Ex-Austrian Gorgon:
“Runners-up? That’s not a real title!”
He is currently experiencing his umpteenth spring, has not forgotten where the goal is even at the advanced age of 35 for a footballer and could soon be a member of a historic winning team. And in the summer, he will be a winner one way or another when the country in which he was born meets the country of his ancestors at the European Football Championship. krone.at visited Alexander Gorgon, ex-Austrian and violet champion hero of 2013, in Szczecin in north-western Poland - here you can find part 1 of the big interview, part 2 will follow tomorrow ...
krone.at: You became champion in Austria with Austria in 2012/13, and four years later you also became champion in Croatia with HNK Rijeka - how big do you think the chances are that you will also be able to call yourself champion in Poland this year or next year?
Alexander Gorgon: Hopes are alive, of course, hopes are alive. Shortly before the winter break, the chances looked very different, but we were able to score an important three points away from home against Widzew Lodz, which kept us in the game. And now we've had some really crazy games here recently, in which top teams have dropped points against relegation candidates. That's something the league thrives on. The ratings are sensational because everything is wide open: anyone can beat anyone.
krone.at: Captain Kamil Grosicki and you are not only the two oldest players in the Pogoń Szczecin squad at the age of 35, you are also among your team's top scorers. What would Pogoń be without the "golden oldies" Grosicki and Gorgon?
Gorgon: Definitely a few goals poorer! But I think the whole team complements each other very well - the most important thing is that you focus on quality and that this youth craze that has developed in recent years doesn't gain too much of an upper hand, that you don't lose sight of the actual goal. It's not so much about age, whether you're young or old, but about the quality you can bring to the pitch. If a youngster brings it at 17, then he'll play - but if it's someone at 35 or 36 who's a step ahead, then it's just like us ... (reflects) We're really enjoying it, we've had an extremely successful season so far. We're extremely pleased that so much is still possible for us at the moment ...
krone.at: Our compatriot Benedikt Zech is also no spring chicken at the age of 33. Since the ex-Altacher has been under contract here, he has been a regular in the starting eleven: How do you rate his standing with the team and the fans?
Gorgon: His standing is very, very high. He came to Szczecin when the club was still being built up. Everything you can see in the background now, the stadium, the infrastructure, that looked completely different five or six years ago. Of course, a lot of people are responsible for this - and Benedikt was there right from the start, he was part of this project. You could always rely on him in recent years, he's definitely one of the strongest central defenders in the Polish league and has always been a key player. It's been a bit unfortunate for him recently with an injury and then an illness - so he'll have to be a bit patient now until he gets back to it, because the team still works very well. But he's definitely a starting eleven player who will be back in the team sooner or later.
krone.at: Pogoń celebrated its 75th birthday last year - in all the years since it was founded, it has only won two runners-up titles and reached three cup finals, but lost them. What will happen in Szczecin if you win this year's cup final against Wisła Krakow in Warsaw on May 2?
Gorgon: ( laughs) Then the whole city will definitely be celebrating! That's the title that can be won the quickest with just five or six games - and we actually managed to get to the final this year. There would be no excuse if we didn't make it this year. Wisła Krakow may be an opponent from the second division, but of course it's also an opponent with a very big club history and a very big fan base - it won't be a walkover. I remember how I lost with Austria against Pasching, i.e. against a third division team, in the cup final in 2013 - something like that here on May 2 would be a shame forever. That's why I hope that we leave no doubt right from the start that we absolutely want this title. It would be something really big for the club, for the fans, for the city - we could write ourselves into the history books forever. A first real title - runners-up sounds nice, but that's not a title ...
krone.at: You moved from Croatia to your parents' home country, Poland, in August 2020 and finished your first season as your team's third-highest scorer. But what followed was probably a very frustrating year and a half ...
Gorgon: First of all, I was very happy about a new adventure. The start was of course very easy for me because I moved to the country where my parents come from - I was and am fluent in the language, which of course made it easier for us to settle in here ... (reflects) It was actually a good season, even though I've had seasons with more scoring points. Pogoń wasn't quite as advanced back then as he is now, we were always "cheating" a bit. But yes, the following season was unfortunately one to forget. I was in a very good mood in preparation and was already looking forward to the season, to the qualifying games in the Conference League - but then an injury set me back and I had to fight for a long time to come back ...
krone.at: What exactly was it about? Gorgon: A very complicated story! It actually seemed to be "just" a collateral ligament injury, but afterwards it turned out that a nerve had also been damaged. It was weeks before the operation was carried out - and the first operation was unfortunately not successful. It was only because of this operation that I was out of action for so long ... (hesitates) I didn't want to have the operation here, but somewhere else - unfortunately it turned out to be a mistake ... (takes a deep breath) But that's a thing of the past, I'm glad that I came back, especially that I came back SO well. And that I can still enjoy the green lawn now ... (looks wistfully at the stadium turf)
krone.at: Did you ever think about burying your hopes of a comeback on the pitch?
Gorgon: Yes, of course! I had a lot of self-doubt because I've already overcome serious injuries and knew what a long period of rehabilitation lay ahead of me. There were days when I wanted to give up, when I wasn't sure whether it would really work out. But I wanted to prove it to myself once again - and I wanted to prove it to everyone else who looked at me more critically and said: "It's not going to work with him now!" ... (thinks for a moment) I also wanted to show my children how important it is to fight and what you can achieve with hard work. Because my son also plays soccer and now he's getting more and more involved, so I wanted to be a role model for him ... (takes a deep breath)
krone.at: A few years ago, we met on the Croatian Adriatic coast - we do have the sea within walking distance here in Szczecin, but life here in north-western Poland is not quite comparable to life in Rijeka, is it?
Gorgon: ( smiles) No, it's very different, very different! I wouldn't say it's worse, but you do have to get used to it a bit. The people here seem a bit more distant at first when you come from the south. If I compare it to the coastal town of Rijeka, where people get enough sun all year round, it was a big change for us here at the beginning that people were a bit grumpier and immediately startled when we walked into a store with a smile on our face. But then you just adapt to it. From October, November to April, the weather is very different to Croatia - this weather from the North Sea, lots of rain, lots of wind, it's much cooler, a bit more unpleasant, these are all things that don't make it as pleasant as in Croatia ... (thinks for a moment) But because I'm doing extremely well at the club, my family has settled in well and the children are happy at school, I'm happy too.
krone.at: Alexander, you were born in Vienna to Polish parents, grew up as a footballer at Wiener Austria and now you play in your parents' home country. Do you feel like a legionnaire here at Pogoń Szczecin?
Gorgon: Well ... (hesitates)... not really, because I actually grew up with the Polish language from an early age ...
krone.at: It's kind of an in-between thing, isn't it?
Gorgon: Yes, somehow an in-between thing ... It's always difficult for me to answer when I'm asked who I'm rooting for when Austria plays Poland. I always hope it ends in a draw so that I'm not torn. But I think it's also an advantage that you feel drawn to two countries. I grew up in Austria, where I have most of my friends, where I learned to appreciate the whole country. I haven't been to Poland for a long time, but when I moved here I saw how everything has moved forward. If you haven't been to Poland yet, I can only recommend it, because it's very different now than it was 10 or 15 years ago.
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