With the news that ex-Celtic manager Gordon Strachan this week has formally been announced as the new Scotland high-heid-yin we would like to offer our congratulations to the wee man who is held in the highest regard by all of us at ETims. Gordon has by some distance been Celtic’s biggest supporter of those ex-Celts working in the media over the past number of years. While many are happy to take money and put the boot into the club at every opportunity, Gordon comes from a very different angle by offering continual praise and affection for Celtic either on ESPN or ITV when offering Champions League appraisal.
Not bad for someone who didn’t kiss the club badge or profess undying love for Celtic from childhood…..
His new role will clearly see less of a cheerleading position to avoid upsetting many – probably in the Scottish media – but we all know where his heart lies and wish him the very best of luck.
Over to Gordon to explain how he feels about Celtic…..
Manager departs with rousing reception
David Friel
June 1st 2009
GORDON STRACHAN said thanks and farewell to the Celtic supporters during an emotional speech at the Tommy Burns Tribute Match on Sunday.
The former Hoops boss, who stood down last week, made a swift return to Glasgow to honour the life of his great friend and was given a standing ovation as he took to the pitch before kick-off.
Having won six trophies in four years and guided the club to historic European achievements, he has written his name into Celtic folklore and leaves with the best wishes of everyone at the club.
“Successful, really,” said Gordon, as he was asked to sum up his Celtic tenure in front of the 30,000 crowd.
“When I first joined the club, I wanted to earn the respect of the Celtic supporters. I didn’t want to tell you I was a Celtic supporter as a kid, I didn’t want to kiss badges and I didn’t know the words to the Fields of Athenry.
“I wanted to earn the respect and vice versa, I wanted to see if you really were the best supporters in the world. From those four years, I found out that you are the best supporters in the world.
“I’d like to thank the supporters who I met personally, the real ones who I touched. They helped through the tough times and made it far easier for my family. I’ll always remember that.
“I didn’t kid you on that I could ever feel like a Celtic supporter when I was the manager because I couldn’t. I really couldn’t tell you what it feels like to watch Rangers win nine-in-a-row.
“I couldn’t tell you what it feels like to go to some awful grounds, where you are penned into a corner and the price of everything goes up when you go there. I don’t know what that feels like.
“But from today, I will start to feel it because I’m going to have to start paying my way from now on. From today, I’ve become a Celtic supporter.
“I’d like to thank everybody at Celtic. The players were magnificent to work with and I’d like to thank the board. They have been magnificent and they are doing everything they can to help the club be successful. They were fantastic to me.
“If I could sum it all up like this – since I started out in football at 15, every decision I made, and some have been bad, I wouldn’t change it for the world. Because if I changed one of those decisions, I would not have been the Celtic manager and that would be hard. Thank you.”
Fittingly, the ex-Celtic boss also reserved a special word for his close friend Tommy Burns. The tribute match ended in an 11-4 win for the current Celtic team against a select side consisting of a host of Hoops legends.
He said: “I came here to be the Celtic manager but I was lucky enough to become the best of friends with the nicest man I’ve ever met in my life.
“We had some great times at this club over the last four years. We had smashing European nights, we won championships and did great things together. Tommy helped me more than anybody.
“If it hadn’t been for Tommy, my life wouldn’t have been as funny as it was and we wouldn’t have had as much success as we did.”
Good to hear WGS talk with such honesty and affection for the club, I was never his greatest fan but respect his achievements and if Tommy liked him then he was obviously a good guy. Will watch with interest how he gets on with Scotland and wish him the best
WGS is a decent human being.
I wish him every success. As you say, he has continuously sang the praises of Celtic since he left, the respect I already had for him has grown since his departure.
I watched him many times tear us apart whilst part of a great Aberdeen team so I wasn’t a big fan, that was until the day he lifted the wee bhoy out of the stands to meet Naka after we won the League.
From that moment he became a legend in my book.
Good luck Gordon
WGS is and will always be a Celtic legend . I hope he has the same success with Scotland and takes them to the last 16 of a major tournament .
He’s a top bloke is Gordon, a lot fans never liked him and those shouting on him to “get tae f@ck” after we were beaten by Motherwell at home that day with 7 games to go were left to eat their words. Gordon Strachan achieved comparatively great things at Celtic Park and deserves to be up there listed with many of our greats. He probably knows himself it could have been better, 2 victories instead of two 0-0’s in those last two games of his last season would have seen 4 in a row and 4 from 4 and made him the most successful manager since Big Jock. At the time I didn’t lay the blame at his feet for that, the players imo should have performed much better, especially away to Hibs. Yes some games were painful but so too were there painful games under MON, the football towards the end of MON’s time was dire. I find it very difficult to understand how MON is held in such high esteem by some Celtic fans who have such a low opinion of WGS.
Hector
Thank you for this reminder of the honesty, forthrightness and commitment of this wee man. I mentioned elsewhere about his affection for Tommy and I am sure that same Tommy will be right at his side with all the tips on Scotland. For once he will be listened to and appreciated, that’s for sure. He certainly had to earn his stripes in difficult times and against a lot of critics even in his own camp. No one should ever doubt now where his allegiance lies. He has unequivocally defended Celtic in the public arena and praised them without a blush. He has earned a place of honour in our hearts. He is a Celtic supporter who will bring integrity, even if nothing else, back to the national game. I fear for those who try to get in his way.
Good luck to you, Gordon.
H H
Well pointed owt that although MON was a good manager, look at the money he spent and although the team he inherited Larsson, jaki, lubo ect, then look what the wee man achieved with half that money and half that team, i will always have a good word for the weeman, even tho he did hav his mental stubborn moments, hail hail, GOD BLESS IE CELTIC+
While I must congratulate Gordon on his new appointment, I Must say, I thought he wid ,ave got a better joab than that!
Jaki??????
Good luck WGS and mr Mcghee …who’d av thought two ex Celts in charge at Scotland . Glasgow’s green n white and now so is Scotland ! ! …………….now for London
I’m sorry guys but there can’t be a meaningful comparison between MON and WGS based on league wins or CL wins. MON came in and gave our club Electro Convulsive Therapy when we had lost our mojo and were in danger of another dose of the 90’s. MON gave us back our pride against the huns and turned Parkhead into a fortress in Europe. He spent money yes. But he spent it well mostly, made his own decisions about spending (I will argue) rather than WGS getting players foisted on him from above. MON set win-streak records that still stand in UK and set records against the hun which will never now be beaten. WGS was able to get through to the last 16 with the same points tally that stopped MON going through, just the way the cookie crumbles, and WGS was up against the Paul le Guen experiment which imploded. Both managers had success and should be applauded but for me there will never be a manager at Celtic like MON and I would have him back in a New York minute with Lenny as number 2.
If anything, strachan was better than MON, albeit not performance wise but winning 3 titles in a row, even against the paul le guen ‘experiment’, was a fantastic achievement and doing that as well as celtics notable wins and feats in europe on a budget a fraction of MONs shows better man management and ability to live within his financial means while producing winning football shows better managerial acumen than MON
some of the best comments ever came from wgs
all the best to him and his
It always nnoyed me that some so called fans never gave WGS the respect he was due because he wasn’t perceived to be “Celtic minded”. From the day he arrived til the day he left the wee man never gave anything less than 100% for the club and brought loads of success. as this article points out he still to this day talks affectionately about the club whist badge kissers like charlie nick & other who played for us like burley etc.. are only too quick to put the boot in. I’m proud to say I am one of those who DID show the wee an the respect he deserved from beginning til end & as far as I’m concerned he’s as much a Celtic man now as any of us.
When GS left Celtic, he went on a months tour all over Ireland. He loved it. Lot of time for him.
MON spent heavily and failed to sell players on before they got too old / their contracts ran down, which meant Celtic were forever paying out on transfers – we couldn’t sustain that type of spending or else we’d have ended up like Sevco. MON brought the thunder back to CP, but the last 2 seasons under MON saw a tired team because he insisted on playing his favourites even though everyone could see that they were tired and underperforming.
Strachan for me was the better of the 2 managers as he had to rely on a much lesser standard of player to achieve things.
Spot on Andy
I have been saying for years that MON would not have been as successful with us if he had not inherited Larsson and the wee magician who was Moravcik.We have never replaced Lubo and I dont think we ever will.Gordon Strachan wasnt as successful as MON,but he was by far a much superior manager.
Every time I’ve seen WGS on the tele talking about Celtic you can see the love he’s got for the club, but has he got a season ticket.lol
Any chance of a piece on, naw, no jam, not even the ‘Barca Blueprint’ but ‘The Celtic Way’. It seems to me this concept has been lost, and there’s a full generation of kids that may not know of it. Maybe it’s still a Barrowfield,
God bless Tommy Burns, the last Celtic Manager to try to play, ‘THE CELTIC WAY’
HH
r.i.p. sean fallon a true celtic man
I loved reading this article and the following comments, very little sentiment but full of respect for the “wee man”
I know you will be a success with Scotland. God bless HH
I must say WGS has went way up in my estimations.I was there at that charity night and you could hear in his voice what Celtic now means to him. Gordon was not a badge kisser and fought hard to earn our respect.He built a team on a fraction of the budget MON did albeit some of the players were not in the same class as Henrik,etc.He managed to keep us ahead of the dark side consistently although I must admit some of my most exciting nights in Europe were under MON.I think it must be remembered Gordon played for Man U for years and was a member of a good Aberdeen side who had success at home and Europe yet speaks so highly of Celtic he puts some of our previous players in the media to shame.I wish him all the best in his new job and thank him for his time at the hoops.He earned my respect which was not easy as I hated how he tormented us in his Aberdeen days but fair play to him he gave the Celtic job his all.God bless and Hail! Hail!
Well said Mickey, sums him up very very well.
History will judge WGS as a man who came to Celtic and got the job done. Now he is one of us fair play yo him.
hope all the fans that gave him hard time feel silly now fair play strachs couldnt care less about scotland but hope u do well