“I don’t think Gordon’s achievement has been properly recognised,” Quinn said. “He had a disastrous start, but he bounced back and has shown great character. He deserves more praise.”

Strachan’s men beat Hearts last night with a goal in the fourth minute by John Hartson, who was recalled in place of Dion Dublin. Hartson scored what proved to be the winner after Maciej Zurawski nodded on a long punt downfield from Artur Boruc, the goalkeeper, for the Welshman to score his eighteenth goal of the season.

John McGlynn, the Hearts first-team coach, said his players should have gatecrashed Celtic’s championship party. Despite being 20 points behind the champions in the Bank of Scotland Premierleague, they felt they should have at least extended the season by a further few days. “It is fair to say the players felt they were robbed,” he said.

“To bring the championship to Parkhead is great for Gordon Strachan and they deserved it. They were the better team over the season. But all credit to Hearts Football Club for the way they played the champions. It was a very good performance and if we do that in our next six games, then we will finish second.”

Taken from timesonline.co.uk