strachan

Gordon’s Easter Road Connection

Gordon Strachan talks to the Hibernian Matchday Magazine

"As a young lad it was disappointing not to sign for Hibs."

Had things worked out differently, Gordon Strachan could have been a Hibs player. He supported the club as a boy and was all set to sign, but things did not work out and instead he joined Dundee.

That is not to say he would not have ended up where he is today with Manchester United and one of the biggest teams in Europe, as he has matured into a world-class player. But he will be back at his beloved Easter Road on October 3 - and he promises to be one of the star attractions foGordon joined United in May 1984, for a fee of £600,000 from Aberdeen, and was reunited with his Pittodrie manager Alex Ferguson when Scotland’s 1986 World Cup manager went south in 1987. r Gordon Rae’s testimonial.

He confesses that it was a big disappointment for him not to join the Easter Road playing staff: "At the time I was going to watch Hibs every week. My favourite players were Pat Stanton, Peter Cormack and Eric Stevenson, and as a young lad it was disappointing not to sign for them," he told the Hibernian Matchday magazine this week.

But those days are long forgotten now and Gordon still attends Hibs matches when he can. "I’m looking forward to coming up for Gordon Rae’s testimonial. I enjoyed playing at Easter Road when I was at Aberdeen and it will be a bit special for me this time coming back home as a Manchester United player," he states.

With the English League season getting underway today, Manchester United open against Oueens Park Rangers at Old Trafford."I think we have as good a chance as anybody of winning the league this season. We got 85 points I think, last year and with Jim Leighton and Mark Hughes having signed, I think we can improve on that total. Liverpool and Everton will obviously be our main rivals," he continues.

Gordon confesses he is a fan of the English system of three points for a win – "It's quite a good system as it encourages more teams to go out and have a go."

The Aberdeen connection - with Ferguson, Strachan and Leighton now at Old Trafford - could be the one to bring United their first Division One title since those heady days of 1967 when players of the calibre of Bobby Charlton, George Best and Denis Law went on to win the European Cup the following season under the guidance of another Scot, Matt Busby.

Liverpool’s tremendous success last season meant that many people overlooked the progress made by United but Alex Ferguson has started to get things buzzing again.

Moving away from the club scene, Gordon is also likely to be heavily involved in Scotland’s bid for a place in the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy. Having netted Scotland’s only goal in the Mexico finals, he has shown he can produce the goods on the grandest stage in the world but he has a warning as Andy Roxburgh’s men approach the opening qualifying match against Norway.

"I was in Norway playing pre-season matches and it will be no easy match for Scotland. The Norwegians are strong and technically very good and the only thing they maybe lack is finishing power. But I think every match in the group will be hard. There are no easy games now. Countries like Norway have come on by leaps and bounds in recent years," he says.

It is a warning that Roxburgh has already heeded. Norway are potentially the most dangerous team in Scotland’s group and threaten to take points off every other side and anything Scotland can pick up in Oslo a fortnight on Wednesday will be of use.

At this stage Gordon obviously does not know whether he will feature in that match and, for the moment, he’ll be thinking no further forward than today’s game against QPR.

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