Spats with Sutton and Agathe, saw both leave prematurely yet both could have contributed more. On the other hand, the players have to take in that the old regime was over and you have to understand and work with the new regime. With the less than stellar playing achievements of both after leaving Celtic, maybe WGS was right. Sutton in particular can be a prickly character and not predictable, so maybe it was best to move him on. This was just the beginning and much better was expected of both him and the team in the next season in terms of entertainment and results goals conceded, scored etc.
To the surprise of practically everyone, there was no actual domestic challenge. Rangers went comedic from failure to tragic farce, and Celtic simply took advantage going over 20 points ahead of them at one point in the season.
In games v Rangers, the best PLG did was one draw. Knocked out early in the league cup was no issue, and WGS easily made it up with winning the Scottish Cup to wrap up a cup and league double. Overall, WGS was having a respite domestically from any strong challenge, but nobody should understate the level of his achievement.
Whilst others floundered, he ensured that Celtic did not, and the players were building up a fair reputation as a unit. Despite a tough group, Celtic won all three home games, with a special victory against Man U which led Celtic to qualify from the Group stages for the first time. He galvanised the players and had set them out correctly to push futher than they expected. The players were fit and able, and were pushing to the last minute of matches.
It made a whole difference. Strachan was able to utilise players like Nakamura to his best and it was paying out. On the other hand,Celtic were poor away from home and lost all 3 games, with WGS stating that he knew the problem and would have it resolved. Ultimately,Celtic were outdone by a classic goal by Kaka in extra time. A sad way to go out, but a great achievement by WGS and he deserves all the credit in the world.
Regardless of the European achievements, some criticism must also be put at WGS for his second season domestically. The quality of football in the last third of the season in particular was appalling, and the player effort by too many of the squad was deemed non-existent.
People pay to enjoy the product on the pitch, it really was not good at Celtic. A number of the signings were disappointing that season, Gravesen, Miller and Jarosik in particular, whilst Jan Venegoor of Hasselink was injured too often. A spat with Maloney over new contracts saw the club lose a great new wee player transferred to Aston Villa and the defence was as bad at the end of the season as at the start.
The manager appeared to bamboozle and patronise fans on many occasions with his team selections, and what appeared to be a continuing spat with Derek Riordan saw the player play few games and being overshadowed by the far less productive Kenny Miller. A round of boos as Riordan was taken off in one match late in the season was evidence of this.
It was a sorry situation. The fear was that the club was moving backwards despite what had been accomplished in the last year. For WGS, this season had seen him lose the support of most of the fans. However the death of Tommy Burns and his near breakdown after his loss a close friend and work colleague showed a side of WGS which many had not seen before in his time here.
The Support all felt for him and just how much the job and the club really did mean to him. Winning the league against the odds big odds at that appeared to have moved the fans and split the fans opinion on him whether to stay or go at the end of it all. This season for WGS can be termed a success on paper. To quote him, the team achieved what he set out at the start of the year to do.
On paper, Celtic won the league three in a row and got through the Champs League group stages again two in a row which cemented the club as being more than just a flash in the pan side as others in the past have been cynically referred as being.
Adding in that Celtic were seven points plus a game played more behind Rangers going into the end of the season, WGS must be given his due, even by his harshest critic, for leading the team to somehow comeback and win the league. The first team won the last seven games which included 2 wins v Rangers and got much pride back.
At the end of the day, his style of football was uninspiring and unentertaining, and he seemed to stick with some players in his squad way beyond what he should have and then moved them on e. Caldwell, Donati, JVoH , demonstrating an inability to accept criticism and that he had been wrong. A public rift with Derek Riordan depicted an unsettled atmosphere in the changing room although other comments by players, like Mark Wilson, Pressley and Venegoor, said otherwise praising WGS for his man management skills.
Bringing in Barry Robson into the Celtic team seemed to show admission that he needed steel in a lightweight side and what a change he made to the team , whilst Hartley was a revelation this season and deserved all the praise in the world. The fans pay up good money to watch Celtic and many a time the performances were dreadful to watch with the manager unwilling to admit change was needed and seemed to anger many, esp when he criticised the fans for not understanding what he was trying to do.
The First Team lost the first two games v Rangers, with poor tactics amongst other points to blame for it. Adding all this up, WGS has to take flak. However, as said, his emotions after Tommy Burns showed his real self to everyone and all felt for him.
This season may probably have shown him to be more of a coach than a great manager, but unlike the other pundits on television at least he puts his money where his mouth is and takes up the challenge of football management. Moving on to next season he should have learnt from what had happened to become a more complete rounded manager. Must be said, any manager who wins three league titles in a row must be doing something right, so maybe the critics amongst the fans are wrong. A late find in Barry Robson was a revelation, whilst bringing Lennon into the coaching staff seemed to freshen things up.
WGS can be quite an enigma but moving into the next season, more entertaining football really was a requirement. But more importantly, it was questioned on how was his relationship with the fans going to develop this year?
It was a near clean sheet for many on WGS after the emotional end to the last season. Before the season had even begun, rumblings as usual had restarted about WGS and his transfers. Few buys to excite the fans made many apprehensive about the hope for greater entertainment, but in general the mood was that, despite all else, Celtic were going to win the league confidence was high.
The season started off rather easily until the first game v Rangers where basically Celtic were turned over at home and lucky not to have lost by more. The first team were hopeless, and the daggers were out for the manager. Not a good start. Nevertheless following on from there was a cracking set of games which saw Celtic take advantage and overhaul Rangers to go top of the league.
There was some great football in the first third of the season, and this was the best to watch Celtic for a few seasons at least. Anyhow, the big headaches of the season began with injuries besetting the manager in his aim to overhaul Rangers. Credit to WGS as his policy of squad numbers above single big signings did pay off which enabled Celtic to be able to squad rotate players to cover for gaps in the side and keep their nose in front. Amazingly Celtic went 7pts ahead at the end of November, and December became the brightest time of the season and it was capped off with a Scott McDonald inspired victory at the Deathstar against Rangers.
Everyone thought Celtic were set up for the rest of the campaign. How the support were to be disappointed. During all this was the Champions league escapade. A poor final set of results saw Celtic finish bottom of their group and again fail to win any of the away games see link for full write-up.
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Online Motivational. Book Gordon Strachan Name. Date Required. Event Description. Please note we do not accept requests for autographs, personal messages or video messages. Leave this field blank. Gordon Strachan. Enquire Now. After Dinner Speakers. Charlie Nicholas. View Profile. Alan Hansen. Andy Robertson. John McGovern. Manchester United's Gordon Strachan with the ball. He won a total of 50 caps for Scotland. An entertaining and opinionated figure, Strachan's regular appearances as a pundit and his press conference soundbites as a manager continue to mean 'Wee Gordon Strachan' is never far from the public eye.
Strachan: "It's ironic i'm being inducted to the English Hall Of Fame as i'm about to be kicked out of the Scottish one Football Museum FootballMuseum October 19, Opportunities to sponsor or donate to the National Football Museum. You may contact me via Facebook. Sign up. Gordon Strachan Leeds United footballer Gordon Strachan holds the league division championship trophy. Close this module. First Name First Name. Last Name Surname. Your email Email address. This website uses cookies to improve your experience.
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