Gavin David Strachan (born 23 December 1978) is a Scottish professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

coach, and former player and sports journalist. He is currently a first team coach at

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

club

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, and he was assistant manager at

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

from 2015 to 2018, then

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

until 2020. He is the son of former manager and player

Gordon Strachan Gordon David Strachan ( born 9 February 1957) is a Scottish former football coach and player. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has since managed Cove ...

. Spending most of his early years with

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

, Strachan has played for ten different senior clubs, and is a self-described

journeyman A journeyman, journeywoman, or journeyperson is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that fie ...

. He was

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

ped eight times for the Scotland U21 national team. As part of a degree in sports journalism at

Staffordshire University , mottoeng = Dare to know , type = Public , endowment = £70 million (2015) , administrative_staff = 1,375 , chancellor = Francis Fitzherbert, 15th Baron Stafford , vice_chancellor = Professor Martin Jones , ...

Strachan wrote a blog for

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

2008–2009.

Playing career

Strachan was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. He began his football career at

where his father,

, had taken over as player-manager in 1996. He was loaned out to

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

in 1998, making nine appearances. Back at Coventry he played in sixteen league games, eleven of them as a substitute; he left soon after the senior Strachan stepped down as manager in late 2001. He scored once during his spell at Coventry; scoring a penalty against Preston North End in the League Cup. In March 2003 Strachan joined

, in a loan deal scheduled for the remainder of the season. He joined

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

on a free transfer shortly afterwards however, but was released by the club six weeks later, at the end of 2002/03. He then moved to

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

on a free transfer. He enjoyed more success here and managed to play regular first team football for three seasons, appearing in seventy-eight matches and scoring seven. During this, the most successful spell of his playing career, Strachan was pencilled into the Scotland international squad, but the call for his first full international cap never came. During the 2005–06 season, Strachan missed a large amount of the season after fracturing a foot against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

. Despite the injury, he managed to complete the match. After recovering, he was loaned out to

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

in his third season at Hartlepool. In the 2006–07 season, Strachan saw limited selection by new Pools boss Danny Wilson after the signings of

Gary Liddle Gary Daniel Liddle (born 15 June 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or midfielder for Northern Premier League side South Shields. He has played in the English Football League for Hartlepool United, Notts C ...

and Willie Boland. He consequently signed for

initially on loan in January 2007, before making the move permanent just two days before the close of the January transfer window. Strachan signed for

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

on 10 January 2008 after his release from Peterborough United. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 victory against

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

on 10 January 2009. On 30 April 2009, Notts County announced that five players would be released from the club at the end of the season, Strachan being among them. He subsequently joined

Corby Town F.C. Corby Town Football Club is a football club based in Corby, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Steel Park. History The club was established in 1948, taking over from Stewarts & Lloyds as the main team i ...

on 24 July 2009. In June 2010, Strachan signed a one-year deal with Hinckley United Strachan joined United Counties League side St Neots Town in March 2011 scoring on his debut in the UCL cup. St Neots were later investigated as Strachan's registration papers had been delayed.

Coaching career

In July 2011, Strachan returned to

as youth team coach, replacing David Oldfield who departed to take up a similar role with

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

. Strachan was subsequently promoted to a first team coach position with Peterborough. In June 2015, Strachan was appointed the new manager of

Ilkeston Ilkeston is a town in the Borough of Erewash, Derbyshire, England, on the River Erewash, from which the borough takes its name, with a population at the 2011 census of 38,640. Its major industries, coal mining, iron working and lace making/texti ...

, his first managerial job, after Kevin Wilson left the club to manage

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Syst ...

side

Nuneaton Town Nuneaton Borough Football Club is an English football club that is based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The men's 1st team competes in the , the seventh tier of English football. In 1889, Nuneaton St. Nicholas FC was the first team in Nuneaton to ...

. On 16 October 2015, Strachan became assistant manager to

Darren Ferguson Darren Ferguson (born 9 February 1972) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of Championship club Peterborough United. In between his stints with Peterborough, he also managed Preston N ...

. On 26 January 2019, Strachan became assistant manager to

after the dismissal of Steve Evans and

Paul Raynor Paul James Raynor (born 29 April 1966) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He has worked as assistant manager under Steve Evans at Rotherham United, Leeds United, Mansfield Town, Peterborough United and Gi ...

. On 22 June 2020 Strachan became the first team coach at

club

. Strachan had to manage the first team for two games due to an outbreak of COVID-19 throughout the Celtic squad in January 2021.

International career

Strachan received eight

s for the Scotland U21 national team, though he had no appearances for the senior team. His first call-up was in a friendly against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

in March 1998.

Media

In September 2008, Strachan began writing a blog for the

site to help his

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

in Professional Sports Writing and Broadcasting at

Career statistics

References

External links

*
Profile
a
UpThePosh! The Peterborough United Database

BBC blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strachan, Gavin 1978 births Living people Footballers from Aberdeen Association football midfielders Scottish footballers Scotland under-21 international footballers Coventry City F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Hinckley United F.C. players Corby Town F.C. players St Neots Town F.C. players Premier League players Scottish Premier League players English Football League players Alumni of Staffordshire University Peterborough United F.C. non-playing staff Doncaster Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Ilkeston F.C. managers Scottish football managers Celtic F.C. non-playing staff