Glasgow giants Celtic have replaced former Ireland international Damien Duff with Gavin Strachan, son of Gordon, as their new first team coach.
Strachan, who is 41, replaces Duff, who left to take up a role with Stephen Kenny and the Republic of Ireland. Gavin has experience of working in management having been assistant at Peterborough to Darren Ferguson. He was also assistant manager at Doncaster Rovers. Celtic had to pay compensation to secure his release. Strachan will now work alongside Neil Lennon and John Kennedy. He said, “It is a huge honour to be appointed to this position with Celtic, such a giant of a club and a real iconic footballing institution – this really is an opportunity I could simply not turn down”. Strachan said he is extremely excited to starting the new role and said:
“I am hugely excited about getting started with Neil, John and the players as we get ready for the challenges ahead.
Neil Lennon who played under Gavin’s father, Gordon Strachan, said “We are delighted to bring Gavin to Celtic”. “We had a number of options for the role but Gavin was the outstanding candidate. Lennon said that Strachan is “really talented” and “experienced” and he knows he has the right qualities to make a great contribution to the club.
Strachan played professional football himself. He played at Coventry from 1997 to 2003. Incidentally his dad was coach. He went on to have loan spells at Motherwell, Dundee, Hartlepool and Notts County to name but a few. He also played for the Scotland U21 side making 8 appearances.
