Is Gordon Strachan the right man to lead Celtic or should they look for a new manager
LOU MACARIFormer Celtic manager
You can hardly judge a manager's season when the outcome of it remains unknown. If Gordon turns around and wins the title, people will say, with three titles, and two last-16 Champions League ap
pearances, he couldn't have done any more with the squad he has put together. If Rangers stay top, they will say his signings weren't good enough and he has got it all wrong.
Gordon knows that in a two-club set-up, you are going to face heavy criticism if you are the second team in that pecking order. But he has more pluses than minuses in his three years in charge and if he ends the season trophyless, the pluses should buy him the summer to rectify mistakes. If Celtic then started the season as a team as uncertain as they have been at crucial times this season, then Gordon would know that patience would not be inexhaustible.
JOHN FALLONFormer Celtic keeper
Gordon has stuck by what he thinks is right and there comes a point when you have to look at the players. They should be going all out to save their season as much as save their manager's season but they seem struck by a fear I remember from the early 1960s. When we didn't score early then players would go into their shells and the same is happening now.
It is being transmitted by the fans and they are struggling to cope with the fact Rangers are relying on some old players but are top of the league. Gordon has gone the other way by bringing in players mostly under the age of 28 and he has done the job with these sort of signings up till now.
He hasn't had many breaks but, whatever happens, I don't think the Celtic board will panic. That said, the demands of the support might impact on their thinking though. The people paying to watch the club don't see it any other way than Celtic have the resources to be consistently winning the league right now. Any other outcome is failure they won't accept.
JEANETTE FINDLAYCeltic Supporters Trust
I don't think there is any groundswell from the supporters to remove the manager from his job. Certainly, it does not exist in the way it has been portrayed in the media. Celtic supporters, and supporters' groups, aren't of one opinion. They are individuals who have a variety of opinions.
Ask them what they are thinking right now and they would tell you they are simply looking at the Old Firm game as a match to be won. All efforts are concentrated on giving the manager and the team the full backing to go on and do that.
Right now is not the time to discuss what will happen with the manager, or what should happen with the manager. There is a game to be won that is crucial in the destination of this championship.
INTERVIEWS BY ANDREW SMITH
The full article contains 517 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
