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Strachan unveiled at Celtic May 31, 2005
(World Soccer magazine)
Celtic have unveiled Gordon Strachan as their new manager following last week’s resignation of Martin O’Neill.
The former Southampton and Coventry manager succeeds Martin O’Neill who quit Celtic after Saturday’s Scottish Cup final win over Dundee United to look after his ill wife.
Strachan, who has taken his former Southampton assistant Gary Pendry to Parkhead has signed a 12-month rolling contract.
“I need to apologise to people who have phoned me over the last five or six days,” said Strachan. “It was Martin’s time.
“I didn’t want to get involved in anything; Martin deserved that time to win the cup and enjoy his last couple of days here.
“People have been asking me for years about whether I’d go back to Scotland and I thought maybe ‘no’. But, manager of Celtic, in seconds it’s ‘yes’ and that’s it.
“They are a world famous club and you cannot turn down that chance to perform as a manager here and in a stadium as fantastic as this. It’s a thing I just couldn’t turn down.
“I do feel invigorated. I said when I stopped at Southampton, the next job I want is something exciting and this definitely had it. Even the wife could tell I was really excited about this job.
“You know it when somebody asks you if it’s going to be theright job for you.
“It’s a surreal thing with me and Martin. We spoke a lot on the phone and were together again last night with the coaching staff and had a great time. I was telling Fergie stories and he was telling Cloughie stories. He won on his stories but I’m sure I can exaggerate mine as the years go by.
“I’m proud to be asked to take this hard job to take over from Martin. Five years ago, it was maybe too much for me butnow I know it’s not too much for me and I’m lookingforward to it.”
Strachan was asked about his approach to management.
“Anything to do with players, I like. The rest is hard work. I like dealing with the players and I’ve got a big enough back-up staff to handle that.
“[Watching them] I reaffirmed some beliefs I had anyway. I could be more analytical about the games I watched.
“I’ve been around the world watching football fitness techniques. It’s quite simple really. Have a good formation to stop you losing goals then get good players to win games. It’s as simple as that, not as cosmic as coaches make out.
“They are actually giving themselves a pat on the back when their tactics are spot on but, when they lose, it’s the players who are terrible.
“When I left Southampton, I think people thought I wanted a better job than Southampton but I wanted something different. We’re right in there with different now.
“I know what I’m letting myself in for. It still doesn’t deter me nor make me less excited.
“It’s a magnificent challenge, a magnificent club with good people. It’s a fantastic opportunity to become a better manager.
“Gary Pendry is to come along with me, he’s been with me for eight years and will be my assistant. The rest of it is not a problem as I don’t have to take a lot of people around with me. I’m quite happy to meet new people and they might just give me some new ideas too.
“My target is just to win. We have to win every game, all the time, friendlies and everything.
“It’s a different mentality you’ve got when you come to this club and I have to get used to that myself.
“If I said last week, let’s forget about how you play, let’s win, they [the fans] would have accepted that.
“We’ll try to make players as individuals and as a group better but we must win.
“I don’t sit here thinking I hope everybody likes me. My responsibility is to the players, to get them working well, everyone else will follow.
“I can’t worry every day if I’ve upset a fan or anything like that. There will be days when they like me and days when they don’t.
“But they’ve got to remember they will only dislike me for the decisions I make sometimes, hopefully they will stay on a level keel with me as a person.”
Strachan given rousing send-off at Burns tribute
Provided by: The Times
Manager departs with rousing reception
David Friel
GORDON STRACHAN said thanks and farewell to the Celtic supporters during an emotional speech at the Tommy Burns Tribute Match on Sunday.
The former Hoops boss, who stood down last week, made a swift return to Glasgow to honour the life of his great friend and was given a standing ovation as he took to the pitch before kick-off.
Having won six trophies in four years and guided the club to historic European achievements, he has written his name into Celtic folklore and leaves with the best wishes of everyone at the club.
“Successful, really,” said Gordon, as he was asked to sum up his Celtic tenure in front of the 30,000 crowd.
“When I first joined the club, I wanted to earn the respect of the Celtic supporters. I didn’t want to tell you I was a Celtic supporter as a kid, I didn’t want to kiss badges and I didn’t know the words to the Fields of Athenry.
“I wanted to earn the respect and vice versa, I wanted to see if you really were the best supporters in the world. From those four years, I found out that you are the best supporters in the world.
“I’d like to thank the supporters who I met personally, the real ones who I touched. They helped through the tough times and made it far easier for my family. I’ll always remember that.
“I didn’t kid you on that I could ever feel like a Celtic supporter when I was the manager because I couldn’t. I really couldn’t tell you what it feels like to watch Rangers win nine-in-a-row.
“I couldn’t tell you what it feels like to go to some awful grounds, where you are penned into a corner and the price of everything goes up when you go there. I don’t know what that feels like.
“But from today, I will start to feel it because I’m going to have to start paying my way from now on. From today, I’ve become a Celtic supporter.
“I’d like to thank everybody at Celtic. The players were magnificent to work with and I’d like to thank the board. They have been magnificent and they are doing everything they can to help the club be successful. They were fantastic to me.
“If I could sum it all up like this – since I started out in football at 15, every decision I made, and some have been bad, I wouldn’t change it for the world. Because if I changed one of those decisions, I would not have been the Celtic manager and that would be hard. Thank you.”
Fittingly, the ex-Celtic boss also reserved a special word for his close friend Tommy Burns. The tribute match ended in an 11-4 win for the current Celtic team against a select side consisting of a host of Hoops legends.
He said: “I came here to be the Celtic manager but I was lucky enough to become the best of friends with the nicest man I’ve ever met in my life.
“We had some great times at this club over the last four years. We had smashing European nights, we won championships and did great things together. Tommy helped me more than anybody.
“If it hadn’t been for Tommy, my life wouldn’t have been as funny as it was and we wouldn’t have had as much success as we did.”
Gordon Strachan: There is NO bias against Celtic
Daily Record
Feb 15 2011 Keith Jackson
Ex-Hoops boss Strachan denies conspiracy claims
GORDON Strachan has dismissed claims of a grand conspiracy against Celtic.
The man who led the Parkhead club to three successive SPL crowns has broken his silence on the rift between his former employers and the SFA in a revealing series of interviews with Record Sport.
Today, in day one of a fascinating three-part insight into the mind of the ex-Celtic boss, Strachan dismisses the idea the game in this country has been deliberately geared up to keep his old club down.
He accepts there are people in Scotland hellbent on fanning the flames of suspicion and blames them for creating an “unhealthy” and “dangerous” environment by continually questioning the integrity of referees.
And Strachan – who quit his post in May 2009 after a trophy-laden four seasons at Parkhead – admits the ugly furore which has been kicked up over the course of this campaign has reminded him of precisely why he had to get out of Glasgow in the first place.
He said: “I’m sorry, I could not agree with the suggestions of institutional bias against Celtic. It did not exist when I was the manager.
“I may have felt there was one referee who didn’t like me very much but that was more about a clash of personalities rather than something sinister.
“And I actually found it funny when the Celtic fans chanted ‘That’s why we are paranoid’. That was a good laugh.
“But when I was manager I don’t think there was anything untoward going on.
“Celtic have won millions of trophies and they will keep on doing it.”
Strachan admits to being surprised at the extent of the divide that has now opened up between Celtic and the SFA.
The relationship began to deteriorate shortly after he was replaced by Tony Mowbray and it reached breaking point after the infamous Dougie-gate scandal at Tannadice in October last year .
Strachan said: “It surprised me to see how quickly things deteriorated between the club and the referees since I was there.
“It seemed to become a huge issue overnight.
“I only saw it from afar. I wasn’t in the thick of it. But I do know this, that atmosphere of suspicion and of pandering to the lowest common denominator is very unhealthy for the game.
“The climate we live in up there can be a horrible one and accusations tend to fly around all over the place, whether it’s bigotry, racism or sexism.
“It can all be used as a weapon against people as we have seen recently with Richard Keys and Andy Gray.
“In Scotland you really need to watch all that stuff.
“If I could advise people there I would say, ‘Let’s just put it all to bed now before things get out of hand. Just get on with the footbal l and accept that , whoever wins the league, there will be decisions which go for and against them over the course of the season.’
“It’s unfair to question the integrity of the men who have to make decisions and I can say that because I have met them.
“They are a decent bunch of lads and I got on with them well.”
Gordon Strachan: The Scottish game has turned rancid
Daily Record
Feb 15 2011 By Keith Jackson
THE Old Firm experiment at Middlesbrough had just blown up in Gordon Strachan’s face. He had become his own biggest casualty.
With his pride in tatters and his reputation dented, Strachan headed to his favourite retreat in La Manga, Spain to begin the healing process.
In accordance with the usual managerial protocol, it started off with a prolonged period of painful and deep self analysis.
Along with those dark thoughts of doubt, Strachan asked himself some searching questions. You know the type of thing.
Where did it all go wrong? Why didn’t I see it coming? Why the hell did I leave Celtic in the first place?
That last one gnawed away at him more than all the others until it had buried itself deep in his mind.
But it was only when he picked up a copy of the Daily Record to read about Scottish football ripping itself to shreds that he was able to answer his own question.
There was a very good reason why he did not wish to be involved in our game any longer – it had turned rancid.
The conspiracy theorists had taken over. The referees were out on the cobbles. The Roman Catholic church was calling for Hugh Dallas’s head over an email.
And Strachan’s old club was caught up in the thick of it.
Suddenly, sitting on his sunbed, the penny dropped.
“Oh yeah, THAT’S why I left!” Strachan smiles as he recalls those frenzied few weeks from October until November of last year when, at his lowest ebb, at least he found comfort from knowing he was no longer dirtying his hands with the poisonous side of life in the SPL pond.
“Do I miss it? Yes I do. Bits and bobs of it anyway.
“Don’t get me wrong, it was a magnificent job and a fantastic club. But I remember being in La Manga, thinking to myself, ‘Why did I ever leave Celtic? Did I go too soon?’
“Then I picked up the paper and read about the battles with the SFA and the refs going on strike. I just couldn’t work in that kind of environment again.”
Strachan, of course, handled it better than most. His first three seasons at Celtic saw him bag three successive league titles.
He was the first manager since the late, great Jock Stein to bring such a sustained period of domestic dominance to the East End of Glasgow.
And yet, even though the trophies were coming thick and fast, Strachan began to wonder if he was winning on a level playing field.
“I don’t know if I was guilty of being a bit paranoid during my time there, maybe I was,” Strachan admits as he reflects on his own experiences at the helm. “But I always held my own counsel even if I did feel that everyone was against me.
“The key thing is that this is not something specific to Celtic.
“I felt that way as a player at Aberdeen because Alex Ferguson told us everybody was against us. He created a siege mentality and it worked.
“But as you get a bit older you learn not to buy into that any more. It doesn’t motivate you the way it used to because you know it’s simply not true.
“But yes, there were times when I was Celtic manager when I got a wee bit daft like that myself. I asked myself, ‘Is everybody really against us?’ That’s because I was listening to too much of what was going on around me.
“There were people inside the club who believed it and fans who said the same thing. Remember, I have Celtic fans as relatives – you might have noticed!
“So it can be easy to allow yourself to get sucked in. But if you are asking me now, in the cold light of day, if I believe there is a conspiracy or bias against Celtic then no, I genuinely don’t believe that.”
That didn’t mean there weren’t people out to get him. Nor did it mean, that by identifying his enemies, Strachan was being paranoid.
He added: “I did think there were one or two referees who had a personal thing against me. It wasn’t them versus Celtic – it was them against me! I just think they wanted to take me on.
“It was the same with a couple of guys in the media – I think one or two saw my reputation from England and fancied having a bit of a fight.
“It wasn’t any particular newspaper or radio station – it was just one or two individuals who I clashed with.
“And it was the same with the refs. There was one guy in particular who just didn’t like me and who was desperate to put me in my place. But that can happen to any manager at any club.
“I remember late on in my last season there was a game at Tannadice when we actually got away with murder. Gary Caldwell brought someone down in the last couple of minutes.
“But a few a seconds before it, someone else was elbowed. After that game I had a go at the refs. I said they should buy themselves a video recorder and watch their own decisions.
“But that was about the only time I can remember criticising them. At no point did I think this was an institutional thing against Celtic – no way. And never in my time at the club was anyone encouraging me to go down that road. Never.”
Over the last month or so, Celtic’s simmering feud with officialdom has entered a period of relative calm.
So much so that Neil Lennon was able to see the funny side on his return to Tannadice on Sunday when the Celtic manager admitted his full-back Mark Wilson was fortunate not to be sen off.
It was on Tayside that all the problems began with just two words – Dougie, Dougie.
Strachan said: “What the officials did that day was wrong and I’ve always had a problem with the fact they get 48 hours to put their reports in.
“When I was at Coventry I was reported by the ref and two linesmen who all said I had instigated a stramash in the technical area in a match against Chelsea.
“Little did they know Sky had cameras right above it. So we took that footage to the hearing with my lawyer and we said, ‘You’ve made this up – you are lying’.
“I got away with it because I was clever enough to take a lawyer in with me and because I knew some people at Sky.
“It showed that I had nothing to do with it and that, in the case of one linesman, it was actually impossible for him to see where I was at that time.
“So that proved to me that sometimes the officials do get together to make up their own story. They are only human and I think a lot of that goes on.
“But when the referees then went on strike I thought to myself, ‘This is just madness’. I must admit, part of me thought the referees were getting a wee bit too sensitive. We live in a yob culture these days and you have to get used to taking abuse.
“But then I think it went a bit further than that. They were having their integrity and honesty called into question and that’s where you have to draw a line.
“I’ve had to take a lot of stick down the years but the one thing that really got to me was when someone questioned my integrity. It’s the one thing that really grates with you.
“So for that reason I understood where they were coming from. Not being good enough is one thing – but not being honest? That’s quite another.
“And anyway, having said all that, I didn’t even think they were that bad. And I would never have questioned their integrity.”
Gordon Strachan: Keyboard cowboys have hijacked Scottish football
Feb 16 2011 Keith Jackson
Daily Record
GORDON Strachan had sensed it for a while. Bit by bit he suspected the lunatics were slowly taking over the asylum.
When Hugh Dallas was booted out of the SFA it gave the former Celtic manager his final, conclusive proof.
Scottish football, he believes, has been hijacked by bands of extremist minorities who will stop at nothing in their seemingly endless quest to be offended by anything and everything.
Strachan, you see, has never quite settled into this new PC world. And the more he gets to know how ruthlessly it works the less comfortable he has become.
First Dallas. Then Andy Gray and Richard Keys. The bodies just keep coming. And Strachan believes it’s time for the silent majority to stand up and reclaim the game before it is gone for good.
He said: “At the time of the Hugh Dallas sacking I read an article from Jim Traynor who said the only thing to be offended about was the fact it was making fun of child abuse. Jim was right.
“But it was made out that Hugh was guilty of attacking a certain religion and I couldn’t get my head around that. How many of us have had questionable emails sent to us? “I get them from my brother-in-law all the time, there’s something to offend everybody but it’s meant as a joke. You can’t stop that.
“What about when Frankie Boyle is on TV having a pop at everybody and everything? What’s the difference?
“When I spoke to Hugh he was trying to explain himself to me. I told him there was no need – I’ve lived up there, I know what it’s like. He was telling me personal stuff and trying to make it clear he was not a bigot.
“But that’s the way we are now, everyone is so scared of being branded something or other that we have to explain ourselves even when we have done nothing wrong.
“The problem is that the zealots had taken control of the situation. Hugh was having to answer to them.”
That is something Strachan simply cannot abide. “Keyboard cowboys” he calls them. The virtual mobs who spout their views from behind the safety of a computer screen.
He admits there were times when the climate they created spoiled his enjoyment of leading Celtic to three SPL titles in a row.
And he could never understand why Parkhead staff would pay t hem serious attention.
He said: “I used to say to them, ‘What are you doing? You are meant to be intelligent people! But you are actually listening to what these people are saying’.
“I kept telling them: ‘For all you know these people are not even Celtic supporters. Why are you worried about what they say?’
“These are people who have no friends. If me and you want to have a chat about something then we’ll do that after work at the pub. But the people who spend 10 hours a day on the internet have no one to talk to.
“They are the same people who go on X Factor. You know right away they are useless singers but they didn’t have any mates to tell them the truth. If I told my mate I was going on X Factor he’d say, ‘Are you f****** kidding? Don’t be so stupid’.
“But these people don’t have friends to keep them right. So they go on X Factor, get four ‘no thanks’ and are laughed off stage.
” So they go home disappointed they didn’t make it on X Factor and think, ‘What will I do now? I know, I’ll get my computer out and write stuff on messageboards about Celtic and Rangers.It’s the same people!’
“I made a joke about it before when I said they were all dressed in tracksuits with their devil dogs and cans of lager. That was my way of saying this is what’s happening out there. We need to be careful who we listen to and who we allow to set the agenda.
“The internet is a powerful tool. People are bringing down the government in Egypt by going on the internet, so it can be used for good. But you have to realise three or four abusive idiots on a football messageboard do not speak for the majority.
“But we are all scared to stand up against them, even in jest. It’s a scary situation.
“Listen, I don’t dismiss the opinions of others and in Glasgow EVERYONE has an opinion. You get to hear them every time you walk down the street. But they were real opinions from real people, not just abusive rants from the keyboard cowboys.
“I enjoyed loads of it at the time and I enjoy going back to Glasgow now. But when you are right in the middle of it as manager of Celtic it’s very hard to enjoy anything.
“The fundamentalists and the zealots make it that way. The whole of society is now pandering to this very vocal minority because the ones who scream the loudest seem to be listened to more than the silent majority. It could be racism, sexism or bigotry but somewhere along the line the decent majority have lost their voice.
“There is a fear that if you don’t agree with the fundamentalists you will be accused of being sexist, racist or a bigot.”
Strachan, being as he is of the old school, was always likely to be targeted by at least one group of the morally outraged.
And he knows that even by expressing his own opinion he will almost certainly come under fire.
But he said: “Put it this way, I know someone who has watched over 1000 games. That person thinks listening to a woman commentating on a game doesn’t sound right. That person also believes women linesmen and women refs just don’t look right in the man’s game.
“I asked a female journalist if she thought that was a sexist view and she said it probably was. I then told her the person who feels this way is my wife. Does that mean my wife is sexist?
“The girl didn’t know how to answer. And that’s my whole point – this was simply an opinion, a woman’s opinion. But if I said it as a man I’d be branded a sexist. As a matter of fact my wife feels more strongly about women linesmen than I do. But that’s the environment we live in.
“People are scared to have an opinion. Even governments are scared to say what’s right and wrong because a tiny minority will cause all kinds of problems.
“While the majority might be in complete agreement they are too frightened to speak up because they’ll be accused of intolerance. That doesn’t just apply to Scottish football – it’s all over British society.
“That’s why I use the example of my wife. After watching 1000 games she has every right to an opinion. She prefers men doing these things and I feel the same way. You might feel the same way too but you’d be scared to say that.
“Women have far more jobs in football now than 20 years ago.
So what are they complaining about? What do you want, 50-50?
“You can’t run things like that. You should only be rewarded for being good at your job.”
Why Gordon Strachan should have shown more love to Celtic fans
Mirror, May 2009
This is Gordon Strachan’s idea of humour.
A reporter came up to him and asked whether he could have a quick word.
“Velocity,” replied the former Celtic manager.
Ha, bloody, ha.
Strachan, despite great success as Celtic manager, was unpopular among the press and a large percentage of fans.
Strachan has always been something of a smart arse but does that make it fair that the press are often harsh on him and, in turn, the fans are often left reading negative articles about their manager?
I’m sure that Strachan would deem it to be extremely unfair. If he is judged on results then he should go down as something of a Celtic legend.
But for someone who thinks he’s so much more intelligent than everyone else in the room at a press conference – and I’ve suffered Strachan during his time at Southampton – he’s got it hopelessly wrong.
Sir Alex Ferguson dislikes the majority of reporters. In fact, he has sheer contempt for them. But his record as Manchester United manager is unparalelled.
Therefore, it’s difficult to knock Ferguson. But Ferguson also understands the importance of communicating with United fans through the media. He also fully understands the importance of fans to the club.
Time and again you will read or hear Ferguson talking about the special United fans in the media. Their importance to the team. Their magnificent support. That’s something Strachan overlooked.
Also, if Strachan was asked a question about tactics then he saw it as a personal insult and regarded it as a sleight on his managerial ability, as if a fan had walked in from the terraces and was questioning a substitution. He couldn’t accept that fans have a right to their opinion.
Cuter managers understand the importance of playing the media game – not just to appease us reporters, but to communicate and have a relationship with the fans.
The fans are the most important thing in football. They rule. They also pay the bills. Too many people in football have forgotten that. Too many people disrespect them.
Strachan disrespected them and no amount of success could win them over.
