![\"Shellshocked](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_Artmedia-Bratislava-versus-Celtic-July-2005.jpg\")
Shellshocked Celtic stars(Image: SNS)<\/p>\nThe Hoops crumbled to a shocking 5-0 defeat away to Slovakian minnows Artmedia Bratislava in 2005<\/p>\n
14:51, 23 Jul 2025Updated 20:05, 23 Jul 2025<\/p>\n
Shellshocked Celtic stars(Image: SNS)<\/p>\n
Celtic crashed to one of the most embarrassing defeats in the club’s history during Gordon Strachan’s<\/a> first game in charge.<\/p>\n But the ex-Hoops boss ranks it as one of the defining matches that changed his life.<\/p>\n The crestfallen Parkhead side were battered 5-0 in a 2005 Champions League<\/a> second round qualifier away to Artmedia Bratislava.<\/p>\n It was a horror start to the helm for Strachan, who was already an unpopular choice with supporters to replace the iconic Martin O’Neill.<\/p>\n Celts did come close to completing a remarkable turnaround in the second leg, but fell short by a goal as the Slovakian minnows edged through 5-4 on aggregate.<\/p>\n That saw them tumble out of Europe before the school holidays were even over as Strachan faced immediate heat from the raging green-and-white faithful.<\/p>\n Yet despite a ropey start in the league, the Aberdeen legend managed to steady the ship by leading Celtic<\/a> to three-in-a-row, two League Cups and a Scottish Cup.<\/p>\n Throw in back-to-back qualification to the Champions League last 16 and Strachan is now fondly remembered by the Celtic fanbase.<\/p>\n Strachan revealed he always had the backing of principal shareholder Dermot Desmond, who made a beeline for the crestfallen boss minutes after the full-time whistle in Bratislava.<\/p>\n Reflecting on the moment that he believes shaped his four years in Glasgow, Strachan told FourFourTwo: “Getting beaten 5-0 in Bratislava in my first game at Celtic, you think you’re the worst manager in the world – everybody else did that night!<\/p>\n “Sometimes you think, ‘How bad can things get?’ On my tombstone, it will say, ‘Even this is better than Bratislava.’<\/p>\n “But to achieve anything in life, you have to take a few hits. I remember Dermot Desmond coming down after the game to reassure me that everything would be all right.<\/p>\n “He said, ‘You’ll only see me when you’re needing help.’ I didn’t see him too often, apart from on the golf course. My time at Celtic was terrific after that.”<\/p>\n Tune in to Hotline Live<\/a> every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport’s newest podcast, Game On<\/a>, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bite-sized chunks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Hoops crumbled to a shocking 5-0 defeat away to Slovakian minnows Artmedia Bratislava in 2005 14:51, 23…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[2817,1669,12431,218,12430,8058,11728,101,56,54,55,12432],"class_list":["post-19408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-celtic-fc","tag-champions-league","tag-dermot-desmond","tag-football","tag-gordon-strachan","tag-scottish-premiership","tag-scottish-professional-football-league","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-william-hill-scottish-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Crestfallen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_ARTMEDIA-BRATISLAVA-VERSUS-CELTIC-JULY-2005.jpg\")
Crestfallen Gordon Strachan after the game(Image: Daily Record)<\/p>\n