GORDON Strachan doesn’t have much time for the media in all its guises.
He’s snapped at television interviewers, once ridiculed a female radio reporter about how he didn’t know what giving child birth would be like and, of course, there are the nasty newspapers with their agendas and misleading headlines, which has so angered him throughout his many years in football.
And this goes back to his playing days at Dundee when the guys who worked that the patch at that time recall him being a bit of a nippy sweetie as a 17-year-old.
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Strachan, funnily enough, is okay with the Press when ITV and Sky are paying him handsomely for his punditry, which he is quite good at to be fair, or when he needs to get his story out. The former Scotland manager did this week to a couple of selected titles.
And what an example of self-delusion it was.
Strachan seems unsure as to why he was sacked by the SFA. He believes nobody else could get more out of the players. And that the squad will never be looked as well no matter who comes in.
Now before I go on, it would be remiss not to say that Strachan was and remains popular with the players. They genuinely like the guy, enjoyed working with him and for a manager with a reputation for falling out with people, you will be hard-pressed to find anyone within the Scotland set-up who worked under the man with a bad word to say about him.
But, sorry, I’m not buying the ‘woe is me line’ he’s tried to peddle, especially as he spent some time in Palm Springs after being sacked by the SFA. There are a lot worse off than him.
SFA chief Stewart Regan, Strachan claims, dumped him over the phone instead of face-to-face, which is cowardly and downright wrong. Strachan deserved better than that. He also deserved to lose his job, as harsh as that sounds.
The SFA had to act after two failed qualification campaigns. In the European Championship group, Scotland finished fourth behind Poland, who had some great players but weren’t a great team, and the Republic of Ireland who weren’t as good as us.
Strachan believes his reign was decided by two games, one of them being the 1-0 defeat in Georgia towards the end of that campaign, forgetting about the draw in Dublin when he got his team so, so wrong.
The other game that did for him was the 1-1 draw at Hampden to Lithuania right at the start of what was to be his final campaign.
But what about the 3-0 defeat in Slovakia? Or the 2-2 draw in Slovenia?
Scotland are no world beaters and teams like us do drop points in the games mentioned above. But it happened far too many times and while it’s hardly all the manager’s fault, he’s not the one out on the park, a lot of the blame must rest with him.
And as for nobody getting more out of that squad; I’m just not buying that one.
Strachan’s reluctance to play Scottish-based players, even those at Celtic who were ripping up the record books, was really his downfall, especially as he seemed obsessed with those plying their trade in the Championship.
Had Leigh Griffiths and Stuart Armstrong, to name two, been trusted a few games before they were eventually called upon, things might, actually make that would, have been different.
Strachan says he misses the Scotland job and I believe him. He gave his all for the cause and then some. His stubbornness can be a strength in managers but it worked against him over his years in charge of the national team.
Scotland, under the former manager, dropped far too many points against teams we really had to be beating, or at least drawing with.
Everyone knows about the lack of good centre-halves but here again was an example of him refusing to see past Russell Martin and Grant Hanley who, simply, aren’t up to it. His loyalty to Darren Fletcher was perplexing given how many young players he could have called on to play centre midfield.
Strachan believes we are in a stronger position than when he took over. Finishes of fourth and third don’t back that up, and there are better players available now compared to five years ago.
He tried his best, nobody can question that, but it wasn’t enough. It’s time to move on.
And another thing
AS things stood at the time of writing this column, Aberdeen are only two points behind Celtic.
Should Partick Thistle win at Parkhead tonight, albeit that is unlikely then a win for Derek McInnes’s men on Saturday against Celtic would see them top of the league on Christmas Day.
Okay, there are a few ifs and buts in there, but who would have thought the league could be so close almost at the halfway point.
Rangers may have had an interesting season but, in fact, they are not so far away.
Celtic will win the title; however, they are getting a run for their money.
And the mini-league for the best of the rest is going to be a great watch.
There are also a lot of young Scottish players doing well throughout the 12 teams.
I don’t know about you but I’m thoroughly enjoying this football season.