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 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

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

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

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 Foot ...

, 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 currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

from 2015 to 2018, then

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

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 who is currently Technical Director of Dundee. He played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Sc ...

, and the father of player Luke Strachan. Spending most of his early years with

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

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

journeyman A journeyman 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 field as a fully qualified employee ...

. 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. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

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

University of Staffordshire The University of Staffordshire is a public research university in Staffordshire, England. It has its main campus in Stoke-on-Trent and four other campuses in Stafford, Lichfield, Shrewsbury, and London. History In 1901, industrialist Alfred ...

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 broad ...

2008–2009.

Playing career

Strachan was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

. He began his football career at

where his father,

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

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

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 Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

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 authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

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 the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

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 town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

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

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

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 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, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

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 level 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 (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

. 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 located in the Borough of Erewash in Derbyshire, England, with a population of 40,953 at the 2021 census. Its major industries, coal mining, iron working and lace making/textiles, have now all but disappeared. Part of t ...

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

National League North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National League (English footb ...

side Nuneaton Town. 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 is the manager of League One club Peterborough United, in his fourth stint as manager of the club. In between his stints with Peterborou ...

. 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, Gilli ...

. 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 Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

in March 1998.

Media

In September 2008, Strachan began writing a blog for the

site to help his degree in Professional Sports Writing and Broadcasting at

Career statistics

References

External links

* * at
BBC blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strachan, Gavin 1978 births Living people Footballers from Aberdeen Men's association football midfielders Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's 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