Gavin Strachan lured back to Celtic by memory of euphoric Euro victory

Victory over Manchester United still fresh in the mind of new Celtic coach

Celtic’s Shunsuke Nakamura lifts his delicious free-kick over the Manchester United wall to secure a memorable European victory. Picture: AFP via Getty.

There could be few more mammoth occasions at Parkhead than the one that would accompany Celtic celebrating an historic tenth consecutive title – as they will be striving to claim in the next 11 months. It turns out that maybe new first-team coach Gavin Strachan will be a lucky charm in that obsessive pursuit.

The 41-year-old may be the son of former Celtic manager Gordon Strachan but his own football career in the English leagues denied him the opportunity to watch much of his old man’s team during the four years his dad helmed the club from 2005.

He did, though, make the trip to Celtic from County Durham – where he was based in then playing for Hartlepool United – in September 2006. His reward was to experience euphoria at Celtic Park which has few equals across the past four decades.

“That game against Manchester United when the [Shunsuke] Nakamura free-kick went in, the atmosphere that night was just something you can’t describe to anyone who wasn’t here that night. It was just incredible,” he said of a 1-0 win that took Celtic through to the knock-out stages of the Champions League for the first time. “The lure of being part of nights like that in the future is so strong. The buzz and thought of being part of that is so exciting.

“I came to a few games when he [dad] was manager. Funnily enough I still tease my son, Luke, who is 19 and at Dundee. We played Barcelona here one night [in the Champions League last 16 in March 2007] and he was fast asleep as a five-year old, lying with a tartan blanket wrapped around him in the game Barry Robson scored but Celtic unfortunately lost [3-2].”

Current Celtic manager Neil Lennon learned much from the older Strachan, inset, during his time in charge. He was brought on to the coaching staff in 2008 by then then manager. In turn, his son learned much about Lennon during his ill-fated 17 month tenure at Bolton Wanderers that was ended in March 2016. But Strachan has more first-hand previous knowledge of his assistant John Kennedy, through finding himself on a similar learning curve tothe Celtic no 2 when he turned his attention to coaching.

“We dealt with each other quite a bit when he was at Bolton,” he said of his new boss. “I was at Doncaster at the time so we were at similar levels and we’d come across each other quite a bit. I knew John more as we did our A-licence and Pro-Licence together up here. I have definitely spent more time with him than the gaffer before coming here.

“When you’re doing those courses, a lot of them as residential, you end up spending quite a lot of time together and you see how people’s minds work. And I was always impressed with John. Even back then you could see his football brain and his organisational skills. He’s a very good coach.

“That’s why when the job came up I felt it was right. I loved what I was doing at Peterborough, it’s a really good club with a really good manager [in Darren Ferguson] and staff. But as soon as this became a possibility it was something I wanted to do. There weren’t many clubs I would have left for because I really enjoyed it where I was.

“Had it even been top Championship clubs I don’t think I would have gone. But Celtic is different with the scale of the club and everything that goes with it with the fan base. Knowing a bit about the club anyway, for a coach and a career opportunity, it was just something I couldn’t turn down.”

It is tempting to think that, when the offer to replace the departing Damien Duff on Celtic’s backroom staff came his way last month, Gavin got himself directly on the blower to his father to have a heart-to-heart on whether he should follow in his footsteps. It just wasn’t like that, though.

“He didn’t know anything about it until it was quite far down the line, to be honest,” said the former Scotland under-21 international “I think he was quite surprised but then he also understood the connection I had with John Kennedy and Lenny. He just said ‘you’ve got to go for it. haven’t you’, but I was going anyway...”

Stepping into the shadow of his father might have been thought to require careful consideration. For the fact is that as a player he was never able to step outside of it. While 50-times capped Scotland international and SFA Hall of Famer Gordon Strachan could boast a litany of club and personal honours as a player with Aberdeen, Manchester United and Leeds United – joining the select band of individuals who have snared the title north and south of the Border courtesy of championship success at Elland Road in 1992 to follow such Pittdorie triumphs in 1980 and 1984 – his son lifted no significant silverware.

Gavin turned out for no fewer than 13 clubs, with loan spells at Dundee and Motherwell among that number, but he has long since stopped feeling he has to live up to anything achieved by his father, a three-in-a-row title winner as Celtic manager. But he feels that he can lean on him for guidance now that he is in the trackside phase of his career.

“Listen, I’m 41 now and have been dealing with the comparisons since I was 15,” said the Celtic coach. “But our careers have gone down such different paths I’ve just cracked on with my own thing. As the years have gone by, and certainly since I’ve gone into coaching, I’d be daft not to use his experience and knowledge and ask how to deal with certain things and certain situations.

But he’s really good, he never forces his opinion on me or forces advice on me – but he’s there for me if need be.”

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