Gordon Strachan

Strachan as manager of Celtic
Personal information
Full name	Gordon David Strachan
Date of birth	(1957-02-09) 9 February 1957 (age 55)
Place of birth	Edinburgh, Scotland
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1971–1977	Dundee	69	(13)
1977–1984	Aberdeen	183	(55)
1984–1989	Manchester United	160	(33)
1989–1995	Leeds United	197	(37)
1995–1997	Coventry City	26	(0)
Total		635	(138)
National team
1980–1992	Scotland	50	(5)
Teams managed
1996–2001	Coventry City
2001–2004	Southampton
2005–2009	Celtic
2009–2010	Middlesbrough
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Gordon David Strachan OBE (born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish football manager and former player. He is currently without a club, having last managed Middlesbrough. Strachan played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. Prior to Middlesbrough, Strachan managed Coventry City, Southampton and Celtic. In club football, he played 626 games scoring a total of 138 goals, playing 21 of 25 career seasons in either the English or Scottish top flight. In international football Strachan earned 50 caps, scoring 5 goals and playing in two FIFA World Cup final tournaments, Spain 82 and Mexico 86. Strachan retired from playing in 1996 at age 40, setting a Premier League record for an outfield player.

A right-sided midfielder, Strachan made his senior debut in 1974 with Dundee before moving on within Scotland, to spend seven seasons at Aberdeen. He first played for the Scotland national team in 1980. While at Aberdeen Strachan won multiple domestic league and cup honours in the early 1980s, as well as the 1982–83 European Cup Winners' Cup and 1983 European Super Cup. Moving to England, Strachan won the 1985 FA Cup Final in five seasons with Manchester United, before spending the next seven seasons as club captain at Leeds, winning the 1991–92 First Division league title. He played his last game for Scotland in 1992 while still at Leeds, and then moved to Coventry in 1995 for a final three seasons, as a player-coach.

Strachan became full time manager of Coventry when the incumbent Ron Atkinson was appointed as Director of Football. After five years in the job he was sacked in 2001, when Coventry were relegated from the top flight for the first time in 34 years. However, he immediately returned to the Premier League with Southampton and guided that club to the 2003 FA Cup Final – losing 1–0 to Arsenal. Strachan resigned from Southampton in 2004 and took a 16 month break from management before returning to Scotland to become manager of Celtic in the Scottish Premier League. With Celtic he achieved three successive league titles and other domestic cup wins, before resigning in May 2009 after failing to win a fourth title. Five months later he became manager of Middlesbrough in the English Football League Championship, but left the club after a year in the job.

Strachan was named as FWA Footballer of the Year for the 1990–91 season while at Leeds. He was also named Manager of the Year in Scotland multiple times by writers and players while at Celtic. In 2007, Strachan was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame. He is the father of Craig Strachan and Gavin Strachan, also footballers.

Club career[link]

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Dundee[link]

Born in Edinburgh, Strachan began his career with Dundee, making his debut in the 1974-75 season and becoming a regular player the 1975-76 season, soon becoming captain of the side.

Aberdeen[link]

Strachan came to prominence at the age of 20 when he was signed by Aberdeen on 1 November 1977 for a fee of £50,000.^[1] With the famous Aberdeen team of the 1980s, managed by Alex Ferguson and 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 Cups, the European Cup Winners' Cup and the European Super Cup.

Manchester United[link]

In August 1984, Manchester United spent £500,000 to take him to Old Trafford in August. Strachan had previously signed for Bundesliga side 1. FC Köln, and United paid £75,000 compensation to resolve the row.^{[citation needed]}

He contributed to the Red Devils' 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 in the 1988-89 season. However, he enjoyed one of his finest moments in a United shirt late in the 1987-88 season, when he scored a late equaliser against league leaders Liverpool in a 3-3 draw at Anfield despite being down to 10 men and trailing the hosts 3-1 well into the second half.^[2]

Aberdeen manager Alex Ferguson followed him to Old Trafford in November 1986 following the dismissal of Ron Atkinson.

Leeds United[link]

Leeds United manager Howard Wilkinson came to the rescue in March 1989, when he paid £200,000 for Strachan's services. The transfer fee soon paid dividends as Strachan's form resulted in helping Leeds to 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, he was a part of the team's strength in Leeds overtaking Manchester United to win the 1991–92 League Championship title in the last ever season of the old Football League before the creation of the FA Premier League. Strachan continued to be an active first-team player as Leeds enjoyed mixed fortunes during their first three seasons of the Premier League, although he was sometimes kept out of the side by back problems.

Coventry City[link]

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 Premier League in 1995–96.

International career[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2010)

Strachan had a fruitful International career with Scotland which included 5 goals. He appeared in two FIFA World Cups — 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 Querétaro, 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. This goal gave Scotland a surprise lead against one of the world's top national sides, but they ultimately lost the game 2–1 and failure to beat Uruguay in the final game of the group stages ended their hopes of reaching the last 16, despite playing ten men from the first minute after a challenge on Strachan.

Managerial career[link]

Coventry City[link]

When Ron Atkinson became Coventry City's Director of Football in November 1996, 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 for an outfield player in the FA Premier League. Only goalkeeper John Burridge, who had played for Manchester City at the age of 43 in the 1994–95, had played at a greater age in the Premier League at the time.

Strachan also helped Coventry survive a Premier League relegation battle. After losing their penultimate league 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, a draw for Middlesbrough (who had been deducted three points by the FA) and a defeat for Sunderland, they avoided relegation. Coventry stayed in the top flight for a further four years until the 2000–01 season, during which Strachan became unpopular with fans.^[3] In the face of increasing supporter unrest he was sacked five games into the 2001–02 Division One campaign.^[4]

Southampton[link]

Strachan returned to management within weeks, taking the manager's job at Premier League 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 off their survival chances by the time of Strachan's appointment in October 2001, but he turned round their fortunes and they finished 11th in the Premier League. The Saints progressed further in 2002–03 when they finished eighth and reached the FA Cup Final, where they lost 1–0 to Arsenal. As Arsenal had qualified for the UEFA Champions League, Southampton won a place in the UEFA Cup.

In February 2004, 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.

Celtic[link]

After a 16 month break, Strachan 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 rivals Rangers. He had an embarrassing start to his campaign as Celtic manager, losing 5–0 to Slovakian champions Artmedia Bratislava on 27 July 2005 and 3 days later drawing 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. 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.^[5]

The following year Strachan restructured the team and made a series of signings, bringing in players such as Hibernian's Derek Riordan, Chelsea's Jiri Jarosik, Kenny Miller and Lee Naylor both from Wolverhampton Wanderers, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink from PSV Eindhoven, Thomas Gravesen from Real Madrid and Paul Hartley and Steven Pressley from Heart of Midlothian. Celtic flourished, and by mid-January 2007 held a 17 point lead in the SPL table.

Champions League football again returned to Celtic Park, the team having automatically qualified for the group stages and drawn alongside Benfica, FC Copenhagen and Manchester United. Home victories against all three Group F members 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 eventual winners AC Milan in extra time, missing out on a place in the quarter finals.

On 22 April 2007 Strachan guided Celtic to their 41st league championship, and second in succession. A 2–1 victory against Kilmarnock^[6] left Celtic 13 points clear of Rangers with four matches remaining. Later that day Strachan was recognised as the inaugural Scottish PFA Manager of the Year for 2007. Celtic went on to win the Scottish Cup, beating Dunfermline.

In the 2007–08 season, Strachan led Celtic into the last 16 of the Champions League again after beating AC Milan, Benfica and Shaktar Donetsk. However by April there was a lot of criticism from the press and the fans after the 1–0 loss to Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup quarter final and the 1–0 loss to 10 man Motherwell in the league. But he proved the critics wrong again and after beating Rangers twice at home, on 22 May 2008, Strachan became only the third ever Celtic manager to guide the club to three consecutive Scottish league titles.

After failing to lead Celtic to another league title in the 2008/09 season, he stepped down as manager on 25 May 2009.^[7][8]

Middlesbrough[link]

Strachan was appointed manager of Championship team Middlesbrough on 26 October 2009, in succession to Gareth Southgate and signed a four-year contract.^[9][10] He had been linked with the Middlesbrough manager's job 15 years earlier, when still a Leeds United player.^[11]

His first game in charge was on 31 October where Middlesbrough lost 1–0 to Plymouth Argyle with Adam Johnson missing a penalty.^[12] On 5 December 2009, Middlesbrough won their first match under Strachan, 5–1 away to Queens Park Rangers.^[13] after a poor run of results including a 3–0 loss at home to Blackpool and a 1–0 loss at home to Cardiff City Strachan got his first home win- 3–0 against Scunthorpe.^[14]

After a poor start to the 2010–11 season with Middlesbrough in 20th place,^[15] Strachan left the club by mutual consent on 18 October,^[16] and voluntarily tore up his contract,^[17] meaning that the club did not have to pay him compensation for the two and a half years remaining on his deal.^[16][18]

Management style[link]

Typically playing a traditional 4–4–2 formation,^[19][20][21] and very occasionally 4–5–1,^[19][22] Strachan is widely known for his rigorous management style,^[23] and admits to watching video replays of his club's games two, sometimes three times.^[24] 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.^[25][26] Players such as Scotland international Gary Caldwell have attributed their success at Celtic to lifestyle changes enforced by Strachan.^[27]

Rivalries[link]

During his managerial career Strachan has had an ongoing public feud with Alex Ferguson. In his 1999 autobiography the Manchester United manager said "I decided this man could not be trusted an inch – I would not want to expose my back to him in a hurry". In his own 2006 autobiography Strachan said of the comments he was "surprised and disappointed".^[28] The rivalry dates from Strachan's time playing under Ferguson, first at Aberdeen and later Manchester Utd.^[29] The hostilities between the two men are widely recognised to have decreased especially since they were seen on cordial terms during Celtic and Manchester United Champions League fixtures in both 2006 and 2008.

Other work[link]

While taking a break from management after leaving Southampton in 2004, Strachan turned down an offer to become the manager at their local rivals Portsmouth,^{[citation needed]} and was also widely tipped to be Berti Vogts's replacement as Scotland manager, before the post was filled by Walter Smith. During the break, Strachan analysed football matches for the media, most notably alongside Adrian Chiles on BBC Sport's Match of the Day 2.

For the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Strachan was appointed as the official FIFA Ambassador for Scotland, joining fifty others in fund raising for SOS Children's Villages, the official charity of the tournament.^[30]

He currently works as a regular pundit for ITV's coverage of the FA Cup.

Personal life[link]

Strachan is the father of Craig and Gavin Strachan, also footballers, and Gemma Strachan.^{[citation needed]}

Renowned for his deadpan humour in media interviews, quotes attributed to Strachan have become part of popular football culture.^[31][32]

Career statistics[link]

Player[link]

Manager[link]

As of 16 October 2010

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Coventry City		5 November 1996	10 September 2001	&10000000000000215000000215	&1000000000000007000000070	&1000000000000005600000056	&1000000000000008900000089	&1000000000000003256000032.56
Southampton		22 October 2001	13 February 2004	&10000000000000110000000110	&1000000000000003900000039	&1000000000000003200000032	&1000000000000003900000039	&1000000000000003545000035.45
Celtic		1 June 2005	25 May 2009	&10000000000000182000000182	&10000000000000122000000122	&1000000000000002800000028	&1000000000000003200000032	&1000000000000006703000067.03
Middlesbrough		26 October 2009	18 October 2010	&1000000000000004600000046	&1000000000000001300000013	&1000000000000001300000013	&1000000000000002000000020	&1000000000000002826000028.26
Total				&10000000000000553000000553	&10000000000000244000000244	&10000000000000129000000129	&10000000000000180000000180	&1000000000000004411999944.12

Honours[link]

Player[link]

Aberdeen

• Scottish Premier Division winner: 1979–80 and 1983–84
• Scottish Cup winner: 1982, 1983 and 1984
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup winner: 1983
• UEFA Super Cup winner: 1983
• Scottish League Cup runner-up: 1978–79 and 1979–80