MEDALS? I STORED THEM IN AN ASDA BAG AT THE BACK OF MY GARAGE SAYS

Gordon Strachan doesn’t do sentiment. His house isn’t laden with ego-massaging Walls of Fame or spot-lit trophy cabinets celebrating the glories of a 45-year career.

Fifty Scotland caps, league titles north and south of the border, 17 winners’ medals as player and manager.

But the only football treasure trove he cares about lies in the six inches between his ears.

Which is why, lying on the table in the cafe of the Spartans Academy where he’s a patron, crumpled and creased, bundled and balled, lie four tops most football fans would kill for as souvenirs – yet which he is happily handing over for no reason other than being asked.

Them, and the medals he kept in an Asda poly bag in his garage.

Strachan wi l l celebrate his 60th birthday on Thursday, free of the chip on the shoulder that so often weighs down those of his generation who think everything was better in their day.

Instead he’s able to celebrate it with the perspective of a guy whose only football souvenir on display at home is a picture of the late Tommy Burns.

He’s a guy who believes football is getting better, not worse. And who is keen to keep creating moments in history rather than reliving those he’s been through.

Strachan said: “Someone asked me last week where I keep my medals – and I said ‘I’ve not got a clue’.

“But I found the strips in the garage and the medals in an Asda bag. I’m so proud of them but I don’t need to show them off.

“I come from a footballing family and the last thing my kids and grandson want to see is my stuff dotted about the house.

“So the guys here can show them and that’s fine.

“It’s all up there,” he shrugs, pointing to his head. “It’s not so much the games, it’s the silly things that happened in those games.

“It’s all about the people you played with, the laughs and jokes. You realise how much it matters later on.

“Players in those days couldn’t afford to have big rooms they can just fill up with stuff the way they do now.

“My mum has one or two pieces, like my first Scotland cap and even the schoolboy one when I was 15. But as long as I have the memories of them, I’m fine.”

Asked if there was any sign at home he had ever been a footballer, he laughed: “I walk with a limp now and then and I look like this!

“I do have a lithograph of Tommy Burns f lying through the air when we beat Shakhtar Donetsk and the boys went to celebrate. That’s about it.

“It’s back to people you meet in the game rather than pictures. The biggest kick I get now is players phoning you for advice and thanking you for your help. It’s better than things like these shirts.”

Strachan made his debut for Dundee at 15 in a playing career that lasted 25 years through Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds and Coventry.

As a boss, he’s made the transition from Coventry through Southampton to Celtic, Middlesbrough and the national team.

The game has changed beyond recognition since 1972 but he shrugged: “It’s better now in a lot of ways.

“The pitches, stadiums, technique of the players, their speed. I’m just not so sure about their character, or loyalty or respect – whatever you want to call it.

“This ‘I’m no’ daein’ that, I’m no’ gonna play.’ I asked Sir Alex Ferguson for a transfer at Manchester United in 1982 and he told me to go forth and multiply – I was there for two more years.

“We were all on the same wage level at that point remember and I’d love to see that more regulated now. Do you want to

“Today’s football is like a Formula 1 car – anything goes wrong with him, he doesn’t play. We had to be a four-wheel drive – play anywhere in any conditions.

“You can’t just say what we always did was right but if I played now I don’t think I’d enjoy it as much.

“We were all about groups. At Aberdeen all the players used to go out together with their wives on a Saturday night.

“Fergie would tell guys like Bryan Gunn and Eric Black to be babysitters then get them together on the Monday morning to find out who came in at what time.

“I loved that camaraderie, loved meeting people– still do, even now.”

Those changes have informed his management methods as well – but he insists he had his eyes opened by now Chelsea boss Antonio Conte last year.

Strachan said: “I was never a bully but we’re in an era now when you’ll get assistant managers warning you could