AGAINST ALL NODS
Strach: I loved watching Celtic match up to Euro big guns but my wee boy was caught napping when we met Barca
GAVIN STRACHAN teases son Luke about falling fast asleep in the middle of the Main Stand back when Celtic battled out a Euro classic with Barcelona.
But the new Parkhead coach was wide awake and taking in every single moment of that night and the other big evenings he spent at the rocking 60,000 stadium when his dad Gordon was the manager.
Such passion, pressure and excitement normally reverberates around the place week on week. And it made joining the champions a no-brainer for Strachan.
The 41-year-old has eased into life alongside Neil Lennon and John Kennedy having been snapped up from Peterborough to replace the departed Damien Duff.
Some players, managers and coaches need time to educate themselves on their surroundings when arriving into new clubs.
That however is not the case for Strachan. He has been there often enough and seen it for himself.
Even if his Dundee-playing son might have been in the land of nod during the five-goal UEFA Cup clash against the mighty Catalans, Strachan’s eyes were fully opened as he said: “I came to a few games when he was manager.
“Funnily enough I still tease my son, Luke, who is at Dundee. We played Barcelona here one night and he was fast asleep as a five year old, lying with a tartan blanket wrapped around him.
“That was the game Barry Robson scored but Celtic unfortunately lost. But I was here for other games too, like the 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. “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.” Strachan of course isn’t just in his post because he likes the atmosphere. His coaching skills earned him the gig, with Celtic having to lure him away from a job at Peterborough where he had a successful partnership with gaffer Darren Ferguson. Strachan’s attachment to the management staff at Parkhead started many years ago when crossing paths with Lennon and Kennedy as he said: “We (him and Lennon) dealt with each other quite a bit when he was at
Bolton. 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 are residential so 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. 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 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.”
Naturally, following a father who was particularly successful into any club brings its own pressures.
Gordon was a big hit at Parkhead with title wins and major European victories but Gavin has forged his own name for himself in the game and is his own man.
Strachan worked his way through youth set-ups having finished his coaching badges before managing Ilkeston and then becoming assistant to Ferguson at Doncaster and Posh.
Strachan, who also studied journalism at Staffordshire Uni after finishing his playing career, says it would be silly not to court some advice from his father in times of need.
But he revealed his old man had no inkling of the Celtic offer until late in the negotiations as he said: “He didn’t know anything about it until it was quite far down the line to be honest.
“He was quite surprised but then he also understood the connection I had with John and Lenny. He just said, ‘you’ve got to go for it, haven’t you?’ but I was going anyway!
“Listen I’m 41 now and have been dealing with the comparisons since I was 15 but our careers have gone down such different paths, I’ve just cracked on with my own thing.
“As the years have gone by I would 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 or advice on me.”