Gordon Strachan Quotations

Fitness is a curve. You can be Lance Armstrong, or you can be really out of shape at the opposite end. People enter the curve wherever they are and then they can move up the curve, by better nutrition and better exercise.

Believe me, you need good people if you want to make good players.

Do I miss football in Scotland? It keeps you really alive, that's for sure. Your heartbeat fluctuates. I'm flatlining at the moment which is actually quite nice but you need to go up and down to stay alive.

Sometimes to go forward you've got to go to the depths of your own personal despair and claw yourself back. From that point, no matter what happens, you know you can do it.

I've got more important things to think about. I've got a yogurt to finish by today, the expiry date is today.

People think I've got a problem with the press. Actually I have no problem with the press, but just like in football there are a handful who cause problems because they're disrespectful, they're lazy, and above all - and this is what really gets to me - they haven't worked hard to get there.

I like to be able to control which players I'm working with. Because it doesn't matter how good a coach you are if the guys you're working with think they already know it all. You need a response, you need to feel they're trying. I want players who are always striving to improve.

I think what I've actually achieved as a manager does sometimes get a bit overlooked, because all people think about is the media side of things. They tend to forget I've not done so bad.

I want players who are always striving to improve.

I'm just going to crumble like a wreck. I'll go home, become an alcoholic and maybe! jump of a bridge.

I get the feeling a lot of politicians are there to help themselves financially, first and foremost. I don't really need to do that, and I thought if I could do something for sport in Scotland, that would be really fulfilling.

I'm afraid that this is me getting on my high horse now but we have yob television, yob newspapers, and funny enough whereas it was my mum and dad, school, police, church who used to set the standards, now it's tabloids and yob television who set the standards by which people live.

The reason I became a manager was to have full control over training. If you are a coach, you are bound by what the manager wants you to coach. The other reason is that I just like the company of football people.

It took me 35 years of being involved at a decent level of football to become manager at a great club like Celtic.

I've had to take a lot of stick down the years but the one thing that really got to me was when someone questioned my integrity. It's the one thing that really grates with you.

All the really good players I know, they all knew right from wrong. So many of them don't learn that at home nowadays.

I've been in football a long time and people have problems through debt, drugs, drink and family.

People talk about footballers and they get a bad press when not all of them deserve it.

I did think there were one or two referees who had a personal thing against me. It wasn't them versus Celtic - it was them against me! I just think they wanted to take me on.

I'm a better coach now than when I joined Celtic. The longer you stay in any job, the better you become. If you lose your drive, your enthusiasm, your imagination, that experience is no good.

We're back in terms of freshness and imagination and touch. We were a wee bit nervy near the end when they scored but I think we all agreed the game should have been all over and done with.

We tried something different with our 4-3-3 formation. At times we looked fantastic and at other times we took liberties at the back and looked a bit shoddy.

We are taking that into consideration. We know what we have in terms of strengths and weaknesses and might be able to balance that up in the coming years.

There are only two people who really know the true story, the referee and Neil,

Scotland have a system which is getting better, but it's players who win and lose games. Look at England. They have a system, but if the opposition players jump higher, tackle harder and shoot better, your system is in trouble.

People were looking to see if we could react to the Clyde result. We did.

My two idols growing up were George Best and Jimmy Johnstone, and unfortunately we've now lost both of them.

Only five of my players came up to the standard I would accept,

I have had incredible support from the supporters who I have spoken to and come face-to-face with, the real fans have been fantastic.

I don't have a clue what his best position is, ... because he is so good in all of them. Usually a utility man is ordinary in every position, but he is brilliant in every position and that is a problem, I can assure you.

I'd like to get home and sit down and let it sink in.

I am happy to have him in the squad and, if fit, to train with the first team unless something drastic happens.

If I say anything at all there will be headlines all over the place.

If I said to you we're signing Vieira you'd say 'what a signing that is',

For some strange reason we got on together. Maybe it was because I liked talking about football all the time. We'd sit down on the settee, have a cup of tea and chat about the game. He seemed to enjoy my company and vice-versa. You know, I've met football legends and legends of the entertainment business and they've sometimes been quite disappointing in terms of personality. But Big Jock walked in the room and you knew straight away you were in the presence of somebody special.

I don't think we will be taking that any further now. I believe he has a smashing offer from Lille on the table and it also came into consideration that he has been out of action for a year.

I don't want it to be something that you couldn't offer to his memory. You couldn't have that for Jimmy Johnstone. I'd want to dedicate something of beauty and not a horrendous performance.

If this were a football match, Portsmouth would be shown the yellow card for time-wasting. To comment now would embarrass the player but there will be a time of my choosing when I will have something to say.

He tries to play the forward pass, the hard pass.

He will definitely play a part -- that's for sure.

He's coming here in the summer and there will be no deals done now.

He has a chance to create history and that's some feat.

He has never claimed to be a great player. But until we find someone top class, he will do fine.

He has been immense for us this season.

He is doing very well. I have been delighted with his performances recently and he is not going anywhere.

He had a good wee spell. We have to define that. You need to look at the games themselves. People go on about the AC Milan game. He has played in different positions, all over the place, a bit like Joe Cole. We've got to make him a player.

He does not have to prove anything to me,

We take that (personal life) into consideration with everybody.

What you have tomorrow is two teams in a rich vein of form. I won't kid my players - they are playing against a very good Hearts team.

He's got everyone's respect at Celtic Park, but I'm afraid it's every man for himself on Saturday,

His presence will always be here, ... But I don't think he would like to be known as a figure that weighs heavily on everybody else. I think he'd like to say 'well, I've done my bit, you get on with your bit now'. The place is adorned with his pictures, which is quite right. But I've been to some clubs where it (the memory of a former great) can be a noose round your neck. It's not such a big problem here. He's well loved rather than worshipped. I think loving something is better than worshipping something. With worship you're kind of pushed into it. It can be a scary thing. It can be indoctrinated into people to worship a particular god. Love is a different. That has to gradually come on. You can't push anybody into loving anybody, but they all loved Jock.

There is an impasse at the moment but we are still trying our best to get him because I still believe there is a lot in the lad I can work on. He also wants to come here, which is great.

We may not be thanked for putting our necks on the line but I hope he looks at that.

He is on a good run of seven or eight games and we will keep working and speaking to Artur.

John Kennedy has worked with the pack this week. He has not done any contact stuff but he has been with us. He's still some time off but it's great to have him back.

It is obviously a huge disappointment to lose a player of Chris's quality. The club has granted Chris his wish to move on and I would like to wish him all the best for the future.

I was wondering how they were going to be. But they are absolutely buzzing.

I will decide on that, but he is still captain.

I went to see him and I didn't see too many managers clambering over from Britain to watch him,

Just because you've had a couple of bad results, it doesn't make you a bad manager or a bad person,

Stephen is as important to this club as any player. The talks to sign him up have been going well and we're not too far away.

Some of the football was excellent today, which the wee man would have liked. It is the first trophy I have won and the first as a new group so, hopefully, there will be more. When the second goal went away, I knew that was us on the way.

Some of the football was excellent today, which the wee man would have liked.

That doesn't surprise me or anyone that works with him. He does some work and his finishing was top class.

Naka is the same in that he stays on to practice. I just want him to keep doing what he does.

I think I will have Roy next season. He loves it at the club and I can't see him leaving. It's just fitness that counts. Fitness, speed, motivation -- if you've got that then fine.

John was hoping he was on his way back. I hope it's not as serious as some thought.

John took us up another level - holding the ball up and scoring the goal,

That wasn't a dignified response from the man who manages a club the size of Rangers, was it Ryan Wilson, Renfrew, said:

You'll agree that it was a big factor,

We're a fair bit off the vision I have for the club that's for sure,

We had to work incredibly hard at times to win the ball out there,

We have a new group of players. And a mixture of guys who have won trophies in the past and want to find out if they can still win trophies, and those who have never won trophies before. On top of that, we all want to know if we can win trophies together. We're feeling good about ourselves, and we feel we can win the cup.

We have to watch what we do in the first 10 or 15 minutes because we don't want to end the tie, or make it even more impossible than it is, by losing a goal right away,

We are grieving about this result but we should also be thinking about Chris. I hope he'll be back soon.

Too many people had an off-day to think it was just a one-off. I have been in jobs where you have to win to save your job. Jim Jefferies has responsibilities to win but I am fortunate enough to have the resources to win and play attractive and exciting football.

We have to check on what the week has taken out of the international players physically,

The only thing I'm happy about is the three points,

T here are a lot of young faces in their side. They play at a high tempo and have some right good players. Ivan Sproule does very well when he comes on. To me, Scottish football is in a good place at the minute.

When you look at the games he's played, it's no real surprise. He's not missed many matches for club or country over the last couple of years and, when you look back to those games he travelled to America for recently with Bulgaria, maybe it's just all beginning to catch up with him now.

The players gave me exactly what I expected of them, both the guys who have been here doing it for the last five years and the newer ones who stood shoulder to shoulder with them and didn't let them down. The vision I have for Celtic must include the heart and character they showed tonight but we also have to play better and get fitter.

The defense was fantastic, absolutely fantastic and Adam and Stanislav give me food for thought. I don't think Adam made a mistake the whole game.

Twenty years. They've crept up on us. They've gone, just like that.

When you make those decisions, it is hard because you know you have to let down people who are playing well. I just wish we had that sort of competition everywhere in the team. Two of our best players form-wise have not been getting a game, but I don't have that dilemma elsewhere. The rest of the team really picks itself.

Were people squaring up to him or was he squaring up to other people?,

We went a stage further than on Wednesday. Our delivery was better today, but our final touch was a problem.

We are very keen that Chris remains at the club and, hopefully, this can be achieved.

We went over the goals again with the players this morning,

Craig, like Adam, still has loads to work on before he can be called a real player here.

It would be good for everybody, although we would have to make sure the rest of the Scottish league would be safe and prosper,

It would have been a benefit to me and the lads in some way in terms of playing in it. I hope we can play with a full deck of cards next time.

Things seem to be going well just now and the lad wants to stay, which is good.

I've never thought about it that much; I just try to have a plan of how to play the game. Within that plan you have to take teams that are good at defending physically and make them think. In the first half we didn't make Hearts think enough. We made them defend physically, which they handled. We made them think more in the second half. Again, you just can't play the one way all the time. If the team you play against can get in that mentality, then all they have to do is defend. If you can make opponents think, then defend physically, then think... that is what you are trying to achieve that with your team.

It would be stupid to think people would not notice there was a hitch in his contract and try and get a top player.

Age doesn't bother me, ... I played in the Premiership until I was 40, Gary McAllister was huge influence on Liverpool at 36, so I don't have a problem with that. It's about fitness, mental attitude, are you still hungry enough.

Delighted with the win, delighted with the performance and delighted with the clean sheet.

Anybody who wants to speak to me or have any worries about their future, whether they are young or old, there is plenty of time.

Apologies to Andreas, but I have not seen him play and I don't really know his name, so that kind of answers the question,

You might as well scrap offside now if you are not going to rule that offside.

They've got an incredibly strong squad and are as experienced and as good as any in the Scottish league just now.