Celtic Fans Should Sit Tight, Appreciate Gordon Strachan

The build-up has barely begun to the match which will decide the destiny of the Scottish Premier League for 2008-09, and already there are growing calls for Celtic manager Gordon Strachan to quit or be sacked.

Let's just think about that for a second. A manager who has a 100 percent record of league wins and the chance to clinch a fourth consecutive title has some so-called "fans" calling for his head on a spike.

If truth be told, Gordon Strachan has never been popular with a significant percentage of Celtic fans, and a myriad of reasons have been put forward to explain it. 

Some say the manager is not "Celtic-minded."

It would seem these doubters prefer a manager who grew up a Celtic fan, preferably someone who previously played for the club—and if he's a Catholic, so much the better. Success on the pitch is secondary to that. For a tiny, lunatic fringe, that may well be the case, but these factors are irrelevant to the majority of supporters.

There is a theory that too much bad blood carried over from Strachan's time at Aberdeen. An impish midfielder, he was an instrumental part of some painful defeats for Celtic in the late '70s and early '80s.

That doesn't explain it for me either. He left Aberdeen 25 years ago, so surely mature adults in their late '30s and older would be over that by now? Not many people younger than that will remember his Aberdeen days.

The next theory is that he is contemptuous of the press. I would have expected that to endear him to most Celtic fans, who regard the press in Scotland as the "Laptop Loyal," little more than propaganda mouthpieces for David Murray and Rangers.

The theory I find most convincing is that Strachan simply is not Martin O'Neill.

"The Blessed Martin" restored Celtic to something approaching the stature they last enjoyed in the game in the early 1970s. He was wildly popular with the fans, and it cannot be denied that his Irish Catholic background did him no harm on that score.

O'Neill was an impossible act to follow from a public relations point of view.

That might explain Strachan's initial difficulty in winning over the fans, but there is little doubt why he has failed to do it.

The football produced by Celtic in the Strachan era—interspersed as it has been with some outstanding performances and epic Champions League victories—can best be described as functional.

For people reared on a diet of passed-on tales of Patsy Gallacher, Jimmy McGrory, Charlie Tully, Jimmy Johnstone, Kenny Dalglish, Paul McStay and Henrik Larsson, entertainment is not an optional extra. It is for them an integral part of the Celtic experience. It's not enough for Celtic to be the best, they have to be the best to watch too.

Yet, are the expectations heaped on Gordon Strachan's shoulders realistic?

Before he left Celtic in 2005, Martin O'Neill warned the club's followers to get ready for life "in the slow lane."

O'Neill inherited a core of players like Henrik Larsson, Paul Lambert, Johan Mjallby, Lubo Moravcik and Stiliyan Petrov. Each of them at their peak would walk straight into today's team.

In his first 12 months on the job, O'Neill was also allowed to spend about £24 million on Joos Valgaeren, Chris Sutton, Alan Thompson, Neil Lennon, Bobo Balde and John Hartson. Again, players who would walk straight into the current side at their peak.

The purse strings were pulled tight for the next four years after that, but O'Neill had assembled a squad of players who would dominate Scottish football for four seasons.

Contrast that with the side Strachan inherited in 2005. Larsson was gone, O'Neill's players were past their best, and the club was in a deep depression.

Through astute signings and careful nurturing of some of the younger players barely used by O'Neill, the club was transformed, but Strachan has never been allowed to spend the sort of money O'Neill did.

Despite that, his domestic record actually surpasses O'Neill's. In Europe, too, he has taken the club farther in the Champions League than O'Neill ever managed. True, he hasn't taken Celtic to a UEFA Cup Final, but under Strachan they have never played in that competition.

On the debit side, several Strachan signings have been massive disappointments. Jiri Jarosik, Thomas Gravesen, and Massimo Donati promised much but ultimately failed to deliver.

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink has missed almost as many games through injury as he has played since joining the club in 2006, and the defence has never looked as solid as it did under O'Neill.

Despite the uninspiring football and the many embarrassing moments—there have been too many to mention in the SPL this season—there is no denying Strachan has been a successful Celtic manager.

Three SPL titles, two League Cups, one Scottish Cup and two last 16 appearances in the Champions League prove that.

Any replacement for Strachan would have to work under the same financial constraints. It could be argued that a new manager might make better use of his resources, but replacing him would be a massive gamble.

Is there a manager out there to take Celtic beyond the last 16 of the Champions League? I'd say not, unless there were a massive cash injection into the team.

Is there a manager out there who can win the SPL every season? That's what Strachan has done so far, so why take the risk?

There is no guarantee that Celtic will find a manager capable of improving Strachan's record of success, and no indication that the club would be willing to spend the required money on attracting him. There is just as great a chance that a replacement will turn out to be less successful.

One thing is for certain: It is tantamount to footballing treason to be calling for the manager to be sacked this week. The title is still there to be won, and the best thing for Celtic fans to do now is get 100 percent behind everyone at the club, not least the manager.

There will be plenty of time for recriminations next Monday, and it looks as though that post-mortem will be happening regardless of the outcome. Those so inclined should keep their powder dry, and their knives sharpened, until then.

How crazy will it look if the eminently possible happens and the club clinches the title on Sunday while the fans bay for the manager's blood?

If Celtic fans are not careful, the job will soon be widely viewed in managerial circles as the ultimate poisoned chalice. Even the Newcastle United job will look more attractive.