manager content ahead of basel opener

David Friel
PERHAPS it’s the tranquil surroundings of Celtic’s pre-season base in Switzerland, but Gordon Strachan seems more relaxed than ever as he prepares for tonight's friendly with FC Basel.

Of course, the Hoops manager’s contentment may also stem from the fact that he is currently working with a group of players he trusts implicitly, and more importantly, believes can maintain the success enjoyed by the club over the past two years.

Included in that pool are four new faces in Massimo Donati, Scott Brown, Scott McDonald and Chris Killen. The manager hinted that more signings could follow, but if he had to start competitive action with the current squad, Strachan would be more than satisfied.

“I’ve got a great group here – a real good group,” he said. “If you ask me why we won the league last year, it was because we had the best squad.

“They were respectful to each other. As a group and how they behave to each other, I’m more than happy with the squad. They are good team-mates to each other.

“The new boys have been great. They’ve really enjoyed the training along with the rest of the squad. It’s been good hard work, but educational as well. As coaches, we’ve walked off happy with we’re seeing.”

Strachan was on holiday when the transfer of Donati from AC Milan was completed last week, but revealed the club had been monitoring the Italian since the start of the year.

“We’ve been tracking him for the last six months,” he said. “I was always aware of this boy Donati but it’s only when you think he might be a possibility and focus on him, watch him on television, you think ‘He’s not bad’.

“I was impressed by his all-round play. He has a good eye for a forward pass, but has a lot of good stuff. He’s a good player.”

Despite Celtic’s progress to the last 16 of the Champions League last season, Strachan remains unmoved on the club’s main aim for the coming campaign.

“The priority is to win the league,” he stated. “I said it last year and I’ll say it again – that’s the priority. We’re building a side to win the league.

“If we go further in the cups? Great. But our priority is the league - that’s what the team-building is aimed at, we’re not even thinking about Europe just now.

“We just want to get better as a team. We leave that as a blanket – it means improving in every position. I’m looking for variation in our play and I want us to get better everywhere.

“But we must keep winning. I think we got our treble last season in winning the SPL, Scottish Cup and reaching the last 16 of the Champions League, but everyone wants to keep improving.

“The players want to get better, and I want them to get better. Hopefully, that means the supporters will see better football.

“What we have given the fans is winning football. We’ve tried to entertain at the same time, but if we couldn’t entertain, we just had to win.”