Despite two years of great success and improvement, the Hoops boss still doesn't have the full backing of the fans. As a Rangers supporter, I have absolutely no idea why.
'Martin O'Neill is still universally loved by the Celtic support. Yet, whilst he enjoyed considerable success, his record isn't as good as Strachan's'
The second Old Firm game of the season is nearly upon us and, more often than not, these fixtures decide the destination of the Scottish title. There are only three points between the teams and both are enduring a loss of form - well, by Old Firm standards anyway.
After this game the teams still have to play each other twice more so whatever happens on Saturday nothing will be decided. Against this background it is strange that so many Celtic fans seem to have it in for their manager Gordon Strachan.
By anyone’s standards Strachan has been a big success at Celtic. He has won the league title in both his seasons in charge as well as last season's Scottish Cup. More impressively, he has guided his team into the last 16 of the Champions League twice, producing some exceptional results along the way. He has also seen off two Rangers managers in that time and won at Ibrox along the way.
His achievements are made all the more impressive when judged against a period of continued fiscal "down-sizing" at the club and, whilst he still has the biggest transfer budget and wage bill in the Scottish league, it is greatly reduced compared to his predecessor.
So what is the problem? Why aren’t Celtic supporters petitioning for Strachan’s canonisation?
In the mad world of the Old Firm, it seems this just might not be enough for some of his team's fans. Part of the problem seems to be the man himself. Wee Gordon had no affiliation with Celtic before joining them as manager. He never played for them, he didn’t support Celtic as a boy, he isn’t Catholic and has no connection to speak of with Ireland. This puts him at a distinct disadvantage when compared to the man who went before him, Martin O’Neill.
O’Neill was, and still is, universally loved by the Celtic support. Yet, whilst he enjoyed considerable success, his record isn’t as good as Strachan's.
O’Neill spent more money than any Celtic manager in modern times and his style of play, whilst effective, was direct and not pleasing on the eye. Strachan’s Celtic, on the other hand, play a passing game. Where O’Neill favoured physique over technique, Strachan is the opposite.
Despite O’Neill’s millions, he still managed to lose the league twice to Rangers on the last day of the season. And, although he made the UEFA Cup final, he never qualified from the Champions League group stages.
Strachan often comes across as sarcastic, surly and arrogant in the broadcast media but, until recently, had never played the paranoia card so loved by O’Neill and the Celtic support. Celtic fans see themselves as an oppressed minority fighting against unseen powers. Strachan has never indulged this particular fantasy. Perhaps he sees it for the nonsense it is. Either way, it's not what the fans expect.
Lastly, the Celtic support is terrified of Walter Smith, the current Rangers manager. He held an Indian sign over them for the best part of a decade in his previous tenure at Ibrox and has already beaten Celtic three times since returning to the club last January.
Rangers are suddenly making the running both domestically and in Europe and the thought of another decade of Rangers supremacy is scaring the life out of the Celtic die-hards. The irony is that Rangers supporters currently hold the Celtic manager in higher esteem than the Celtic fans do. This weekend will go some way to showing which of them is right.
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