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Gordon David Strachan /strɔ:n/ OBE (born 9 February 1957 , in Edinburgh ) is a retired Scottish Football player, and is now a football Manager . He is currently manager of Celtic . During his largely successful playing career he played for Dundee (1974-1977), Aberdeen (1977-1984), Manchester United (1984-1989), Leeds United (1989-1995) and Coventry City (1995-1997). He also won 50 international Caps for Scotland and is a member of the Scotland Football Hall Of Fame . Gordon Strachan was an aggressive, skilful right-sided midfield player and is the father of Gavin Strachan , also a footballer. CAREER AS A PLAYER He started his career at Dundee F.C. where he was their youngest ever captain, but it wasn't until he was signed by Aberdeen that he came to prominence. With the famous Aberdeen team of the 1980s, one of the few sides to break the traditional dominance of the Old Firm in Scottish football, he won two Scottish League titles, three Scottish Cup s, the European Cup Winners' Cup and the European Super Cup under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson . In 1984, Manchester United had shown a great deal of interest in the skillful star - with Ron Atkinson spending £500,000 to take him to Old Trafford in August. He was initially successful, contributing massively to their FA Cup victory over Everton in 1985, but gradually began to suffer a loss in form and eventually lost his place as a regular first team player. Leeds United manager Howard Wilkinson came to the rescue in 1989, when he paid £200,000 for Strachan's services. The transfer fee soon paid dividends as Strachan's strong form resulted in Leeds winning the Second Division title in 1990 and gaining promotion to the First Division after an eight-year exile. The following season he helped Leeds finish fourth in the First Division and Strachan was voted Football Writers' Association Footballer Of The Year . A year later, in 1992, he was instrumental in Leeds overtaking Manchester United to win the league title in the last ever season of the old Football League before the creation of the FA Premier League . Strachan continued to be a competent and regular first-team player as Leeds enjoyed mixed fortunes during their first three seasons of the Premiership, although he was sometimes kept out of the side by back problems. Gordon Strachan remained at Leeds United until March 1995, when he moved to Coventry City to work as player-coach under new manager Ron Atkinson. Strachan was not a regular first-team player at Highfield Road , but he helped coach the club's players to a high enough standard to escape relegation from the Premiership in 1995-96 . Strachan had a fruitful International career which included 5 goals. He appeared in two FIFA World Cup s - in 1982 and 1986 - and it was in the latter that he scored his most famous International goal, a cross shot against West Germany in Scotland's second match of the tournament in Queretaro, Mexico. His celebration was unique and comical too, as he attempted to vault the advertising hoarding, his relatively small height made it difficult if not impossible, so he merely rested his right leg on it as his team-mates joined him in celebrating. It was Scotland's only goal in another dismal tournament for them. EARLY CAREER AS A MANAGER Coventry City When Ron Atkinson became Coventry City's Director Of Football in November 1996, Gordon Strachan was promoted to the manager's seat. He finally retired as a player at the end of the season after making his last appearance at the age of 40, at the time a record in the English Premiership. Strachan also helped the Sky Blues pull off perhaps the most unlikely relegation survival in Premiership history. After losing their penultimate Premiership game, it looked as though their 30-year top flight tenancy had come to an end. But thanks to a victory on the final day, and defeats for Middlesbrough (who had been deducted 3 points by the F.A) and Sunderland , they pulled off a miracle survival. Strachan kept Coventry safe from relegation until 2001, when they finally went down after 34 years of top division football. He was sacked shortly after the start of the 2001-02 Division One campaign. Southampton Gordon Strachan returned to management within weeks, taking the manager's job at Premiership strugglers Southampton - who had sacked manager Stuart Gray after a terrible start to their first season at the new St Mary's Stadium . Most pundits had already written them off come Strachan's appointment in October 2001, but he turned round their Premiership fortunes and they finished 11th in the Premiership. The Saints progressed further in 2002-03 when they finished eighth and reached the FA Cup final, where they lost 1-0 to Arsenal. But since Arsenal had qualified for the UEFA Champions League , Southampton qualified for the 2003-04 UEFA Cup A BREAK FROM MANAGEMENT In March 2004, Gordon Strachan announced his resignation as Southampton manager. He had earlier announced his intention not to renew his contract when it expired at the end of the 2003-04 season, but resigned even earlier than intended because he wanted to spend time with his family. Later that year, when Berti Vogts stepped down as Scottish national coach, Strachan was widely tipped to take over. But the job went to Walter Smith instead. He was even linked with the manager's job at Portsmouth , neighbours of his former club Southampton, but turned down the offer to take over. Instead Strachan analysed football matches for the media, most notably alongside Adrian Chiles on the BBC 's '' Match Of The Day 2 ''. Renowned for his Deadpan humour as much as his shrewd tactical awareness, quotes attributed to Strachan have become legendary among football supporters {Link without Title} . RETURN TO SCOTLAND Gordon Strachan finally returned to management on 1 June , 2005 , when he succeeded Martin O'Neill as manager of Celtic in the Scottish Premier League (SPL). For 2005-06, his stated aim was to regain the SPL title from deadly rivals Rangers . He had an embarrassing start to his campaign as Celtic manager, however, losing 5-0 to Slovakia n champions Artmedia Bratislava on 27 July , 2005 and 3 days later only managing to draw 4-4 with Motherwell in his first SPL match in charge of the Glasgow club. The loss against Artmedia meant that Celtic suffered an early exit from European competition, despite winning the return match 4-0. After this disastrous start, Celtic started to improve under Strachan, leading the SPL by as much as 20 points despite playing with a defence that came under regular criticism from the media and fans. A low-point was the shock defeat in the third round of the Scottish Cup to First Division Clyde on 8 January , 2006 . However, the following month his team made history when they beat Dunfermline Athletic 8-1, a record victory margin for the SPL. Strachan's first season was ultimately successful as he coached Celtic to victory in the Scottish League Cup and, on 5 April , 2006 his side clinched the SPL title in record time and with six matches remaining. Reflecting this achievement, Strachan was voted 'manager of the year' by the Scottish Football Writers' Association 8 days later {Link without Title} . The following year Strachan restructed the team and made a series of signings, bringing in players such as Hibernian's Derek Riordan , Chelsea's Jiri Jarosik , Lee Naylor from Wolverhampton, Jan Vennegoor Of Hesselink from PSV, Thomas Gravesen from Real Madrid and both Paul Hartley and Steven Pressley from Hearts. Celtic flourished, and by mid-January 2007 held a 17 point lead in the SPL standings. Champions League football again returned to Celtic Park as well, the team having automatically qualified for the group stages and being drawn alongside Benfica , FC Kobenhavn and Manchester United . Home victories against Benfica and Manchester United saw the team progress to the final 16 of the Champions League for the first time since the competition was re-formatted in 1993. Celtic lost the tie, against A.C. Milan , missing out in a place in the quarter finals. On for 2007. MANAGEMENT STYLE Typically playing a traditional 4-4-2 formation, and very occasionally 4-5-1, Strachan is widely known for his rigorous management style, and admits to watching video replays of his club's games two, sometimes three times.[http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:O3R-XL7jcDwJ:keep-the-faith.net/+strachan+obsessed+with+football&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=au He also places great emphasis on player health and fitness, forbidding his players to drink alcohol excessively or regularly, and often giving dietary advice to his players - attributing his own longevity as a player to a strict and somewhat unusual diet involving seaweed. Players such as Scotland international Gary Caldwell have attributed their success at Celtic to lifestyle changes enforced by Strachan.[http://sport.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=829&id=1535832006] Under Strachan Celtic play a system of area marking, as opposed to man marking. FIFA/SOS AMBASSADOR FOR SCOTLAND Gordon Strachan was appointed as the official FIFA/SOS Ambassador for Scotland, joining Wayne Rooney (Ambassador for England), Ruud Van Nistelrooy (Netherlands), and fifty others in fund raising for the official 2006 FIFA World Cup Charity. SOS QUOTES Reporter: Welcome to Southampton Football Club. Do you think you are the right man to turn things around? '''Strachan''': No. I was asked if I thought I was the right man for the job and I said, "No, I think they should have got George Graham because I'm useless." Reporter: Is that your best start to a season? '''Strachan''': Well I've still got a job so it's far better than the Coventry one, that's for sure. Reporter: Are you getting where you want to be with this team? Strachan: We're not doing bad. What do you expect us to be like? We were eighth in the league last year, in the cup final and we got into Europe. I don't know where you expect me to get to. Do you expect us to win the Champions League? Reporter: Gordon, you must be delighted with that result? Strachan: You're spot on! You can read me like a book. Strachan: I've got more important things to think about. I've got a yogurt to finish by today, the expiry date is today. That can be my priority rather than Agustin Delgado. Reporter: This might sound like a daft question, but you'll be happy to get your first win under your belt, won't you? Strachan: You're right. It is a daft question. I'm not even going to bother answering that one. It is a daft question, you're spot on there. Reporter: Bang, there goes your unbeaten run. Can you take it? Strachan: No, I'm just going to crumble like a wreck. I'll go home, become an alcoholic and maybe jump of a bridge. Umm, I think I can take it, yeah. Reporter: There's no negative vibes or negative feelings here? Strachan: Apart from yourself, we're all quite positive round here. I'm going to whack you over the head with a big stick, down negative man, down. Reporter: Where will Marion Pahars fit into the team line-up? Strachan: Not telling you! It's a secret. Reporter: You don't take losing lightly, do you Gordon? Strachan: I don't take stupid comments lightly either. Reporter: So, Gordon, in what areas do you think Middlesbrough were better than you today? Strachan: What areas? Mainly that big green one out there... Strachan was on Sky on Sunday morning. He saw John Terry's goal and said he was impressed that Terry goes up expecting to score. He contrasted this to Claus Lundekvam the Saints central defender who goes up for every dead ball and never ever looks remotely like scoring. He said if there was a dead body lying in the penalty area the ball would hit it on the head several times a season which he said is more than Lundekvam can manage. He said referees should book Lundekvam for timewasting every time he goes up for a corner. When the co-commentator said if Lundekvam was watching Strachan was only joking. Strachan assured him he was deadly serious. MANAGERIAL STATS ''As of 24 May 2007.'' HONOURS Player:
Manager:
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