produce the next batch of quality keepers.

The 42-year-old enjoyed a 20-year career between the sticks with the likes of Kilmarnock, Rangers and St Johnstone. But now he’s the SFA’s new goalkeeping guru charged with nurturing our best young talent. In Smith’s time as a player, the trio of Craig Gordon, Allan McGregor and David Marshall emerged and went on to dominate the position for Scotland.

Incredibly, Gordon is still performing at the highest level for Hearts and remains his country’s No.1 aged 42. McGregor hung up his gloves in 2023 after a stellar, trophy-laden career with Rangers, as well as a stint in the Premier League with Hull. Marshall, after breaking through at Celtic in the Champions League, excelled in England and is now Hibs’ new technical performance manager.

The problem for Scotland is who will come in next when Gordon eventually calls it a day? Angus Gunn is already 28 and only took up Steve Clarke’s offer after failing to make the grade with England.

Then there’s Robby McCrorie at Kilmarnock. So highly rated at Ibrox as a kid, he’s finally a first-choice at Rugby Park aged 26. After that? You’re looking at Cieran Slicker, the Oldham-born kid who recently left Manchester City for Ipswich Town in the Premier League, but he’s third pick at Portman Road having been a regular for Scotland Under-21s.

It’s a problem for Clarke at national team level. And Smith, who left Rangers in August to be the SFA’s new goalkeeping performance and coach education manager, wants to help him solve it. He admits there HAS been a gap since Gordon, McGregor and Marshall were in their prime.

But he’s confident