Clock is running on Strachan

He may have been Martin O'Neill's choice to take over at Celtic but after Wednesday's night's humiliation in Slovakia those among the club's fanatical supporters who doubted Gordon Strachan's ability to pick up where the Irishman left off may already feel vindicated.

Five down ahead of next Wednesday's second leg, Celtic are almost certain to make their exit from Europe after just 180 minutes of football.

That leaves just one thing for the Parkhead club to achieve if Strachan's first, and perhaps last season, of Old Firm management is not to be judged a disaster - finishing ahead of Rangers in the league campaign that starts today (and, ideally, beating them four times along the way).

On the day he was appointed, to a good deal less fanfare than greeted the arrival of O'Neill before him in 2000, Strachan said he had painted the slogan "You Do Not Have Much Time" on his wall just in case he was ever tempted to forget the harsh reality of his situation. Outside the press conference where he was unveiled supporters' representative Peter Rafferty described Celtic fans as "patient people" before observing that "they will expect him to own the championship next season".

There's little chance, it seems, that Strachan will ever have to rely on the graffiti to remind him of the urgency of his task during the months ahead. Asked about what he would have to do in order to win over the sceptics and secure his position, he admitted that delivering another title come the middle of May is pretty much the bottom line.

His task will not be made easier by the tight financial regime at Celtic which led, at least in part, to the departure of 10 players over the summer and his failure to replace them with footballers of the calibre he and the supporters would have liked. The situation is unlikely to improve if, as expected, Celtic exit Europe next week and lose an estimated €14 million in Champions League revenue.

As the first Scot to be appointed manager of one of the Glasgow's big two without having played for either, his position is further complicated.

A devoted Hibernian fan as a youngster, Strachan missed out on the chance to join the club he supported in 1974 when his father dug in in a row over what expenses his son would be entitled to and so the young midfielder signed for Dundee instead before moving on to bigger things. Never a favourite at Celtic Park during his Aberdeen days, he was once attacked on the field by a home supporter during a league game which the visitors won 2-0.

Twenty-five years on he was asked about the incident and joked that it had been one of the highlights of his career before conceding it had gone down well with the locals - while his assailant had been fined £100 for the incident, "a pub whip-round afterwards for the guy raised closer to £200".

If he was disliked by those who resented Aberdeen's encroachment on the Old Firm's near monopoly of success in Scotland, however, his ability as a player was abundantly obvious to even the most begrudging of rivals.

As a pivotal figure in the Aberdeen side managed by Alex Ferguson he helped the team to two leagues, three cups and a Cup Winners' Cup between 1980 and 1984. Current Rangers boss Alex McLeish was a team-mate in those days and in a city where enmity between everybody associated with the two clubs is the expected norm, their continuing friendship is also viewed with a little discomfort.

Those who know describe Strachan as a likeable, lighthearted character - when not in management mode. When in harness, it is said, he becomes entirely consumed by the task. He admitted last year that one of the benefits of being out of work was that his children now took the trouble to speak to him again.

"Before that," he explained, "they used to phone and ask their mum if it was worth their while talking to the dad. It was a shame. I was listening but I wasn't hearing."

Strachan's strength of character led to a falling out with Ferguson during their time together at Aberdeen - they still dislike each other - but it was certainly an important component of a player who made 50 appearances for his country and, late in his career, led Leeds United to their first championship title in 18 years.

His love of coaching, obvious intelligence and impressive understanding of the game always marked him out as a likely candidate for management and he initially did fairly well when given his first crack at the job with Coventry City in 1996.

In his first year the club stayed up on the last day of the season and he then guided them to a series of comfortable mid-table finishes before a slide in 2001 ended in relegation and, not long after, his departure.

He did somewhat better at Southampton: the club's form improved, talented young players were brought through and, as a result of reaching (though losing) the 2003 FA Cup final, the team returned to European competition after an absence of 19 years.

His side was promptly eliminated from the Uefa Cup by Steaua Bucharest but Strachan described the experience of managing a team in Europe as far more exciting than actually playing in it.

This appears to have been a key factor in his decision, after leaving Southampton for family reasons and then taking a lengthy break from the game - during which he was offered jobs at the likes of Portsmouth, West Ham and West Brom but failed to secure the Scotland post - to say yes when Celtic came calling.

Aside from the media work he undertook during what he called his "sabbatical", he spent as much time as possible studying the game, watching countless matches around Britain and Europe and visiting training grounds at major continental clubs so as to watch at close quarters how some of the best managers in the game prepared their players.

As ever, he played the process down when asked about it earlier in the summer, remarking, "You need a good formation to stop losing goals and good players to score goals. It's not as cosmic as coaches like to make out."

If so, then he and his team must jointly carry the can for last Wednesday's abysmal performance, but it is he who must ensure things improve dramatically today when Celtic kick off their new league campaign against Motherwell.

After all, he doesn't have much time.