THE FRENCH CONNECTION
Strachan believes pre-season trip will help Celtic refocus on their ten-in-a-row bid after virus chaos
ATTEMPTING to ascertain what lies in store for a side on the basis of their travails in pre-season matches is the very essence of a fool’s errand.
Notoriously unreliable indicators of what the next ten months hold on the park, the significance of such low-key jousts lies not in any scoreline but as a means of crunching through the gears before full throttle needs to be engaged.
As any seasoned pro will gladly explain, attempting to tackle the campaign proper without the hard miles first being put in is akin to a high-wire act. Nothing has ever been won in July but it’s the time when the seeds of future success are sown.
Back in training since June 11, this summer, Celtic have enjoyed the one commodity they normally lack at this time of year — time itself.
With no Champions League qualifiers to contemplate until August 18/19, for once, being up to speed by the start of the Premiership season on August 1 is the target for Neil Lennon’s side.
Given that constitutes over seven weeks of preparatory work, the price of a more gradual increase in tempo could well be a degree of boredom setting in.
Thus the reason why the club have set up three tasty encounters in France between July 16 and 21 against Lyon, Nice and Paris Saint-Germain.
For Gavin Strachan, though, there is another important dimension to the club’s forthcoming hop across the Channel.
His first summer at the club, the man who replaced Damien Duff as first-team coach needs no one to explain the importance of the season that awaits and, by extension, the role he now fills.
Welcomed into the fold just as lockdown was beginning to ease, the son of former Celtic manager Gordon appreciated that he was about to work with players as likely to have been offset by recent world events as the next man.
Although immediately struck by the camaraderie in his new working environment, Strachan was acutely aware of the shadow that COvID-19 had cast on us all.
A welcome trip to France, he sincerely believes, can fine tune the squad both mentally and physically for the potentially historic season which lies ahead.
While the outcomes of the A-list assignments are truly of secondary importance, there is no underestimating the value of a change in environment.
‘The way the world is now, and with everyone so isolated for so long, any chance to get people together and spend quality time together, is something that we’re all looking forward to,’ he said.
‘We’re lucky that we’re able to do that. I’ve already seen a great spirit amongst the players, so to go away and cement that ahead of what’s going to be an important season is something that we feel is vital.
‘It’ll be good for me too, although it’s amazing how comfortable I feel already. It’s only been ten days of actual training but I feel like I know all the guys quite well already.
‘This is a chance to solidify all that. For the players, it’ll help them mentally after everything that’s been going on in the world.
‘It’ll be good for the camaraderie and the bonding after everyone has been isolated for so long.
‘It’ll be good for everyone’s mental health as much as anything.’
Notwithstanding the small matter of recruiting a first-choice goalkeeper, the one comfort for Lennon in these uncertain times has been the fact that his side was never going to require major surgery this summer.
Odsonne Edouard has declared himself ready to have a tilt at ten in a row, while the stellar names from a familiar cast — Scott Brown, James Forrest and Callum McGregor — are also good to go again.
Strachan, accordingly, feels like he’s taken a seat at a self-playing piano. His work in the weeks and months ahead will be critical yet he’s appreciative of the fact that he has everything he could possibly wish for at his disposal.
‘Having come in from the outside, and having seen how everyone works, there is a real continuity there,’ he added ahead of this week’s trip to Loughborough.
‘I’m talking about the training sessions, the routines, the standards and the discipline. You can see it’s a well-oiled machine. I’m just finding my place within that.’
Not for a minute would he suggest it’s been a breeze. Although a decent player in his own right, Strachan junior spent his playing days at the likes of Hartlepool United and Notts County — a far cry from Manchester United and Leeds, where his father used to play.
Celtic represents a significant increase in scale and expectation.
Asked about first-day nerves, he replied: ‘It was the same in my first days at Doncaster and then Peterborough (where he was assistant manager). Wherever you go and work there is always trepidation. Clearly it’s magnified here when it’s a club like Celtic.
‘But once you get working and do what you do, it’s just football. It’s been great, I’ve really been enjoying it.
‘I think for anyone joining a new club of this magnitude, in these times, would tell you it’s a bit of a whirlwind. You need to get used to a new way of working.
‘But everybody has made me feel extremely welcome. The players and the staff have been excellent and as the days have gone by I’ve been able to do what I do. The players have been able to figure out what I’m all about and that makes it a little bit easier.’
It has only been ten days of actual training but I feel I know the guys quite well already