Gordon Strachan wants to be a winner and he would love to play beautiful silky soccer, play football the Glasgow Celtic Way, while winning trophies. Jock Stein's legacy is such that the Celtic managers job demands these things from the incumbent, that his team not only wins but that they do it with style. The present boss is also aware that winning ugly will be perfectly acceptable to the fans on occasions such as Sunday's Co-operative Cup Final against the Huns.
Celtic and Rangers were pilloried, and rightly so, for the insipid display from both teams in last months SPL game at Celtic Park. The general concensus from punters and pundits alike was that the 0-0 draw was one of the worst Glasgow derbies in living memory. A Glasgow derby devoid of blood and thunder and devoid of the thrill-a-minute shenanigans that we expect when these two go head-to-head. It was mooted at the time that maybe both bosses were prepared to accept the draw even before kick-off. That maybe the fear of losing overcame their desire for victory at this stage of the campaign.
"Rangers and ourselves have a responsibility to try to entertain," said Gordon Strachan. "We have the resources, more than anybody else, to have the privilege of trying to entertain. I think all football mangers try that. There are certain times when you can't because the resources you come up against are too much.
"Us and Rangers have the responsibility of trying to play football the right way but also the responsibility to our fans to win trophies." he continued. "If you listen to their songs, they celebrate wins. I don't hear too much in their songs about beautiful football, 'It's lovely playing beautiful football and never mind if we get beat'. It's not like that. Most of our songs are about winning and I think the opposition are the same."
"There is a fear in itself that someone is going to win and someone going to lose." said the Celtic boss. "The two teams at the moment want to win it but probably fear getting beaten more. But the opportunity is there to play. We have all been to finals when you think it's going to be a walkover and it's an excellent game."
"So I really can't tell you how it's going to go." he said "The players on the day usually determine who is going to win it. If the two sets of players go for it, it's going to be an excellent game. I think we have a decent style of play and they have a decent style. So we're hoping good players will decide the competition and some good goals, to make it exciting, something to talk about."
Although the Celtic manager has won both domestic cups in his time at Parkhead he has never faced our city rivals in a final. In fact this will be a first for both himself and opposite number Walter Smith so relatively rare are final clashes between the two Glasgow giants.
Former Celt's Danny McGrain, Willie McStay and Neil Lennon, all on the coaching staff at Celtic Park, enlightened the manager regarding previous Cup Finals against the Forces of Darkness. "I was speaking to Danny, Willie and Lenny this morning and they were telling me it's only the fourth Old Firm cup final in 20 years," said Strachan. "I find that unbelievable, probably not with my record in cups mind you. But if you ask anyone in England, they think it's a Celtic-Rangers cup final every year. You look through them and there are quite a few shocks in the final as well."
The form of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Georgios Samaras will be causing the manager most concern in the lead up to the final and although the fans are beginning to lose patience with both mis-firing forwards they still have the confidence of their manager. "The two of them are fantastic professionals," said Strachan. "If they are down at the moment, it's probably because they are saying I'm not doing my bit for the team'. They'd rather be scoring goals to help the team - that's the kind of guys they are. Some strikers want to score goals to help themselves, but Jan and Georgios have been in championship-winning sides, so they know what the rewards are if they are doing their job."