As a trawl through their YouTube highlights confirms, Gordon Strachan and Martin O’Neill can both be very amusing.
The Republic of Ireland manager’s sharp reminder to fellow ITV panellists Fabio Canavarro, Patrick Vieira and, most especially, Adrian Chiles that he was a distinguished footballer in his day, is laugh-out-loud funny.
Likewise, the Scotland coach’s acerbic one liners for example, ‘Pahars has caught every virus going except a computer virus, and he is probably working on that even now’ have prompted plenty of smiles over the years.
Nevertheless, Strachan’s admission that the pair do a passable imitation of Morecambe and Wise’s classic two-men-in-a-bed sketch had to be the most unexpected moment of the build up to Friday’s European Championship qualifier at Celtic Park.
“I wouldn’t call Martin a close friend, but once we meet, we get on great together,” said Strachan with a grin. “It’s not so much football we talk about it is more films, music and TV programmes.
“We spent half-an-hour in the back of mini vans going about Rio de Janeiro. We dropped off the young ones at nightclubs and we went home and listened to music on YouTube.
“And we have done stupid things, like having our meal on the bed me and him watching football. It was like Morecambe and Wise. He starts having a conversation then goes somewhere else and you think: ‘Where’s he going now? He’s rattling on’. But Martin is a good storyteller. He is really good company.”
The national coach played for Scotland in the Euro qualifier against the Republic of Ireland at Hampden back in 1987. He is hoping for a more positive experience this time round.
“They did us that night with a goal from Mark Lawrenson, and I remember it because it was then I decided to get myself on the weights,” Strachan recalled.
“I was with Roy Aitken in the middle of the park, with Davie Cooper on one side and Pat Nevin on the other.
“They held the touchline and Roy and I got outnumbered magnificently in the middle of the pitch by some right good players. You are talking about the likes of Ray Houghton, Ronnie Whelan and Tony Galvin.
“I was 30 years old at the time, and just felt I needed to get a bit stronger after that. So it was the weights for me and it must have worked because I played until I was 40!
“I remember the night well. I had to get 10 tickets and they were £20 each. Due to tax, I got £40 for playing that night and paid £200 for tickets. So it cost me £160 to get a doing.
“I was still in my gear with mud on it, when the guy from the SFA came and handed me the bill.
“Then when I woke up in the morning, one of the papers had an axe on my head.
“That was a fantastic experience. You’ve not been a player until you’ve had an axe on your head.”
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