In Champions League terms the money Strachan has spent has been minimal, yet his free transfers, cut-price pick-ups and homegrown youngsters have all played their part in qualifying for the last 16 with a game to spare. When he has spent money, Strachan has got it right. Only Jiri Jarosik — who cost a reported £2m — has failed to contribute as much as his manager would have hoped.
It is difficult to compare the teams of O’Neill and Strachan because they were put together to play the game in different ways, but the calibre of players available to O’Neill was far superior to the group Strachan works with. So how has a team with less money and worse players done what the team that got to the Uefa Cup final could not? It’s because of a change in the way they play. This Celtic team play a more intricate, faster style of football. It features a kind of player that was never prominent in an O’Neill team. There are fewer man-mountains, and more players who can do the unexpected, like Strachan himself.
The role of Tommy Burns in this change is significant. He appears to be playing a more prominent role now than he was under O’Neill, who had his own trusted frontline coaches in John Robertson and Steven Walford. A new manager could have seen Burns as a Parkhead insider, a former manager and a cult hero to the supporters, and kept him on the outside.
Instead Strachan has embraced Burns and a happy coaching set-up shaped around the pair has helped successfully rebuild the team and break new ground in Europe. All of this takes nothing away from O’Neill, who came to Celtic when they were at their lowest point and picked them up immediately. He had money to spend, but he used it to bring in players who will be remembered for a long time, even if they did not manage to make an impact in the Champions League. That is why only a few of this Celtic team would make it into O’Neill’s side, and it makes the current manager’s achievement even more remarkable.
Strachan’s budget in January and next summer should be strengthened by progress to the last 16, but it will take more than he will be given to make this team a contender for the latter stages of the Champions League.