Lennoxtown will let Celts match elite off pitch, as well as on it

"Peter Lawwell said it would take two years to get the training ground built," said the Parkhead manager with a smile yesterday. "I just said: 'That's all very well and good, but I could be sacked before I get to see it'."

Two championships, one CIS Cup, a Scottish Cup and two Champions League campaigns later, Strachan has lived to see the day.

Through the low clouds surrounding the Campsie Fells yesterday, visibility remained poor. But there was enough daylight around a sodden Lennoxtown to ascertain one thing.

In their new £8million training centre and youth academy, Celtic have bought themselves the real deal. As a result, decades of protecting new signings from the tattered and frayed carpets in a Barrowfield portacabin have finally come to a halt.

That the likes of Henrik Larsson ever had to drag the muck and glaur of Barrowfield into their top-of-the-range cars before battling through a throng of autograph hunters to reach the sanctity of a hot shower after training had long since become an embarrassment to the club.

And yet, as Martin O'Neill was wont to say, what was good enough for Jock Stein was good enough for him.

"Barrowfield was quaint in its way, in that we'd get there from Celtic Park," said Strachan yesterday. "The only thing missing now is that connection between the fans and the players who'd see each other every day at Celtic Park. I think we somehow have to make sure we don't lose that connection.

"Personally, I'll not miss bumping into wedding receptions when I'm trying to speak to the players, or people on the tour when I'm face to face with the players.

"I'll definitely not miss that - there is a privacy here at Lennoxtown which I've not had before. Now I can wholly concentrate on football.

"At Celtic Park, there was a lot of business talk, things I don't care about. Like where did I want to sit on the flight to Moscow? I don't care, just get me on the plane. I don't want involved in those types of things, I just want the football part of it."

On that score, the manager will be content in his surroundings. After securing NHS land adjacent to the old Lennox Castle Hospital 18 miles outside Glasgow city centre, the champions travelled the length of Europe assessing facilities other top clubs have long since taken for granted.

A 46-acre site incorporates indoor and outdoor pitches, grass and artificial surfaces, and state-of-the-art medical and sports injury recovery facilities.

Towards the old hospital, Celtic have also acquired spare land with a view to building conference facilities and live-in dormitory areas for young players. Like Milan's Milanello, a plan to house first-team players prior to big games cannot be ruled out entirely.

For now, Barrowfield remains a transitional base for the club's youth players.

With the regeneration of the east end of Glasgow taking shape ahead of an anticipated Commonwealth Games event in 2014, however, few doubt that the club will eventually offset at least some of the cost of the new complex by selling the land to developers.

Complicating the issue is the old Celtic Supporters Association HQ at the front of the training pitches, owned independently by the fans. In the Kenny Dalglish era, the building proved a useful base for his press conferences.

Generally, though, Barrowfield must have been akin to a vision of hell for the di Canios, Larssons and Roy Keanes of this world.

Yet chief executive Peter Lawwell insists: "We weren't embarrassed by Barrowfield. We developed a record of players coming through there which was very good. That's due to the coaching, the structures and the people around that.

"The best example is at the San Siro last year when we narrowly went out of the Champions League with a side which contained four home-grown players. So Barrowfield wasn't an embarrassment - it just wasn't the future.

"When any player comes and talks to Celtic, we really want to show the ambition we have for the club and the development. This neatly fits into that.

"I think the club has needed it for a number of years. It makes a statement - it shows where we want to be as a club.

"We're in a good place at the moment but we can't be complacent. We had a tough, tough game against AC Milan and then we had a tough, tough game to beat Gretna. You're only as good as your last game but there is an infrastructure and a foundation that I think bodes well for the future."

Yesterday, Celtic invited their staff, selected supporters' representatives and members of the Lennoxtown community to look at the new edifice. For head of youth development Tommy Burns, in particular, it represents a sight for sore eyes.

"Tommy had been around looking at academies in the UK and abroad," added Lawwell. "There are models we tried to take bits from and put together. Martin was involved in the beginning and then Gordon and his coaches, so there has been a huge consultation process."

Not least with the locals who stand to gain employment and a boost to the local community from Celtic's presence. For all concerned, Lennoxtown represents a win-win scenario.