Strachan: Love Him or Loath Him?

Gordon Strachan was appointed Manager of Celtic Football Club on 1st June 2005. From that day, until today, the Celtic support remain divided as to whether he's the right man for the job. When you are a club the size of Celtic, one of only a handful of Football clubs in the UK who can truly be considered a global brand, do you appoint a manager with Strachans average at best reputation and a CV that boasts not a single trophy win? The warning signs were there for all to see and before he had time to warm the seats in the dug-out, he had an embarrassing start to his campaign as Celtic manager, losing 5-0 to Slovakian champions Artmedia Bratislava.
Shock waves were starting to ripple around the Celtic faithful, but the wee man managed to turn things around and has since delivered the SPL title to Paradise on each of the last three seasons. Now that combined with the fact he has a couple of Domestic Cup triumphs and guided Celtic to the last 16 of the Champions League, anyone would think the Celtic support would consider that as the mark of a manager of real quality....think again!

Is it that some Celtic supporters will never forget the antics of Gordon Strachan the Aberdeen player? Or was it the cup defeats to Bratislava, Clyde, Falkirk, Hearts and Aberdeen were just too much to handle? Despite a record that most managers would die for, Strachan finds himself continually the target of a noticeable section of the Parkhead clubs supporters. The tactics at times are less than convincing. The team selection is often questioned, as is the timing and selection of the substitutes. Of all the players that have come and gone since Strachan took the helm, only two are considered by many to be "Celtic Class". When you learn that these two (Naka and Boruc) were in fact already on the Celtic radar before he joined the club, it leaves more questions than answers.

Roy Keane, Jiri Jarosik, Tommy Gravesen, Stephen Pressley, Mark Brown, Derek Riordan, Andreas Hinkle, Mark Wilson, Gary Caldwell, Jean-Joel Perrier-Doumbe,
Massimo Donati, Evander Sno and Chris Killen are all signings that at one time or another have been questioned by supporters. Were they past their best, signed for commercial reasons, panic buys or simply just not good enough. Not forgetting Dui Wei and Jeremie Aliadiere, on second thoughts, lets forget about them! The signing of Koki Mizuno, Paddy McCourt, Ben Hutchinson could also come in for some attention as all three appear to spend more time on the treatment table than the football pitch. The successes so far have been Scott Brown, Barry Robson, JVoH, Scott McDonald and Paul Hartley, but which one of those hasn't been the focus of some negative attention since joining? all three is the answer! Scott Brown has some way to go before he lives up to the heft transfer fee and Hartley just isn't the player who used to torment SPL sides as a Hearts player.
Football attributes aside, lets talk about the man. I for won am continually angered at Strachans post and pre-match interviews. Yes we all like a good laugh, but when the team goes out the cup on penalties to Falkirk, I want more of an explanation than some comical one-liner. When you make a substitution because the make shift left-back is found wanting, I don't expect you to then unsettle the midfield and put Hartley in at left-back and throw on another midfielder when you have a young and able left-back sitting on the bench hoping for his chance.
So what's the score? Who has the answers? Is Strachan a footballing genius or one of the luckiest managers in Scottish football history. Are Celtic going unchallenged in the SPL and rather than a team winning playing football the "Celtic Way", they are the best of a very poor bunch and are not far away from a real wake up call.


Join the debate and give your opinion at THE Celtic forum - Walfrid-Og


Earlier Stories:

New Celtic Signings

The Jungle Bhoys - Welcome to Paradise

Celtic start season with narrow penalty win

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Love and loath are too strong of words for me.

I agree that there is a lack of connection between GS and the fans but thats a personality thing. I also get the feeling that there is a vast MAJORITY of fans who can't wait for the weeman to lose a title so they can get rid.

John Hartson was right yesterday when he said he senses things are turing for the fans and GS but that all got undone yesterday when we played below par and all of a sudden the knifes are out again.

I don't know about been luckiest manager in scots history but i do know we are up against one of the worse rangers side that has been about in donkeys years.

If strachan wants to turn the fans all he needs to do is bring in some quality signings which has been is weakness so far, yes we have naka, boruc and a few others but most ppl will focus on the duds and in fairness there is enough of them.

He could also do with paying supporters a bit of a shout, thats why Martin O Neill was so liked, he'd always say "the fans were absolutly magnificent LOL" - cheesey one liners go along way.

The fact is that while GS is winning titles there is noway in hell the borad will ever let him go, for one season lets all give him 100% backing and see where it goes.

I still find it incredible that a section of the support treat the wee man the way they do. Your column suggests, even if tongue in cheek, that some cup defeats were possibly motive for the doubters. Garbage. There is only one thing that they loathe him for. Being a good professional for an opponent. To treat him this way is no different from the way the Hun fans are treating Kenny Miller. We welcomed Miller. We didn't care he once wore the blue jersey. We welcomed Beattie, Pressley, Mark Brown, Barry Robson. We are not like those idiots accross the city. There is one reason and one reason only they hate Miller. He wore the hoops and jhe kissed the badge. Don't be like them. We my friends, are Celtic. We are probably the biggest club on earth. It still beats me that MON was revered. He threw away two league titles. Threw them away when it was easier to win them and he had many times the budget the wee man has had to work with. If you compare apples to apples, Strachan comes out well on top. Claiming that Naka and Boruc were on the radar means nothing. How can we be sure the flops weren't on the radar too? You can't cherry pick just to try and justify a means to loathe Strachan. He arrived to a bunch of aging pros and has in the process created a team of winners on a fraction of MON's budget. We play better football. We score more goals. We lose less goals. We reach the latter stages of the Champions League. We have never failed to win the league under Strachan. What does this guy need to do?

Usually across the back four ......and then...across the back four again...then...across the back four again .....and then.... to McGeady.....despite having bought as many midfielders as I can remember us having.

Kinda sums it up for me.

For me Strachans' history with Aberdeen etc means nowt and doesn't influence my thoughts towards him.He just doesn't seem capable of encouraging the side to enjoy playing for Celtic.

We don't play good football consistently and often don't look as if we know how.

It's a strange one,for TB held Strachan in high regard and believed he was the man for the job.

Question...Are the team struggling to get over Tommy Burns' absence?

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I dont give a feck about yer pro or anti religous sigs pish

To say that Some section of the support havent taken to Strachan because he used to play for Aberdeen is tripe.

They haven't taken to him because of his patchy transfer dealings, the boring predictable play of his teams and his (at times) snotty attitude.

Don't start labelling the non-strachan fans among us bigots - thats bang out of order.

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Well said weetim67. It's probably only because [wonderful people] like zamasbhoy continue to peddle the nonsense he has just written that this debate rumbles on.
Back the manager and stop writing pish like this that only undermimes him and gives the daily ranger and hun evidence to run this through the mill at every opportunity....

Agree about him arriving to aging pros MON didn't do him any favors with the squad that was left to him.

He is more than willing to give youth a chance something MON didnt do enough IMO.

If he could shift some of the duds and bring in at least one more DECENT signing i'd be happy for the coming season.

Don't think there is any peddaling involved, its real SOME PEOPLE DON'T LIKE STRACHAN

I'm not one of them but its a reality

I think this is a terrific post and I agree 100% with it

I would like to add though that IMO this nonsense regarding the Celtic support not taking too WGS as he is not a "Celtic man", from my point of view this is a media fantasy.

Was Wim Jansen a Celtic man or Dr Jo Venglos, both managers who were given huge support while managing Celtic? This phenomenon of non "Celtic minded" was never an issue then so why should it be one now?

From my point of view there are a number of reasons as to why the Support is somewhat split on WGS. Negative or comical comments instead of explaining to the fans through the media of his true opinions. Too many signings who are not being played to their strengths. An inability to accept that certain players should be dropped when it is clear they are under performing. But most of all for me WGS frustrates me as to the style of football he so wants to play.

OK fair enough his preferred formation is 4-4-2 ,what makes little sense to me is the fact he continues to buy players who have not played that system throughout their careers. Brown, Donati, Gravesen, Jarosik, Hartley and even Robson are more used to playing within a 3 man midfield and now Crosas.

For me if he wants to stick to a rigid 4-4-2 then why not buy players who have been successful playing that system previously? For far too long now WGS has been trying to put square pegs into round holes. This strategy has seen far too many inconsistent, non coherent and inept performances over his tenure. From season to season we see no real advancement in terms of quality of player or performance.

Now those are the reasons as I see them as to why Celtic fans are not convinced by WGS´s management. Nothing to do with he’s not "Celtic minded" what a load of nonsense IMO.

An excellent post. In fact if you ever want to write news/opinions articles for us then please drop us a line.

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