In international football Strachan earned 50 caps, scoring five goals and played in two FIFA World Cup final tournaments, Spain 82 and Mexico 86.

[6] He made his mark as an 18-year-old when he outplayed Alan Ball in a friendly with Arsenal in August 1975;[6] The Sunday Post compared him to a young Billy Bremner.

[12] New boss Tommy Gemmell handed 19-year-old Strachan the captaincy for the 1976–77 First Division campaign,[13] and he remains the youngest player to have captained Dundee.

[6][16] His last match for Dundee was on 26 October 1977 in a 6–0 defeat in the League Cup to Queen of the South at Palmerston Park, which Strachan described in his autobiography as "embarrassing".

[19] Strachan played at Hampden Park in the 1979 League Cup defeat to Rangers, and set up Duncan Davidson for the game's opening goal.

[21] They again reached the League Cup Final, beating both Old Firm sides en route, where they lost 3–0 to Dundee United at Dens Park.

They exited the European Cup in the second round with defeat to eventual champions Liverpool; manager Bob Paisley said Strachan would become "Britain's first £2 million player", in what was a (successful) early attempt at mind games.

[26] With fit-again Strachan on the right flank – supported by full-back Stuart Kennedy – and record signing Peter Weir on the left-flank, Aberdeen mounted a genuine title challenge in 1981–82, but had to settle for second place to Celtic.

FC Köln, United paid £75,000 compensation to resolve the row – teammate Mark McGhee had also signed a contract with Hamburger SV on the understanding that Strachan would also be playing in Germany.

[36] They proved unable to cope with their injuries – another key player facing extended time in the treatment room was Bryan Robson – and limped to another fourth-place finish.

[36] Atkinson was replaced by Alex Ferguson in November 1986, and Strachan mocked sobbing as he told his teammates, "I never thought he'd follow me this far south!

[39] In March 1989, Sheffield Wednesday manager Ron Atkinson had a bid of £200,000 accepted by Manchester United, and he offered Strachan a contract paying more money than anyone in the club's history.

[40] However likely a move to Sheffield seemed, Leeds United manager Howard Wilkinson matched the offer and convinced Strachan to drop down into the Second Division.

[47] However, Strachan (now nearing age 35) was beginning to feel the effects of his sciatica and missed a number of matches due to his bad back.

[51] This was his second hat-trick for Leeds, the first having come in September 1989 when he found the net three times in a 4–0 win over promotion rivals Swindon Town in the Second Division at Elland Road.

However, shortly after the draw with Wales at Ninian Park on 10 September 1985, Jock Stein died of a heart attack, and his assistant Alex Ferguson took charge for the World Cup campaign.

[68] In the third and final group match back in Nezahualcóyotl, Scotland drew 0–0 with Uruguay despite their opponents going down to ten men after less than a minute of play when José Batista attempted to take Strachan out of the game.

[citation needed] Strachan signed Swedish goalkeeper Magnus Hedman and defender Roland Nilsson, Dutch midfielder George Boateng, and Romanian striker Viorel Moldovan – all of whom would win international caps.

Most pundits had already written off their survival chances by the time of Strachan's appointment in October 2001, but he turned round their fortunes and they finished 11th in the Premier League.

[81] He wanted to take a break from football, but was forced to resign earlier than initially intended due to the speculation surrounding his and the club's future following the leak.

He had an embarrassing start to his campaign as Celtic manager, losing 5–0 to Slovakian champions Artmedia Bratislava on 27 July 2005 and three days later, drawing 4–4 with Motherwell in his first SPL match in charge of the Glasgow club.

However, the following month his team made history when they defeated Dunfermline Athletic 8–1, a record victory margin for the SPL at the time.

Strachan's first season was ultimately successful as he coached Celtic to victory in the League Cup and, on 5 April 2006, his side clinched the SPL title in record time and with six matches remaining.

[83] The following year, Strachan restructured the team and made a series of signings, bringing in players such as Hibernian's Derek Riordan; Chelsea's Jiří Jarošík; Kenny Miller and Lee Naylor from Wolverhampton Wanderers; Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink from PSV; Thomas Gravesen from Real Madrid; and Paul Hartley and Steven Pressley from Hearts.

UEFA Champions League football again returned to Celtic Park, the team having automatically qualified for the group stages and drawn alongside Benfica, Copenhagen and Manchester United.

[citation needed] In the 2007–08 season, Strachan led Celtic into the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League again after defeating Milan, Benfica and Shakhtar Donetsk.

Scotland suffered defeats to Wales and Serbia in Strachan's first two competitive matches, which ended the Scots' slim chances of qualification for the 2014 World Cup.

In Euro 2016 qualifying, Scotland appeared to have a better chance of qualification as the finals tournament was expanded from 16 teams to 24, but were drawn in a tough group with Germany, Poland and the Republic of Ireland.

[98] Typically playing a traditional 4–4–2 formation,[99][100][101] and very occasionally 4–5–1,[99][102] Strachan is widely known for his rigorous management style,[103][better source needed] and states that he watches video replays of his club's matches two or sometimes three times.

[111] In August 2006, after his Celtic team was drawn to play Ferguson's Manchester United in the Champions League, Strachan said that there was no longer any enmity between the two managers.