Is time running out for Gordon Strachan?

A lot of Scottish football observers have been drawn to the Championship this season to examine the Scottish experiment being undertaken by Gordon Strachan. The league campaign is only 9 games old but there appears to be problems for the Good Ship Scotia in ‘Boro.

10 points from 9 games is a poor return in anyone’s language but for the pre-season favourites, it is a terrible situation to be in, with only 2 points separating Boro from the relegation zone.

Injuries to Willo Flood and Kevin Thomson have not helped Gordon Strachan but defeats to Derby, Watford, QPR, Barnsley, Millwall and Ipswich are a far cry from the man who masterminded his former team to wins over AC Milan, Manchester United, Benfica and of course, three SPL titles.

However, reading reports of Middlesbrough matches and what the Boro fans are saying online is eerily reminiscent of the final days of Strachan’s Celtic Park reign. Slow, plodding play and wide men being played on their wrong side was the mark of Gordon Strachan’s Celtic at their least inventive and it may be happening all over again.

All of this sees Strachan’s team retain possession but lack the cutting edge needed to break teams down, leaving them vulnerable to attacks at the back.

No doubt Gordon knows what the problems are and knows how to fix them….

If things are beginning to look bleak for Gordon Strachan, the fortunes of two other men that wore the hoops are considerably brighter. There is a world of a difference when it comes to the respect Celtic fans held Paul Lambert and Malky Mackay but are sitting neatly in the play-off places.

Paul Lambert may be a “mini-me” of Martin O’Neill with a CV containing Wycombe Wanderers and Norwich City and the tracksuit and glasses combination but he is starting to build his own reputation as a manager.

A 4-3 win over Leicester City propelled Norwich City up to third place in the league, no mean feat for a club that was promoted from League 1 in the summer. Norwich are 7 points behind runaway leaders Queens Park Rangers but only 1 point behind Cardiff City in the second automatic promotion spot.

The Championship remains one of the most difficult leagues to get promoted from, the financial rewards of the Premiership means that every team is desperate to get there and a 46 match season is not for the weak. Norwich have dropped points in recent games against Hull and Doncaster but are ticking over nicely at the moment.

Their first game of the Championship season resulted in a defeat for Norwich against Watford, which pitted Lambert against Malky Mackay.

The midweek Championship games ended in disappointment for Watford with a 3-2 home defeat against Swansea City but the Hornets have acme up with some eye-catching results of late.

A 3-1 home win over Middlesbrough came hot on the heels of a 6-1 win away to Millwall. With the Millwall fanbase, featuring unsavoury characters like Rod Liddle, proclaiming that no one likes them but they don’t care…its safe to say that most of the nation raised a chuckle at that result.

So…it is a contrast in fortunes for men who used to earn their pay at Celtic Park and perhaps the end of the line is looming for one of the men.

Can Gordon Strachan turn things around?

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It’s good to talk…

You would have thought that the deadline day move to Middlesbrough would have seen the end of Scott McDonald bumping his gums in the media about Celtic and what is going wrong at Celtic Park.

At the weekend he was pontificating about how the replacements for the band of brothers who fled to England during the window have been replaced by inferior players.

Yes, Scott, your replacement is clearly an inferior striker compared to you.

Strewth!

And now today, he is back in the Evening Times with another Ronnie Cully exclusive, Ronnie certainly has the ear of some players doesn’t he?

Don’t get us wrong, it’s not entirely McDonald’s fault, it is not as though he phoned up the Evening Times asking for his opinions to be published. He will have been asked to give his opinion and has probably gave it as honestly as he can.

“Even with me not at the club, Tony Mowbray likes to make changes at that period in games, for reasons unknown to players who will question, if you’re having not a bad game, why are you taking me off?

It was not something I was completely happy about, and I’d be honest about it and say. But, he’s the boss and, accordingly, he does what he sees as right. You’re not always going to agree with it, though.”

The substitutions made by Mowbray have been questioned by many fans this season, some have worked, like away to Dynamo Moscow or Saturday at Rugby Park, whereas others have disrupted the team.

McDonald suggests that the team was not consistent enough in the first half of the season and that the signing of Keane was too little, too late. Again, it is hard to argue with this but some of the responsibility must fall on McDonald’s shoulders.

Too often McDonald looked uninterested playing under Tony Mowbray. Fair enough, you may not like the boss but if you are being paid handsomely by the club and McDonald’s new contract ensured that he was being paid handsomely, to put in so many below par performances came close to cheating the fans.

McDonald’s first season at Celtic, his goals were a massive reason in the side winning the league.

McDonald’s last season ended in disappointment but his all-round play and work-rate kept the side in the hunt. The Australian striker never had a partner worthy of the name for the majority of 08/09 and in WeKnowSFA’s eyes was Celtic’s best player for the season.

This season though, it was almost embarrassing at times watching an overweight McDonald bawl and moan at team-mates who at least were trying to work hard on the pitch.

Scott McDonald may have only been sold on deadline day but he checked out of Celtic Park a good while before then.

Continuing to make these comments will diminish the goodwill he built up with Celtic fans in his first two seasons.

It’s a shame but that’s modern day football for you.