Gordon Strachan keen to end any feud with Aiden McGeady | OneFootball

Gordon Strachan wants to end any possible feud with former Celtic star Aiden McGeady…

The newly appointed manager of Celtic, Gordon Strachan, attends a press conference announcing his new position, May 31, 2005 (Photo by Getty Images/Getty Images)

The man who managed the winger during his best years in a Celtic jersey didn’t always have a smooth relationship with McGeady and the pair did clash on several occasions throughout Strachan’s four-year tenure as Celtic boss.

McGeady talks about how WGS never liked him

Aiden McGeady has been been open about his belief that Gordon Strachan never really liked him, speaking on the Open Goal Podcast and Let Me Be Frank too about these issues from his time at the place he made his name. Despite the in-house squabbling between the two at times, both clearly worked well together in football terms, as McGeady helped his boss to three titles in a row as well as the UEFA Champions League Last-16 twice in 06/07 and 07/08.

imago/ColorsportAiden McGeady (Celtic) Scottish Premier League 2007/2008, Fußball Herren Mannschaft Schottland Einzelbild Aktion Personen

In fact, Aiden McGeady probably played the best football of his career under the bristly Scottish coach and can be thankful for the chance to work with him looking back. 68-year-old Strachan has admitted he would like to end whatever feud Aiden thinks still exists and would love the chance of a catch-up at some point down the line.

“Aiden was a great football player,” Gordon Strachan

Speaking to Scottish Sun, he said: “Aiden was a great football player. People say I didn’t get on well with him and I get that. But I played him every week because he was a great football player and he worked hard and all the rest of it.

“I didn’t get on with him and he didn’t get on with me. Did I see a bit of me in him, I don’t know. Maybe. I could look in the mirror and say, ‘what are you doing?’ Maybe it was a bit of that. I’d love to sit down with him and have a cup of tea with him, which hopefully we will do. We’ve bumped into each other now and then. It’s not a case of it being a summit meeting or anything like that. But he was a fantastic, fantastic footballer. He worked hard and won games for us.”

15/03/09 LEAGUE CUP FINAL 2009nCELTIC v RANGERS (0-0, 2-0 aet)Celtic goalscorers Aiden McGeady (left) and Darren O’Dea celebrate with the trophy

The former Celtic boss also recalled the 2009 League Cup Final in particular against Walter Smith’s Rangers, where he decided to go with Aiden and Scott McDonald, despite preferring Jan Venegoor of Hesselink and Giorgios Samaras as personalities.

Rangers thought we were going to play Giorgios Samaras and big Jan Vennegoor of Hessselink

“I remember the League Cup final and Rangers thought we were going to play Giorgios Samaras and big Jan Vennegoor of Hessselink up front,” Strachan said. “These two, I loved. I would have taken them to a dinner party. If either of them brought my daughter home I would have thought, ‘smashing’. But if it was Scott McDonald and Aiden McGeady brought home I’d have thought, ‘oh no, you’re not bringing them in the house!’ I played those two in that game and they were fantastic that day.”

Aiden McGeady, John Hartson & Stilian Petrov 30 July 2005. Photo Allstar/RichardxSelle

Strachan doesn’t like holding grudges

The man who won two European trophies with Aberdeen as a player admitted that he doesn’t like holding grudges or falling out with others and claimed he only really dislikes three people over a fifty-year career in the game.

He added: “But I don’t like not getting on with people. Over 50 years, there are probably two or three people I know that I wouldn’t like to be I the same room as. And Aiden definitely isn’t one of them. Absolutely not.”

Paul Gillespie

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