Strachan insists, ‘Everything we have to do is as a team’, as Scottish excitement grows for Euro 2016 qualifying draw

In a short spell, Gordon Strachan has allowed previously beleaguered followers of Scotland’s international team to once again indulge in what they do best. Dreaming.

The improvement presided over by Strachan since taking office 13 months ago means there is excitement ahead of the Scots’ latest date with destiny. Namely, that is, the draw for the European Championships qualifying phase .

“To qualify,” says Strachan when asked what a legitimate ambition is, with Euro 2016 in mind.

“But everything has to be done as a group. If you don’t understand that whether you are a fan, or a coach, or a player, you can’t be with us.”

There is logic behind the latter assertion. Gone are the days whereby Scotland could rely on the individual brilliance of Denis Law, Kenny Dalglish or, in a glance to the more recent past, James McFadden to win matches.

“We aren’t a nation that has produced players who can eliminate people, go by them and score goals,” Strachan adds. “We don’t have the Hazard, the Oscar, the Modric, the Suárez, the Bale. Everything we have to do is as a team. So when you are like that, you have to work more as a team. We have trained, trained, trained and trained. If one or two of them think it’s a bit hard then that’s unlucky, we can’t be guided by one or two.

“A lot of people wondered why we couldn’t beat Serbia in our last campaign. Then you watch Manchester City play Chelsea, two of the best squads in the world, and there are four Serbians playing. Our players are nowhere near that level so that’s what you are up against.”

In maintaining this realistic analysis, Strachan points out it is “far harder” to qualify for major tournaments than when he was part of a successful Scotland team. Yet there is not a hint of annoyance over Scotland’s diminished status, which will see them once again in pot four when the draw takes place in Nice.

“I like it like this,” Strachan says. “The groups are balanced. You don’t want four top sides in the one group then two of them get knocked out. That wouldn’t be fair on the spectator for the spectacle which should be the finals.

“You have to fight for the right to get into these pots and we are where we deserve to be so there is no point complaining.”

And has he planned a best and worst case scenario? “Absolutely not. I don’t even bother about it.

“I have always been like that as a manager, I don’t bother about it until it comes. Are you going to worry about it, get yourself all worked up before it happens? No, I haven’t given it a second thought.”

Strachan will be at this summer’s World Cup in his ongoing punditry role with ITV. That, added to family and work commitments, mean Strachan firmly refutes any suggestion of boredom.

“I work with good people,” he says. “I get close to and watch the best games, I get the best seats, to speak to coaches.

“I have got something to do every day. I have never woken up one morning and thought, ‘I have nothing to do.’ There are times when I have to say enough is enough because at the end of some weeks I say ‚ ‘I’m knackered now.’”

Time in Strachan’s company remains well spent. He cites Howard Wilkinson as the biggest managerial influence on his career rather than Sir Alex Ferguson. In fact, the refusal to discuss his relationship with the former Manchester United manager suggests it has never been repaired after Ferguson took a swipe at Strachan in his first autobiography.

A move into the international scene has reinvigorated Strachan’s stock, just as he seems in the process of doing likewise for the nation itself. And yet, the Scottish domestic set up is still, and rightly, viewed from even the inside as a troubled one.

“I don’t think the standard is as good as when I joined Celtic [in 2005],” Strachan says. “Look at the Hibs team, what a team that was. Hearts were backed by a lot of money with top international players in there. Rangers had won the league so there were four teams really at it at that point. The league was stronger, I don’t think anyone will disagree.

“When Walter Smith got his team to the Uefa Cup final and we had a Celtic team in the last 16 of the Champions League, I think there were nine [Scottish] players at that level which definitely benefits the international team.”

Strachan was a successful Celtic manager during times of austerity between 2005 and 2009. By the time of his departure, even Strachan’s detractors must surely have conceded that – those who didn’t should have witnessed Tony Mowbray’s subsequent failure.

If you ask Strachan which is the tougher job, that at Celtic or Scotland, the answer is a forceful one.

“Celtic, by a million miles,” he says. “It is non-stop, under the microscope. Which I wouldn’t have missed for the world, by the way. I enjoyed the challenge, I enjoyed the fight.

“I can disappear for weeks now, I can live in another country. With players, you have the choice not to pick them, you don’t have to deal with them again if they don’t want to be part of the squad.

“The other thing I think is different is the media generally want you to do well here. You don’t get that with Celtic or Rangers because you [the media] are not allowed to. I get the general feeling that everybody wants the Scotland team to do well.

“Apart from the punter or player who thinks every journalist hates them and wants to be involved in horrendous results, I don’t get that feeling. I think nearly everybody wants the Scotland team to do well and because of that, it’s a better working environment for me.”

Strachan swiftly dismisses the widely-held notion that he stayed at Celtic one season too long. “I would have missed a League Cup final, beating Rangers.”

There was a struggle at Middlesbrough thereafter, with Strachan refusing to take compensation for more than half of a four-year contract which was ripped up.

“They were great people to me but there wasn’t that intensity,” he explains. “I found it very strange. Maybe the drive for me wasn’t there after wanting to fight the world for 15 years. I don’t know, I don’t over analyse.

“It’s the only place where I feel that I didn’t earn my money. Whether I was on £15-a-week at Dundee or a lot more at Celtic, I always felt like I earned my money. I couldn’t blame anybody at Middlesbrough for that, it was my fault. When you know it is your fault then it is easier to deal with.”

For now, club football is a distant – or possibly non – issue.

“Never say never but honestly I can’t see myself doing anything else but this, as long as they want me,” Strachan says. “It’s not even in my mind, I haven’t thought about it. I enjoy this.”

Albeit he won’t say as much, events later this month will form a key part in just how far that enjoyment can extend.

• Gordon Strachan
• Scotland
• Euro 2016 qualifiers
• European Championship

Ewan Murray

theguardian.com