Keith Jackson on the real reason former Celtic manager lost Scotland job

Former Celtic boss Gordon Strachan left his position as Scotland manager in October 2017, after 2018 World Cup qualification failure. It was the third campaign Strachan had overseen, and despite going a year undefeated, a draw with Slovenia ultimately saw Scotland miss out on a major tournament once again.

Strachan’s contract was due for renewal the following month but a 30-minute SFA board meeting led to the majority vote which ultimately led to former Chief Exec Stewart Regan letting Strachan know his time with Scotland had been mutually consented – as was the party line taken at the time.

To many it seemed a harsh decision given the impressive run of results Scotland had been on, but ultimately it was another brave failure for Scotland, something we had very much become accustomed to. As such, the offer of a new contract for a manager who had overseen three consecutive qualifying failures was never really likely, as much like with the latter days with Celtic, some of the football served up by Strachan’s team at the time was a hard watch.

Fast forward five and a half years and Keith Jackson over at Daily Record reckons he’s found the real reason Strachan wasn’t kept on as Scotland boss, with Jackson letting his Record readership in on a secret well-kept for over half a decade.

Jackson has claimed Strachan was sacked was due to his opposition to using the national performance centre at the Oriam as the team’s training base. It is also claimed the SFA promised to help make the Oriam look worthy of the £25million spent on it, but that Strachan refused to cooperate. Politics, eh?

Copyright: imago/WEREK – Jock Stein and Gordon Strachan at the 1982 World Cup

This has all come to light in the same week Scotland assistant coach John Carver described the playing surface at the Oriam as “safety hazard” and a “health risk” as way of explanation for Scotland preparing for the upcoming Euro qualifiers against Cyprus and Spain at Lesser Hampden, rather than the training centre in Edinburgh also used by the Scotland Rugby team.

It will be interesting to hear Gordon Strachan’s own views on Jackson’s piece, should he choose to comment -indeed perhaps he already has – but it does seem strange how this has suddenly come to light as an explanation for Strachan leaving his Scotland post over five years later.

Did no journalist dig into this at the time? And had this been the straw that broke the camel’s back, why once Stewart Regan had left his post as Chief Exec, after the embarrassing attempts to persuade Michael O’Neill to become Strachan’s replacement, did it not come to light then either? And is it really likely Strachan’s unwillingness to use the Oriam resulted in the majority vote at the SFA, rather than another failed qualifying campaign?

Scotland’s players and staff may well be unhappy with the Oriam, and it is also claimed the travelling between Edinburgh and Glasgow on a matchday had also become a challenge, due to traffic congestion on the day of a game, but when have they not complained about using the Riccarton facility? After all this has been a bowling club agreement with Holyrood politicians that is has been a millstone around the neck of the Scottish national team for years?

Stewart Regan (left) sitting next to Neil Doncaster

However, alternatively, it could be an expensively redeveloped Lesser Hampden may well suit better as a base for Scotland players and staff – and in turn help Queen’s Park raise their profile as well as some funds towards the club’s impressive rebuild since turning professional. Perhaps there is someone based there who knows how to navigate Scottish football and Scottish politics’ murky waters.

It all looks like SFA political infighting between the blazers and the boots on the ground conveniently making its way into the public domain with dreadful timing, because this story was for publication in the weeks and months after Strachan’s leaving his post as national team manager.

It now coming to light – some five years later – lacks all relevancy, other than long standing disagreements and manoeuvring going on behind the scenes over the political football that is the Oriam. And that’s been bubbling under for nearly as long as Keith Jackson took to apparently stumble across the real reason for Gordon Strachan not being offered that new contract as Scotland boss.

It’s Just as well the timing of this fall-out behind the scenes isn’t impacting on important fixtures ahead for Scotland, isn’t it? Same as it ever was, when Scottish football’s amateur blazers suffer the consequences of playing politics with Holyrood civil servants, with only a fraction of their nous.

Niall J

CLICK TO ORDER A SIGNED COPY

OUT ON FRIDAY...‘The Bould Bhoys – Glory to their name’ by Matthew Marr

About Author

As a Bellshill Bhoy I was taken to my first Celtic game in the summer of 1987. It was Billy McNeill’s return to Celtic Park as manager and Celtic lost 5-1 to Arsenal . I thought I was a jinx, I think my Grandfather might have thought the same. It was the finest gift anyone ever gave me when he walked me through Parkhead's gates.

Comments are closed.