"I have been a manager for eight years and a player for 25 years and this is out and out the worst football night I have ever had." said the former Coventry and Southampton manager.

The Scottish Giants faced the Slovokian Champions in the second round of the Champions League qualifying stage. Gordon Strachan watched in horror and his team were ripped apart and his Celtic career went off on a disastrous start. The embarrassing result had made Strachan's mammoth task of winning over the fans, even harder. The travelling fans were not ones to hide their disappointment and their disapproval of the manager, as they called on him to resign. Gordon Strachan, who took over from Martin O'Neill as Celtic manager in the summer is inexperienced in Europe as a manager. He has made 7 signings this summer...none of which are big names. Many of them had not experienced playing in the Champions League! Despite criticism of the central defensive pairing, Balde and Varga, Strachan chose to stick with the two in his first competitive game in charge. And their defence had just fell apart during the humiliating thrashing! It appears that Celtic had also underestimated the Slovokian side.

Strachan had fuelled speculation about him leaving the Bhoys, by saying, when being asked about his future: "I am in shock and it's very hard to be coherent and talk about my future and what will happen after this result. But I am not thinking about the next game just now." he said.

Artmedia Bratislava's captain, Balazs Borbely, slammed Celtic and said they deserved the result. "I think the Celtic players did not think Artmedia were much of a side. They seemed to treat the game more like a friendly than a Champions League tie. I could not believe how easy it was in the end. We knew that Celtic were a great side with great players but after we scored the first two goals they opened up and let us in. It's the biggest night in our club's history." Yes, and it's also the worst result Celtic have ever have in Europe!

The result with also cost them financially as they look set to lose £10 million available from the Champions League group stages. They are also likely to miss out on an UEFA Cup place and it is the losers from the third round of the Champions League stage who enter that. Unless they just happen produce an unlikely miraculous performance next week, Celtic will be out of Europe by the first week of August...

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