Muirhouse’s favourite son, Gordon Strachan has made history by becoming the first Edinburgh born manager of Scotland, replacing Craig Levein who was sacked in November following a disappointing World Cup qualifying campaign which has seen the national side dropping to bottom of the section with only two points from four games.
The 55 year-old has signed a contract that will cover the remainder of the current World Cup qualifying campaign and the Euro 2016 qualifiers.
Despite having found success as far north as Aberdeen and as far south as Southampton, the fiery Scot has never lost touch with his roots.
Born on 9 February 1957, Gordon was brought up in the new council flats in Muirhouse Grove, in the shadow of Oxcars Court. It didn’t take long before his phenomenal talent was recognised, and by the age of 15, Gordon had represented Scotland schoolboys against England at Ibrox and against West Germany in front of 40,000 fans in Saabrucken.
Such were his talents, that in the early seventies, it seemed everyone in Muirhouse had heard of Gordon, and most assumed that the Hibs daft youngster would be heading for Easter Road. Unfortunately for the Hibs fans, a row over expenses between manager Eddie Turnbull and Gordon’s father Jim closed that door.
Instead, Gordon signed for Dundee, and the rest is history. Not only did his football career take off, but more importantly, he met, fell in love with and married local girl Leslie Scott.
With money tight, Dundee soon cashed in on their talented midfield player, and he was sold to Aberdeen. Over the next seven years, Gordon contributed to the clubs most successful ever period. In that spell, Aberdeen won three league titles, the first of which ironically was sealed with a 5-0 defeat of Hibs at Easter Road, three Scottish cups, and a league cup. Gordon also played in the team which achieved legendary status by beating the mighty Real Madrid to win the European Cup Winners Cup in Gothenburg.
Subsequent moves to Manchester United, Leeds United where he won a League Championship medal and Coventry City brought more success before he hung up his boots aged 40 to concentrate of management.
After leaving Scotland, the Edinburgh public thought they had seen the last of Gordon, but he twice returned to Easter Road to show the Hibs fans what they had missed.
In 1988, as a Manchester United player, Gordon relished the opportunity to take part in a testimonial match for Hibs captain Gordon Rae. Writing in the Hibs programme that night, he expressed his delight to be playing in such a fixture but added ‘PS Remember I am a Hibs supporter, please stay away from me tonight.’ Hibs full back Joe Tortolano obviously hadn’t read it as he was sent off in the first minute for a terrible tackle on the United star. Despite this, and the three nil defeat of their team, the Hibs supporters gave Gordon a rapturous welcome.
Seven years later, he brought his Coventry City team to the capital to play in a testimonial match for Gordon Hunter, and achieved a lifelong ambition by wearing the green and white jersey of his boyhood heroes. Although well past his prime, Gordon was by far the best player on the pitch that night, and again the Hibs fans showed their appreciation.
In addition to his enormous success at club level, Gordon represented his country 50 times, including in two world cups. His goal against West Germany in Mexico in 1986 was the only one scored by Scotland during that campaign, and is remembered as much for Gordon’s celebration when he was unable to jump over the advertising board. In 1992, he was inducted into the SFA Hall of Fame in recognition of his achievements at international level.
As a manager, Gordon again tasted success keeping Coventry in the Premier league and guiding Southampton to the FA Cup Final, before returning to Scotland to manage Celtic. During his four year tenure, Celtic won three SPL titles, two domestic cups and reached the last 16 of the Champions League on two occasions. His spell at Middlesbrough however was less successful, but he retained the respect of the fans by refusing to accept a substantial pay off, to which he would have been entitled.
Last September he returned to his old school to pass on some coaching tips to youngsters, and he also takes time out to help at Spartans where he is a patron of Spartans’ Sporting Academy.
Speaking at the press conference at Hampden Park, Gordon said: “I’m very proud but also my family are proud. The time is right for me to be able to take a job like this, there’ll be rough times but I hope there’ll be good times too.
“Every club you go to there’s always challenges but this is the first time the challenge is on behalf of a nation. If you can be successful you can make a nation happy and make a nation proud and that is the priority for me to be able to do that with help from other people. I have the experience, I like working with people, I like dealing with people and I like trying to make people better.”
“I really want the squad and the staff to give something back to the country and the fans who support us because the fans are probably more famous than the squad now.so what we want to try and do is to give back something and make them turn up for a major finals competition.
“If we work together as a group and a set of fans I know for a fact we’ll be successful. What I know is that these guys, for all they might get criticised, are the best at what they do. They play for Scotland and we have to find a system that suits these players to win games of football.”
Gordon’s first match in charge will be the February friendly against Estonia at Pittodrie Stadium, ironically the ground where he enjoyed major success as an Aberdeen player under Alex Ferguson. He has spoken to a potential number two, but declined to identify his new assistant until all the paperwork had been completed, although speculation in the media suggests that former Leeds team-mate Gary McAllister is the man he wants beside him in the dugout.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
