STRACHAN v McGEADY
humbled 5- 0 by Artmedia Bratislava. Yet it was a clash of personalities that undermined their relationship, with sparks often flying between firebrands who loved to have the last word and often delivered it at the end of a cutting jibe.
McGeady later admitted he just wasn’t Strachan’s “type of guy”.
That much became clear when the gaffer dressed him down for an onfield clash with Lennon at Dunfermline in 2006.
Despite the veteran midfielder being the aggressor and also clashing with keeper Boruc, it was McGeady who had a strip torn off him.
Strachan even vetoed his coronation as Man of the Match and handed the champagne instead to Darren O’Dea.
The sense he was getting a raw deal was strengthened when new signing Barry Robson clattered McGeady in his first training season.
Robson feared the worst when his gaffer approached him for a quiet word, only to be told: “Make sure you f****** do that to him every day!” Boruc was next in line to have a pop but when the squad informed Strachan of the violent bust-up he kept a cool head and replied: “Aye I thought there might have been. I hope he knocked him out!”
That wasn’t the only time McGeady was thwacked during Strachan’s reign, copping a shiner on a summer tour of America after getting in a fight at a hotdog stand.
Yet it wasn’t until the last season of the manager’s reign that their relationship was sent sprawling to the canvas.
A stalemate with Hearts in December 2008 brought matters to a head.
McGeady came under fire again and team-mate Mark
Wilson admitted it all “got a bit out of hand” as the winger got up off his seat to confront a raging Strachan. His punishment was a two-week ban and £30,000 fine, with McGeady forced to look on from home as the Hoops triumphed 1- 0 at Ibrox.
He was back in the side for the League Cup Final, scoring the clincher in a 2- 0 win as Celtic beat Rangers once more.
Yet when the sides met back at Ibrox in the midst of a tense run-in it was telling that McGeady was limited to a cameo off
the bench.
The 1-0 defeat saw the title slip from Celtic’s grasp and Strachan resigned just weeks later, with McGeady lasting another season before his big-money move to Spartak Moscow.
The language barrier helped make Moscow mash-ups a rare occurrence but his career came full circle when another rumoured spat ended his spell at Sunderland earlier this season.
That came after he had starred in the club’s Netflix documentary and there was a sense of karma when the former teen tormentor branded Sunderland’s youth team “gimps” for pelting him with snowballs.