Gordon Strachan, Celtic FC coach: “Systems don’t win you games, players do” Gordon Strachan has been the coach of Celtic FC since June 2005. In his first year, after a tough start, he won the Scottish league with Celtic FC in record time and with six matches remaining. Over the next two years he would also win the league title to become only the third ever Celtic FC manager to guide the club to three consecutive Scottish league titles. Last year Celtic reached the 2nd round of the Champions League after beating AC Milan, Benfica and Shaktar Donetsk. SoccerCoachingInternational had a chance to talk to this successful coach about his vision on coaching, although he does not see himself as successful: “Whether you win or lose, it is basically always the players.” By: Frans Hoek and Paul van Veen Photo by: Orange Pictures 4 No. 29 October/November 2008 Photo by: Orange Pictures “Why am I so successful as a coach? I don’t see myself as “I don’t have a plan as a coach. I don’t have the plan to be the successful. I have a problem with talking about I and me. I just feel coach of Manchester United in the future, my life is open. part of a successful group of players. I am just a small part in I think that is better than to plan everything, because you never that, so I never think I am successful. I think along with the people know where you will end up. I never planned to be a Manchester around me and I enjoy the successes we have, but I never think United player, but I did end up there. I never planned to be the of me being the successful one.” Celtic coach and here I am sitting being the coach.” “This is my job. Once you get your coaching badge, it’s like taking an “I can’t teach players everything. I can teach them about winning oath, just like when you become a doctor. When you become a doctor, games, I can make them understand the system. But I can’t help you take an oath that you will make people better. When you become them pass the ball anymore. When you come to this level, you a coach, you take an oath that you will make football players better. either can pass the ball or you can’t. I can work on getting people As a coach, it’s not about you. You will get better in the job over the in the correct position, but if you are 29 and you keep giving the years, you’ll get more knowledge, but it is not my goal to make myself ball away, I can’t do anything about that. What can you do if a better coach. My most important goal is to make the players better. everybody is in perfect position and somebody can’t pass the ball I want to be a coach that lets people experience the excitement I felt 15 yards? That is a waste of time. So what comes first, the when I was a player. Feel the joy I felt when I won trophies. So system or the ability to pass the ball? Of course, it is the ability to basically I am there for the players and my enjoyment comes from pass the ball. You can put Paul Scholes anywhere on the pitch; he watching players being successful and improving themselves.” will never give the ball away.” “Why Celtic is so successful? I don’t analyze it that much, but I “He is always looking forward, always. Ferguson teaches would say we have the best group of players. It is as simple as players that after three square passes, it must go forward. He that and I think people just score goals, every season we have doesn’t want square-square-square-back-back-back. And players scoring goals. Last year, Jan Vennegoor and McDonald basically he is saying: I always want you to look forward. How together scored 50 goals and that’s basically it. We give them a do you get that forward pass of 10, 20 yards to eliminate the platform, we play a system that give chances to people like them midfield of the opponent? Paul Scholes can do that.” and they give us back 50 goals.” No. 29 October/November 2008 5 “But whatever system is used, systems don’t win you games. Players win you games. A system can help you not to lose a game, but players will help you win a game. For example, if you take the match we played last night (against Tottenham in the Rotterdam Tournament in August 2008 – ed.), Tottenham used the system I used when I first came here to Celtic. Today I no longer have the players to play that system. But the choice of the system did not beat us last night, the passing beat us. Just the ability to pass the ball properly beat us. In the first half we had 18 unforced errors in our passing, and that means we gave the ball away while there was no pressure. Those 18 bad passes lost us 8 minutes of possession and that’s what cost us the game last night.” “I saw the same at the European Championship. There was so much talk about the systems. But what I see: no matter what happens, when defending, they all defend 4-5-1. There were variations when you have the ball, but they all defend that way. But there is no one system that will let you win that tournament. Players will. So again, systems can stop you from conceding goals, but good players score you goals.” “My role is to understand why we play that system. That is the coaching side of my job. But on the other side there is also a managing side. I like coaching, but you also have to make a group of players. Our team that played last night cost 8 million pound, the Tottenham squad cost 125 million. If you play the better teams in Europe, you know you can beat them 1 out of 10 matches. You have to make sure your organization is as strong as possible by preparing your team as well as possible. Furthermore, you can beat such a team with team spirit. The technical ability can only be there when you also have the team spirit at that level and that’s where we can beat that team. If you are not as technical as the other team, you have to compensate. My job as a coach is to make them feel comfortable with each other. In other words: to create team spirit.” “In this process I didn’t encounter a lot of problems. If I had encountered a destructive player in the group I would say: you are a good player, but you are affecting other people. We watch this very closely and you have to treat players properly. I’m like a father for them. I can speak to them like a child while there is a fire. I can say: please don’t go near the fire, otherwise you will get burned. But if they keep going towards it, they have a problem and sometimes as a coach you have to be ruthless. I don’t enjoy it, but you have to do that. You hope that if you treat them properly you will get the same back. But sometimes you have to take action, but not too often luckily.” “As a coach, there is quite a difference between Coventry and Southampton and coaching here. When I was at Coventry and Southampton, 70 percent of my coaching was how to stop the opponent, because we were playing high level teams like Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester. How can I stop Roy Keane or Paul Scholes getting the ball so often? Now at Celtic, it is different as I now have to think about how we can beat systems that try to stop us from scoring goals. It is the other way around. I now have to break down systems, at Coventry and Southampton I had a system that was hard to beat. It took me three weeks at Celtic to think the Celtic way. I enjoy both, but they are two completely different preparations.” 6 No. 29 October/November 2008 “If I watch an opponent play in the week positions, but they still need to have the before they play against Celtic, I can forget ability to pass the ball and it is not that about the way that team played in that difficult ball I am talking about. That is not match, because next week they will do what makes a great player; it is the basic something different, because we are 10 to 15 yard passing. You don’t want Celtic. They will look at Celtic and think: games where you lose the ball in the how can we stop Celtic’s way of playing? middle of the park. The ball that gives you And I understand that completely, because the most problems are the passes of 10 I did the same when I was coaching at yards that look easy. They get intercepted Coventry and Southampton. I’ve been and you have a very dangerous counter there too. I know coaches with less money attack. Most people think: that is an easy than Celtic have to work very hard and pass, so I can relax.