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Details
Fullname: Gavin Strachan
Born: 23 Dec 1978
Birthplace: Aberdeen, Scotland
Role: First Team Coach at Celtic
Started: Summer 2020
End: –
Biog
“It is a huge honour to be appointed to this position with Celtic, such a giant of a Club and a real iconic footballing institution – this really is an opportunity I could simply not turn down.”
Gavin Strachan
Gavin Strachan joined Celtic as a coach in 2020 after what had been an underwhelmimg career, both at the playing and management level.
The son of the successful former Celtic manager Gordon Strachan, many were wondering what exactly was Gavin Strachan bringing beyond a name? For the most cynical, his appointment was seen as cronyism at its worst, a charge that was being raised repeatedly against the club in many appointments during the 2010s.
Anyhow, putting all those charges aside, he’d arrived during the covid era, so not an easy time to get the right new people on board. Neil Lennon was the manager and the past season was a success on paper but the faultlines were clear to all.
Often seen on the bench with his iPad, the wits in the support often humoured about it, but in a more stats obsessed environment he was playing a new important part in the gameplan.
However, not long into his first season at Celtic as a coach, he was one to get it heavily in the neck as Celtic fell off the cliff as Sevco went on to lift their first league title, with Celtic’s challenge snuffed out before it really began. It was already clear in the final treble winning season that the management team was living on its laurels.
He had the honour to step in as a temporary manager for two matches after manager Neill Lennon, John Kennedy and 13 players were forced into covid self-isolation after a Dubai trip. Both matches under his charge were draws, and as Celtic faltered during this time, it little helped his case, a 1-1 draw with Hibs and 0-0 v Livingston. In fairness, Celtic had already hit a downward streak at this point and at least he could humorously argue to have an unbeaten record as a ‘Celtic manager’.
There is no denying the vitriol against the club at this time by sections of the support, and Strachan was given little leeway too. Unlike his colleagues, he had the misfortune to not have the background to buffer him in these unsettled moments. He stuck by his team and kept his head up which was something to respect.
Once Ange Postecoglou was brought in to Celtic he retained both Kennedy and Strachan (much to the surprise of everyone). As Postecoglu turned things round with Celtic winning the league title, the pressure and focus was off Strachan and Kennedy.
Even the introduction of Harry Kewell did not lead to any demotion. Possibly a benefit of Strachan was it allowed any possible flak to end up being diverted onto him and away from the other coaches!
You had to respect Strachan for sticking it through despite any cynicism, and after all the travails in his first season, it was quite a relief to be part of a league winning management team under Postecoglu. A wonderful new experience for him, and clearly he was learning and deserving of some respect, something that clearly had been lacking previously in his time at Celtic.
When you have to follow in your father’s footsteps, it’s a hard act, and there was admittedly a gulf between him and his father when it came to achievements in football. However, as part of the Celtic coaching staff he could still help achieve so much that everyone would take pride in.
If you wish to measure his commitment then for example in 2021, Gavin Strachan turned down the opportunity to take over as Hartlepool manager in order to remain at Celtic. He also has been linked with other roles such as with vacant roles at Dundee, but has remained.
[…]
Overall, it’s hard to give a definitive answer on Gavin Strachan. The inevitable comparisons to his father are pointless, and so far he has had quite a turbulent emotional time at Celtic, but maybe that’s the joy of the role. Those highs and lows. He’s deservedly survived, and with the improvement in set piece play this season, looks like his contributions have paid dividends. Admittedly still much room for improvement and development, but if in Ange we trust then in Gavin Strachan too we must trust.
Maybe just maybe, if we do wish to see him emulate what his father achieved in results then the Champions League is what he should be aiming for. A big ask, but really it’s for opportunities like that is why he has chosen the roller coaster journey with Celtic rather than the easy journey elsewhere.
Quotes
“Gavin Strachan specifically. It’s something we’re going to try to develop on the back of last season. We’d like to score a few more set pieces.”
Matt O’Reilly on set-piece management (2022)
“Losing goals from set-pieces has been a feature of the season” Gavin Strachan (Jan 2021)
“It is a huge honour to be appointed to this position with Celtic, such a giant of a Club and a real iconic footballing institution – this really is an opportunity I could simply not turn down.” Gavin Strachan
Matches under his temporary management
| Date | Competition | Home Team | Score | Score | Away Team | Report | Pictures | Notes |
| JAN | ||||||||
| 11 | Scottish Premiership | Celtic | 1 | 1 | Hibernian | Report | Pictures | KO: |
| 16 | Scottish Premiership | Celtic | 0 | 0 | Livingston | Report | Pictures | KO: |
Articles
Gavin Strachan
https://www.celticfc.com/players/management/gavin-strachan/
Gavin Strachan arrived as first-team coach in the summer of 2020 as Damien Duff departed to devote his time to his new role as Republic of Ireland assistant manager under Stephen Kenny who had replaced former Celt, Mick McCarthy.
Strachan who is, of course, son of former Hoops manager, Gordon Strachan, was born in Aberdeen in 1978 while his Dad played for the Dons and arrived at Celtic with an excellent CV straight from the assistant manager spot at Peterborough United under Darren Ferguson.
“It will be fantastic to be part of such a great management team.”
It was while his father had taken over as player-manager at Coventry City in 1996, that he joined the Sky Blues as a midfielder and he made 16 league appearances for them between 1997 and 2003 prior to joining Peterborough United, but not before having two spells north of the order on loan at Dundee in 1999, and Motherwell in 2002.
Following his first stint at London Road with The Posh, there were spells at Southend United and Hartlepool United, and loan moves while at the County Durham club saw him travel first to Stockport County and then Peterborough once again where the move was made permanent once more.
There had also been eight under-21 caps for Scotland from 1998 onwards and after spells with Notts County, Corby Town and Hinckley United, the midfielder finished his playing career with St Neots Town in 2011 after also taking a degree in Professional Sports Writing and Broadcasting at Staffordshire University in 2008.
Ilkeston was Strachan’s first port of call as manager in 2015 after four years as youth coach at Peterborough, and later the same year he teamed up with Darren Ferguson for the first time as assistant manager at Doncaster Rovers.
When Ferguson took up the manager’s post at Peterborough for a third time in 2019, Strachan also made the move as assistant manager, but it didn’t take long for Celtic to make their move and he joined the club on June 22, 2020.
Gavin Strachan earns Celtic acclaim as Ange Postecoglou salutes Parkhead ‘evolution’
Ange Postecoglou believes they now have the players to cause teams major problems from set pieces.
dailyrecord
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/gavin-strachan-earns-celtic-acclaim-27792901
Ange Postecoglou is renowned for sticking to what he believes in. It’s the Celtic manager’s MO.
He came to Glasgow with an idea of how he wanted his team to play and has never veered from it. The Parkhead gaffer recoils at the thought of ditching his principles. But with the Champions League group stage draw coming up on Thursday, age-old questions will rear their head again. Can Celtic play the same cavalier style against Europe’s big boys, the attacking football they produce every week in the Premiership?
Can Postecoglou’s side really go for the throats of Manchester City, Bayern Munich, PSG or Real Madrid? And if they do, will they simply be picked off at will and end up with a bloody nose? The same applied to Brendan Rodgers when he was in the Celtic hotseat. Like Postecoglou, he couldn’t go against his beliefs. Domestically, it got them unparalleled success. And in the Champions League, who will forget the electric performance against Pep Guardiola’s City in a 3-3 draw at Celtic Park? Or scudding Anderlecht 3-0 away from home?
But the flip side to that was 7-0 and 7-1 hammerings at the hands of PSG and Barcelona respectively, as well as a 3-0 mauling in Munich. A few weeks ago, Hoops midfielder Matt O’Riley revealed that Postecoglou had started working on ideas for coming up against Europe’s elite.
So will we see a change in approach, depending on who comes out of the hat with the Scottish champions this week? Postecoglou accepts there might have to be tweaks against the world’s best sides. But change to a more defensive style? Not on his watch.
The manager said: “We try to train every day as if we’re preparing to play against the best. That’s part of the reason for our transfer business this summer – to have a really strong squad that ensures the training level is high.
“Every player has competition for his place, a player beside him who can push him to another level. Those types of things raise the intensity and level – and improve players.
“In terms of our game, it’s constantly evolving and improving. It has to because last season we’d just put a team together.
“Whatever we did a year ago was just the base. We want to develop as a team and be stronger. That’s what we’re working on. It’s been a strange start to the campaign, only having one game a week.
“But that has allowed us to work on things at training that we couldn’t do last year and that will help us.
“A lot of people will say I can’t do things or we can’t do things. That’s a great motivator for us.
“The proof will be in the pudding. We certainly won’t change our approach in the Champions League matches.
“It’s only natural when you play against better opposition that it affects your own game.
“There will be adjustments we make because of the opposition we’re up against.
“But for me it’s all about your intent. Are you trying to survive or trying to make an impact? We’ll always be a team trying to make an impact.”
Another area of Celtic’s play that appears to have been strengthened this season is their threat from set-plays. In their opening three Premiership games, they’ve scored four goals from either first or second phases at corners.
Postecoglou has praised assistant coach Gavin Strachan for his work on set-pieces – and believes they now have the players to cause teams major problems on that front.
He said: “It’s just the natural evolution of the team. Gavin is in charge of that area and puts a lot of work into it. There’s been a change in personnel and we’ve got players who really attack the ball.
“Cameron Carter-Vickers scored four goals last season from centre-half so it’s good to see defenders contributing.
“We’ve got guys like O’Riley, David Turnbull, Aaron Mooy and Jota who have very good delivery.
“We want to hurt teams in different ways. If they close us down we have to find different ways to score.
“Gavin puts a lot of work into it and we now have the players to capitalise on it.”
Hearts could be the next ones to suffer this afternoon at Parkhead. The Jambos are coming off the back of a Europa League play-off first-leg defeat to FC Zurich in midweek.
But Postecoglou reckons Robbie Neilson’s side have a fighting chance of reaching the group stage and, if they do, it will only make them stronger.
He said: “Hearts have had a couple of strong years under Robbie. With European football this season, it will definitely help them.
“It gives players more confidence when they test themselves against other sides in Europe and they take that into the league.
“They’re still in the tie after Thursday night and hopefully they’ll get into the Europa League.
Gavin Strachan: Scot joins Celtic as first-team coach
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53143778
22 June 202022 June 2020.From the section Celtic
Gavin Strachan was Darren Ferguson’s assistant manager at Doncaster and Peterborough
Gavin Strachan was Darren Ferguson’s assistant manager at Doncaster and Peterborough
New first-team coach Gavin Strachan is a “brilliant appointment” for Celtic, says manager Neil Lennon.
The 41-year-old – son of former Celtic and Scotland manager Gordon Strachan – has spent the last 17 months as Peterborough United assistant manager.
Strachan replaces Damien Duff on the coaching staff prior to the Scottish champions’ pursuit of a 10th successive title next season.
“This really is an opportunity I could simply not turn down,” said Strachan.
“Neil and John Kennedy have been massive figures in the club’s nine-in-a-row journey and it will be fantastic to be part of such a great management team.”
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Strachan served as Darren Ferguson’s assistant at both Peterborough and Doncaster Rovers after a playing career that included eight Scotland Under-21 caps and loan spells at Dundee and Motherwell.
“We had a number of options for the role but Gavin was the outstanding candidate,” said Lennon.
“He is a really talented, experienced, hard working and respected coach and I know he has the right qualities to make a great contribution to the club.”
