HISTORY eluded Gordon Strachan yesterday, his hopes of becoming the first Celtic manager since Jock Stein to win four successive championships evaporating on an anti-climactic afternoon in the east end of Glasgow.
A goalless draw at home to Hearts ensured Strachan's team finished the season with the lowest points tally, 82, they have recorded since he took charge four years ago.
Strachan offered no excuses for his team's failure to see out a job which, five
months earlier, saw them seven points clear of Rangers at the top of the table.
He offered very little, in fact, during a brief post-match media conference in which he declined to take any supplementary questions following his opening remarks. There will now inevitably be speculation over Strachan's future at Celtic, although he did appear to indicate his intention to remain in charge when he stated his team would provide new champions Rangers "with a run for their money next year".
Strachan, however, has seen a heavy price paid for Celtic's failure to significantly strengthen their squad during the January transfer window.
Having won three titles and reached the last 16 of the Champions League on two occasions, it remains open to conjecture as to how long he will retain the desire to operate under the financial conditions in place at the club.
The most immediate consequence of finishing as runners-up in the SPL is that Celtic will face two difficult qualifying rounds in the Champions League at the start of next season while Rangers will go directly into the lucrative group stage.
Strachan was fulsome in his praise of Rangers manager Walter Smith yesterday and conceded that his own team had been flattened by news of their rivals' comfortable win at Dundee United.
"It wasn't good enough today," said Strachan. "It was a dead game as the score filtered through from Tannadice. But what I have got to do at this moment in time is thank the players and the staff for doing a good job this year. They gave it their best shot. I'd also like to thank the fans, they have had a good year supporting us. It wasn't easy for the fans today, that's for sure.
"But we were not up to the challenge of winning a fourth title. It is disappointing, but we only have ourselves to blame. We will analyse it later on, but it doesn't take a genius to tell you we were not as good as we were in the previous three years.
"We have to say well done to Rangers. Well done to Walter Smith, Ally McCoist, Kenny McDowall, Jim Stewart and their players, because we know how difficult it is to win a championship.
"You might think it is easy, but it is not easy to win championships. So we congratulate them and I'm sure we will give them a run for their money next year. It's important to congratulate them, because we like to think we can win with dignity and lose with dignity. That's basically it, thank you gentlemen."
With that, Strachan left the media room. He appreciates the buck stops with him, but his players were willing to share responsibility.
Dutch defender Glenn Loovens summed up the mood of a crestfallen dressing room when he admitted to a feeling Celtic were the architects of their own downfall.
"We threw away the title," said Loovens. "We were ahead for most of the season, yet gave it away in the last few games. There is nothing we can do about it now.
"It's hard to tell what went wrong or exactly where it went wrong. We are a good team, but not good enough to win the title this season.
"I thought we had a good squad this season, so it is a bit of a lame excuse to say that we had a few injuries or anything like that. The people playing should have been good enough.
"The manager is right that we only have ourselves to blame. It was in our hands, but we couldn't win the last two games. If you don't do that, you don't deserve to win the title.
"The players are the ones who go onto the pitch and have to do it. We are really disappointed with ourselves. At the end of the day, Rangers had more points than us, so they deserved to win and well done to them."
Loovens expressed his personal hope that Strachan does stay around to try and reclaim the championship next season. "He has been here for four years and done so well for the club," said Loovens. "We work with him every day and I think he is a good manager. I can only speak for myself, but I hope he stays. He was devastated and so was everyone else in the dressing room."
