Interview: Mark McGhee

The System was invented in a casino in Las Vegas a few years back, in Amarillo Slim's backyard, the playground of the fearless. McGhee was there on holiday, a rookie punter in a world of sharks doing business at the roulette table. Nothing dramatic, just a few bucks invested for the fun of it. But it made him think. "There must be some way of improving the odds here. Some way to even things up."

So The System was born.

He's not the type to hang about in casinos but it's a good night out all the same. He's been on four occasions since to Vegas and The System has always delivered.

You couldn't explain it here. Too many combinations of things to remember, too much detail to digest. Maybe there's a science to it and maybe it's pot luck but he's turned a handy profit following his method and the fruits of his creation are buying breakfast.

"The System," he smiles. "It can't fail! You need patience and discipline. Stick to your tactics and see 'em through." He's laughing now. "I don't know why anybody else hasn't come up with it before me. It's quite simple really. Saying that, if you ever see me sitting outside on the footpath there with a cap and a banjo you'll know that maybe it wasn't as good as I thought."

It's a beautifully sunny morning in Glasgow, a short stroll from the leafy corner of the West End where McGhee lives and where his mate Gordon Strachan was a neighbour up until last weekend. The wee man, as McGhee calls him, is in La Manga now, golfing for all he is worth, purging his system of the disappointment of losing out on a fourth SPL title by whacking a golf ball around some choice parkland.

Strachan departed on Monday but McGhee knew he was going a long time ago. "It was over the road there in Stravaigin (a restaurant] that he told me he was leaving. It was New Year's Eve. My brother was at a loose end about three weeks ago and Gordon asked if he would drive a van down to Southampton for him. (Strachan retained his house on the south coast). All the clothes and bits and bobs went in the van. There was no way he was changing his mind no matter what happened last Sunday. Win, lose or draw, the wee man was away."

And so one of the most complex reigns in Celtic's history came to an end.

Strachan won trophies but little warmth from the home support. For three seasons he got the better of their hated rivals from across the city but it was never quite good enough for the Parkhead crowd. They wanted better football, they wanted a more amenable manager, not a smart Alec, which Strachan undoubtedly was at times.

"Look, the most endearing thing Gordon ever said about the Celtic fans was this week, after he left, when he talked about how fantastic they were. If he'd been saying that when he was in the job, life would have been a lot easier. He got this bug in his head I think, you know?

"He took them on. But he's always been contrary. Some of the interviews I used to see when he was in England, I had to turn the television off because I was cringing at some of the stuff he'd come out with. One time when he was manager of Coventry he came in after the game and the goalkeeper was the boy Magnus Hedman who'd just had a great game and the interviewer says, 'Hedman's become a really good keeper' and Gordon turns and looks straight into the camera and says, 'Not as good as his agent thinks he is'. It was brilliant. Very funny. Typical of the wee man. To be fair, I think that's one of the things Dermot (Desmond] liked about him.

"See if you went to Dermot now and said to him, 'I guarantee you three SPLs in the next four years and two years of last 16 football in the Champions League', I'd say you'd be the next Celtic manager in a flash."

McGhee has been linked with the job but, so far, it's mere paper talk. No substance to it whatsoever, he says. Strachan will be a tough act to follow, but somebody is going to get the gig, sooner or later. Owen Coyle and Tony Mowbray remain at the top of the betting despite Burnley and West Brom doing their damndest to kill the speculation. McGhee hasn't gone looking for gossip but in his world it comes to him all the time. He's heard that Roberto Martinez, the promising Swansea manager, is well thought of at Parkhead. He's also heard that Craig Levein has a supporter or two. Most amazingly, somebody told him of a whisper last week that Steve McClaren was in with a shout. He lets all this stuff wash off him.

His mobile phone rings and he sighs theatrically. 'That'll be Dermot again," he jokes. Of course, it isn't. But that's not to say that McGhee isn't without a chance of getting the job. Indeed Strachan has already recommended him publicly.

There's also constant speculation – but again no phone call – from Aberdeen. Plenty of rumours there as well, naturally. He's heard the names of John Collins and Mark Venus among others. This kind of chat comes to him on an almost hourly basis. There's no escaping it. Celtic and Aberdeen. Aberdeen and Celtic.

The mobile beeps once more. "That'll be Dermot again. He's probably looking for The System. Go away, Dermot, you've enough money!"

All McGhee can deal with right now is reality and the reality is that Motherwell are back in pre-season training in little over three weeks time and will play their first match in the Europa League on July 2. That's enough to be focusing on right now. "Look, I know I'm being linked with these jobs but my phone hasn't rung and from the bits I hear from my sources, the newspapers aren't on the right track as regards either job. If I get a call then I'll deal with it. But for now, I've got things to do with Motherwell."

The season was a strange one; disrupted by injury and plagued by bad results in the first half and infinitely better in the second half. From new year, Motherwell won more points than any other SPL side outside the title-chasing Old Firm and Hearts, and Hearts only just trumped them.

So, yeah, they finished seventh, but they were a whisker away from better things despite having sold Chris Porter mid-season. The transformation from January gives him optimism even if the summer may see the departure of midfielder Stephen Hughes, goalkeeper Graeme Smith and defender Maros Krimpl, all three of them hugely important to his team.

His decision to turn down the Hearts job last year is something that always comes up, particularly since Csaba Laszlo made such a success of it. He still has no regrets, he says.

"Somebody said to me the other night, 'The mistake you made was not taking the Hearts job'. I said that's not right. If I'd taken the Hearts job I could have put a patch over one eye and tied one leg up behind my back and got third spot. I knew that. It wasn't an issue. I still maintain that when I get my best team on the pitch we're the third best side in the SPL. Statistics tell you that. Now, we might lose a few and that's a challenge to replace them. But if you ask me where do I think I will be come the start of the season I think I'll be here, preparing for Europe. I've heard nothing to the contrary."

Where will his mate be? Hard to say what Strachan is going to do now. Maybe he'll take a year off, maybe not. We never successfully managed to second-guess the guy while he was here so there's not much chance of doing it now he's gone.

The link with Desmond remains strong, says McGhee. "Dermot and Gordon are very tight. Dermot said to Gordon, 'You've got a job for life'. He'd never have sacked him. He phoned him last week, and said 'When you come back from La Manga we'll meet in London, have lunch and we'll sort out your future and we'll make sure you get a big club'. He deserves that. He shouldn't have to take a fire-fighting job down there now."

McGhee, meanwhile, is happy with the one he has. The speculation carries on around him but he says he'd go mad if he paid attention to it. The mobile goes again.

It's not Dermot Desmond and it's not Willie Miller. It's somebody connected with Motherwell. He goes out the door and into the real world. The fantasy he'll leave to others.