Wee Gordon Strachan And The Big Picture

In the return leg of the calamity that was the Champions League qualifier against Artmedia Bratislava I sat in the Fergus McCann Stand and with all my might willed Celtic to triumph, possibly more so than I have ever done before or since. Anyone of the Green persuasion who attended that evening will attest to how close we came to completing one of the greatest turnarounds in our Clubs history.

The thin line some call it.

Too many Celtic fans it was the final nail in Strachan’s coffin with the first being the announcement of his appointment. And as disappointed as I was that evening a new flame had been lit within me, as the ‘tic finished the game with ten attacking outfielders and our keeper camped in and around the opponents box. ‘The Celtic Way’-and in stark contrast to the tedium and dirge we suffered the season before.

Hindsight brings an undelining. The O’Neill Project was a calculated risk by men who understood the unsustainable danger that those on the other side of the City had gloriously galloped into.

Wee Gordon Strachan took up the challenge that Martin O’Neill body-swerved and won the Club three titles on the bounce. Selling, retiring, trading and bargain basement trailing his way to an effective sometimes exciting team.

I remember too under Fergus McCann’s stewardship receiving a comprehensive questionnaire from the Club. The only question that I can recall in what was mainly a commercial exercise was; List these options in priority (from most important to least): Winning the European Cup/Winning the Scottish League/Winning the Scottish Cup and so on was how I answered. I understood the question to be a philosophical one.

Our young Manager and young team have shown a steady improvement over the past year and a half. What they promise via glances of individual brilliance and sweeping team displays have tempted some bloggers into posing the “Golden Age” question.

Yet Celtic Football Club do not find themselves in this position because of the spending power of an Oligarch or Sheik nor is it because of an alignment of stars
presenting us with a new generation of ‘Quality Street’ kids but the astute, almost scientific approach of a misunderstood Board set up by McCann only interrupted by the O’Neill Project.

There is much talk of breaking O’Neill’s records just now but again I find myself looking at next season’s Champions League and wondering to myself, can this team go further than the last sixteen? Or am I confident that this tean can beat top tier teams like Manchester United and AC Milan at home?

Mibees aye mibees naw is the truth of it.

Of course I’m biased. I will always associate the Seville team primarily with Henke Larsson. I will always remember Martin O’Neill when at Fir or Rugby Park. It’s unfair I know but that’s just the way it goes and I thought I’d just say.