O’Neill Or Strachan? Who Was The Better Celtic Boss?

If, as might well be the case, we’ve seen the last of Gordon Strachan as Scotland boss, it will be somewhat sad, yet oddly fitting, that Martin O’Neill is the guy responsible.

I like both these guys. It’s impossible not to.

They are both part of our club, part of its soul.

Gordon Strachan didn’t start out that way, but in his four years at Celtic Park we grew on him and our club grew inside him until it was inevitable.

He is now part of the Family.

Martin O’Neill was different. He grew up with this, with us, with our club.

He didn’t have to join the Family, he was almost born into it.

Like a lot of Celtic fans, I was starved of success growing up.

My abiding memories were of Rangers winning leagues, bookended by a day at Celtic Park against Dundee and another against St Johnstone.

I didn’t grow up with the sweet taste of victory.

I swallowed the bitter fruit of defeat over and over again.

Fergus McCann and Wim Jansen were the first real heroes of my adult life, and the former was misunderstood and the latter was off almost as soon as he arrived.

The guys who gave me the glory I missed out on were these two; one a diminutive Scot graced with wonderful playing skills and who had terrorised us at Aberdeen and the other a winner of the European Cup who enjoyed attending court cases in his spare time.

They couldn’t have been more different in background, style or approach … but they worked wonders at Celtic Park.

For years, I’ve pondered on their respective achievements before, during and since their time at our club and I hate that I’ve forced myself to decide who was the greater manager, because they have both succeeded in the game and at Celtic beyond what many others will ever do in their careers.

Having broken it all down I have to give the honour to Martin O’Neill.

One word sums up my reasoning; Seville.

I’d love to say it comes down to more than that, to make it a rational argument rather than an emotional one, but I can’t.

Because in many ways, Gordon actually has the more impressive record, if you’re looking at it right.

Their trophy haul was kind of similar, with Martin winning three league titles, three Scottish Cups and a League Cup as well as getting to that epic final.

He was at the club five years.

Gordon won three titles, a Scottish Cup and two League Cups.

He never reached a European Final but he led us out of the Group Stages of the Champions League twice, which Martin never managed, and his similar trophy take has to be measured in light of his having spent one full year less at the club than his predecessor did.

Martin won a domestic treble, which Gordon never did.

But Gordon won three titles in a row, and that’s pretty impressive in itself.

You also have to consider that Gordon won, and lost, a title on the final day and balance that with the fact that Martin lost both of his the same way.

That, too, is very good going and makes these guys standout coaches in our history.

In terms of their win ratio, Martin O’Neill’s record – at 75% – is the highest in the history of the club, moving him ahead of even the great Jock Stein.

Gordon is some ways behind; indeed his win average of 65% has him behind Jock, Neil Lennon, Ronny Deila and even John Barnes, with the latter proving that those kind of stats aren’t really a great judge of anything.

Stein aside, Gordon has a good case for having achieved far more than any of them.

Outside of Celtic Park, Martin’s record is easily the most impressive.

He has a Conference title with Wycombe, with whom he also won two FA Trophies.

At Leicester, where he’s considered an icon, he won two League Cup’s.

Gordon, in contrast, has a runner up place in an FA Cup final to look back on outside of his career at Celtic Park.

What you have to do beyond that is look at their records with their national teams.

Gordon has managed 25 games with a win ratio of an impressive 48%.

Martin has managed Ireland for 20 matches, with a win ratio of 40%.

Broken down into its constituent parts, Martin has eight wins seven draws and five losses from his games.

Gordon has twelve wins, five draws and eight defeats.

Some of those defeats and draws have been costly, and that might well be the difference.

In the head to head between the two, he came out on top, after all, with a win and a draw.

What has cost Scotland is our record elsewhere.

The rest boils down to who has the best players and it’s here I think that you can make a case for Gordon as the superior coach.

After all, at Celtic Martin was able to call on the talents of guys like Sutton, Larsson, Moravcik and others.

Gordon signed good players, like Nakamura, but he never had the real geniuses in his side.

Likewise, with Ireland O’Neill arguably works with far better footballers than are available to his counterpart.

Is it really that simple?

Some would say so.

In the end, for me this is an emotional debate more than an intellectual one. These guys are both exceptionally good coaches, with fine records to boast of, but neither would ever be considered in the absolute top bracket with people like Stein and Ferguson.

Nevertheless, their countries are lucky to have them as our club was.

It would be sad if Martin O’Neill ended the Scotland managerial career of Gordon Strachan, but from the moment the draw was made I think we all fancied Germany and Poland to top the group and so the playoff spot was always going to come down to which of the two could handle the pressure and the task best.

With a win and a draw against the World Champions it’s clear that Martin O’Neill and his players accomplished that.

In many ways, we Celtic fans have been comparing their records a long time, as we will one day be able to compare those with the achievements of Neil Lennon and Ronny Deila. This is what football fans do, of course, and if I’ve ranked O’Neill more highly it’s because of that one shining moment, that achievement which beats all the rest, going to a European final.

When I told my old man I was writing this piece he summed it up for me by asking me if I remembered every Celtic cup final, and every league title I’ve seen.

I do remember most of them, but the specifics of others have receded into memory, as these things do.

But I remember every second of that final, even the parts I wish I didn’t.

It’s entered our folklore, and our hearts like few other events ever will.

Few of us recall it as a glorious defeat; rather it was a celebration of everything that makes Celtic great.

Could Gordon have got us there? Further?

That question tantalises me.

With those players at his disposal I wouldn’t have bet against him, but fate never meant that to be.

Instead it was Martin, the man from Kilrea, who was at the helm, with those gifted footballers around him, and but for some awful luck, the beginnings of the Mourinho legend and an injury which kept John Hartson out of the game Martin O’Neill’s record as a coach would look even more impressive.

So yes, Martin wins it for me but not by much.

I’d like to know what you all think.