February 13 - Strach Turns His Back on Saints

REPORTER: “So, Gordon, in what areas do you think Middlesbrough were better than you today?”
Strachan: “What areas? Mainly that big green one out there.”

On this day in 2004 Gordon Strachan quit as manager of Southampton after news of his decision to leave at the end of the season leaked out making it impossible for him to carry on in the job.

Famed for his quick wit and tendency to show up journalists who asked lazy questions WGS (the W standing for Wee) had not been a universally welcomed appointment at St Mary’s, though he would quickly establish himself as a firm fans’ favourite.

Strachan was brought in in October 2001 to turn around the Saints’ fortunes as they stood second-bottom of the Premier League under Stuart Gray, who had taken over from his old boss Glenn Hoddle when he went off to live a new life at Spurs.

It looked like the South coast side were heading for Division One, which was where Strachan had just taken Coventry City in his first management job.

Appointing a manager who has only just been relegated to save your club from the same thing may not seem logical to most but bonkers and/or inspired Saints chairman Rupert Lowe pressed on, and it turned out to be a masterstroke.

In his first season WGS not only saved the club from the dreaded drop, but did it with ease with the team eventually finishing in a comfortable 11th place.

Next season was even better as a settled side including Wayne Bridge, James Beattie, Antti Niemi and Brad Pitt lookalike Brett Ormerod finished eighth in the league, and made it all the way to the FA Cup final where they lost to Arsenal, but secured a place in the Uefa Cup.

Strachan had continued the work Hoddle had begun by turning Saints from a team of perennial relegations strugglers into a top-ten side with regular European aspirations.

For Southampton’s fans, life had not been this good since Matt le Tissier was in his pomp. Sadly for them, the bubble was about to burst.

In early January 2004 Strachan was forced to admit that he had turned down repeated offers of a new contract from Lowe, and would leave the club at the end of the season when his current deal expired.

The Scot insisted his decision had been made two years before and was nothing to do with rumours of a strained relationship with the notoriously tight-fisted Saints chairman, or the precursor to taking over at Leeds United which had also been rumoured in the press.

“It is not a football thing or about money or about the club,” he said at the time. “I made the decision with my family a few weeks after I took the job that I would see out my contract and then walk away.
“I am not going anywhere else and I am not cracking up so people can stop looking too deeply into it.”

Lowe added: “Despite the fact that we may appear an unlikely partnership, I have very much enjoyed working with Gordon over the past two-and-a-half years.”

The wee man had intended to stay on until the end of the season but barely a month after his intention to leave leaked out, he had left the club for good.

Plymouth Argyle boss Paul Sturrock was brought in to replace Strachan but against a backdrop of player unrest he lasted just 13 matches before being replaced by coach Steve Wigley.

Wigley’s appointment smacked of Lowe’s decision to put Stuart Gray in charge after Hoddle left and so it proved as after just one win in 14 games Lowe shocked the football world by appointed ex-Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp as manager, and we all know how that turned out.

Meanwhile Strachan was given the chance to terrorise a completely new set of reporters when he landed the Celtic job in 2005 where he has won numerous trophies including successive league titles.

Here is WGS livening up some post match interviews (watch this one - it’s quality) and come back tomorrow or we’ll get Gordon to unleash his razor sharp wit on you.

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