Bright Young Things Gordon Strachan has Cut Not Only the Wage Bill but Also the Average Age of His First Team, Writes Michael Grant. Gordon Strachan has Cut Not Only the Wage Bill but Also the Average Age of His First Team, Writes Michael Grant. Gordon Strachan Will Be Hoping His Young Side Can Match the Achievements of O'neill's Veterans, Says Michael Grant

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COMPARED to all the praise which has been lavished on Gordon Strachan for winning trophies while simultaneously reducing Celtic's wage bill not least the gratitude which has come his way from the club's board of directors there has been little recognition of another significant aspect of his work at Parkhead. The cliche has it that policemen look younger all the time. The same might be said of Celtic players.

They are not quite at the point where Strachan's former international team-mate Alan Hansen will feel the need to warn him about winning nothing with kids, but it is significant that Celtic have relentlessly driven down the average age of their first team squad. It would get even younger still if Steven Naismith were ever to arrive from Kilmarnock to become, at 20, the baby of Strachan's team.

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Bright Young Things Gordon Strachan has Cut Not Only the Wage Bill but Also the Average Age of His First Team, Writes Michael Grant. Gordon Strachan has Cut Not Only the Wage Bill but Also the Average Age of His First Team, Writes Michael Grant. Gordon Strachan Will Be Hoping His Young Side Can Match the Achievements of O'neill's Veterans, Says Michael Grant

Between 2003 and 2007 Celtic's players got younger, not older.

The archetypal Martin O'Neill team was the one he sent out for the Uefa Cup final against Porto in May, 2003. It isa familiar fact that O'Neill was permitted to spend in the transfer market at a leve...

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