The appointment of Gordon Strachan as manager of Middlesbrough seems almost inevitable according to the Teeside grapevine.
Gareth Southgate’s sacking had barely had time to sink in before the former Celtic manager was linked with the job with no other genuine contenders around.
How Strachan fares at Middlesbrough will be fascinating to watch for Celtic supporters who tried to warm to Strachan, who took to his successes but were left dismayed and disappointed as a golden opportunity to put daylight between the club and Rangers was carelessly tossed away.
Two single goal wins against Hibs and Hearts in May of this year would have given Strachan the fourth title of his Celtic reign but during the months since then Celtic supporters have been left thinking over what might have been.
If he takes on the ‘Boro job we will see just how Strachan fares as a manager.
Some of the questions left unanswered by his time at Celtic will be resolved.
Was he too keen to please the boardroom?
Did he have issues dealing with high profile players?
Can he avoid the baiting of the media?
How good is his judgement in the transfer market?
At Celtic success generally means that you were more successful than Rangers, Strachan saw off Alex McLeish and Paul le Guen with ease but stumbled against Walter Smith although there were notable successes as well.
THRILLING
In Europe Strachan achieved greater success than Martin O’Neill but despite thrilling Champions League campaigns highlighted by wins over Manchester United and AC Milan defeats from Artmedia Bratislava and Aalborg are just as vivid.
Looking back at Strachan’s time at Celtic the defeat in Aalborg was the end of the road for his reign which was confirmed in January when the only arrival was £100,000 Willo Flood to bolster the 4-in-a-row bid.
Without doubt Strachan was right to leave Celtic but the mystery of how they managed to lose the title to Rangers will remain as will the thoughts of what might have happened had the league been won last season.
I doubt if we’ll ever see a Celtic manager remain in the job for more than four years, in those terms it’ll be hard to better Strachan’s record although arguments will run forever about what he actualy accomplished.
QUALITY
Three championships and back-to-back qualification for the last 16 in the Champions League will be hard to match but the quality of the football on view and development and progress of players is harder to defend.
Success in Scotland will never attract English clubs to come chasing after managers, results in Europe however are noted and the success Strachan enjoyed will have caught the eye of Middlesbrough owner Steve Gibson.
It may be overlooked in Scotland but Strachan has a far superior European record to Walter Smith. Despite the general praise that Smith receives and the ‘safe pair of hands/Steady Eddie’ type coverage that he gets his Champions League record is very poor with just five wins from 27 games.
In contrast Strachan has recorded seven wins from 18 Champions League matches.
IMPRESSED
That sort of record alongside three title wins will have impressed Gibson and there can be no doubt that contact has been established about the vacancy at Middlesbrough.
I’d have thought that Strachan would have hoped for a more high profile job after Celtic, he often dismissed talk of leaving Celtic to join a Coventry or Southampton type job where it would be a constant battle for Premiership survival.
Middlesbrough looks to have a similar profile to his two previous management jobs in England but the longer that a manager is out of football the keener they are to get back involved again.
At any other time Tony Mowbray would have been a strong candidate for the Middlesbrough job, watching Strachan back involved in management again will be fascinating, especially when it comes to January and the opening of the transfer window.
I have no doubt will bore the pants of Boro fans and take them to at least mid table EPLness.
It's when he leaves the problems begin.
See Cov, Saints and Celts.