I know the feeling well: Strachan

Gordon Strachan knows what it is like to live with the pressure suffered by Tony Mowbray at the moment. Another who knows how things impact on your life when things are not going well at Parkhead is Martin O'Neill. Strachan can still feel the pressure as the Hoops travel to Rugby Park for their Active Nation Scottish Cup quarter-final tie with Kilmarnock. It is good to be looking forward to cup games to forget about being 13 points behind league leaders Rangers. The Scottish Cup probably offers Celtic their only chance of glory this season. Things under pressure can snap unexpectedly and after weeks of media attention on former the Hibs and West Brom manager, Mowbray snapped at the pre-game press conference on Thursday, accusing the press of "spin". 
 
Middlesbrough boss Strachan picked up six trophies in a four-year stint at Parkhead when he followed the equally successful O'Neill and he believes the internet has added to the pressures that his successor is currently having to suffer. Strachan said: "It's only Martin O'Neill and myself who can truly empathise with the Celtic manager because the internet and other outlets now are so huge and varied. It's maybe only since Martin's time in charge that it has got to be this huge monster.  There are things which happen on the internet and in the media, and you have no real answer to them. You just have to sit back and accept it's there. There's no-one to sue a lot of the time. I would never go anywhere near this stuff. But it's not actually you that reads it on the internet, it's the media who see it there. They then bring things to the fore, leaving you to ask: 'Where did that come from?' As Celtic manager, you protect yourself by ignoring it. That's all you can do." 
 
Strachan won the SPL title and the Co-operative Insurance Cup in his first season at Parkhead. However, he needs no reminding of the tricky start to his Celtic career. He said: "I know what it can be like right at the start. We drew 4-4 with Motherwell a few days after losing 5-0 in Bratislava, and I don't know if you can get any lower than that. In these moments, as anyone will find, it determines your character as a manager. Early in your career as a player, you will get these moments where you think, this is as low as it gets. But you come back from it. Somehow you get up and go again. You also do that as a manager."