Why would Gordon Strachan speculate in public about the future of one of his successors as Celtic manager?
Sure, like many of his ilk if a Gambling Company waves a big enough cheque in front of him the former Scotland manager will talk about anything but surely there are a few things best kept private.
Like your thoughts on the future of you son’s boss?
While Gordon sings like a canary about the future of Brendan Rodgers his son Gavin is in daily contact with the Celtic boss, forming his inner sanctum with John Kennedy and Adam Sadler.
Not forgetting former Golf Shop Pro Craig Strachan who has the title and salary of being Celtic’s Senior UK and Europe scout.
Someone like Kris Boyd will mouth off about anything and everything, apparently he is a McDonald’s Ambassador among other talents.
Strachan ought be be a bit more discreet and selective than the Kilmarnock legend.
There will be a variety of factors going on over Rodgers and his contract, going by the level of backing he has had since returning to Celtic it would be a shock if he signed up for more of the same.
Holding off on a new contract hasn’t helped, rather than backing his judgement by investing in the team the nameless figures in the background are loading up on projects as if it was 2023 once again.
It is almost as if some are willing him to quit the club, having given a 200% promise to see out his three year contract Rodgers has backed himself into a corner on that.
What he doesn’t need is the speculation of Strachan, the man behind the sacking of Tony Docherty and the driving force behind bringing Steven Pressley back into management.
For that alone Strachan’s judgement should never be taken seriously.
Earlier this week he gave it heart and soul to OLBG.com with the opening question about whether Celtic should tie Rodgers to a lifetime deal!
Strachan on a lifetime deal for Rodgers
I wouldn’t like a lifetime deal. Then no matter what happens you’ve got this deal. I don’t think that’s got to happen because both parties in this are not stupid.
They know that even Brendan, and if you look at most managers, they spend about three years and then for most Celtic managers, they would like to go on somewhere else. It’s not the club, the club’s fantastic. Sometimes the fact that you’re repeating yourself against the same teams week in, week out on plastic pitches—it’s not easy to keep momentum going.
You’re going and playing in front of people with a small stadium, plastic pitches. There’s no easy repetitiveness with the media. You’re literally saying the same thing every week, the media are asking the same questions every week, dealing with the same thing.
Is there a timeline on managing Celtic, motivation issues?
The bonuses managers get at Celtic—you’ll get European games, which is a great bonus for any manager. So that’s what will entice you, but there’s a problem of keeping that momentum going over a three, four, or five-year period.
It’s not easy to motivate yourself week in, week out. Sometimes it’s nice to have a refresher and go somewhere else. It’s difficult for any Celtic or Rangers manager to last more than three or four years.
So I don’t think it’s wise, I don’t think that conversation will take place on a long-term contract. The conversation will be how positive you are, are you still enjoying it, do you have any feelings about wanting to go at a specific time. Do you think you can last two, three, four years? If not, right, let’s think about a short-term contract.
If you have a short-term contract, we’ll have the same conversation in a year’s time. Are you staying or you’re not staying? That’s the problem. The players themselves then get a wee bit worried. Is the manager staying? Is the manager going? There becomes a grey area there.
The fall out from announcing your departure in advance
When I was at Southampton it was leaked that I was going to leave in the summer which made it difficult for the players because I think when it got leaked we were about fifth in the Premiership, and I could see the players wavering after that because there was a kind of grey area.
That is one of Celtic’s problems if Brendan’s only got a year to go. Does he sign a new contract or does he not sign one? If he doesn’t sign one, then it becomes that kind of, is he going, is he staying? Which he could do without when you’re a Celtic manager going for the league.
I think there’ll be more pressure from Rangers this year. It’s hard enough to deal with winning and dealing with the pressure of winning another league without this creeping in all the time. You know, are you staying, are you going?
The Technical Director of Dundee should be keeping his thoughts on Celtic to himself- would he appreciate Rodgers giving his views on sacking Docherty to bring in Pressley who got the new era underway with a home defeat from Airdrie.
Or about Strachan’s decision to appoint Mark McGhee as Dundee manager after spells as Assistant Manager or Technical Director at Stockport, Eastbourne and Barnet?
McGhee managed Dundee to relegation in 2022 with a record of one win, five draws and eight defeats.
Celtic’s complete silence on their manager’s contract, in line with their silence on everything else does no-one any favours.
But the intervention of the Technical Director from a rival Premiership club is uncalled for, even more so when two of his three kids are on the Celtic payroll.
RELATED READING
