Gordon Strachan has equipped himself with enough knowledge, experience and back-up in the field of sports science to succeed in a business increasingly determined by minuscule margins.

How times have changed. More than a decade ago, when asked to explain Stuart Slater's failure remotely to resemble a £1.5m Celtic signing, Liam Brady responded flimsily: "Don't ask me, I'm a manager, not a psychologist."

Brady was not long for the sharp end of football management. The current incumbent, though, has cultivated a more rounded appreciation of the modern approach to elite performance. Combined with the old-school boot-camp psychology of his tutor and tormentor, Sir Alex Ferguson, Gordon Strachan has equipped himself with enough knowledge, experience and back-up in the field of sports science to succeed in a business increasingly determined by minuscule margins.

To that end, it is not simply the first-team squad that has been spruced-up this summer. Jared Egan, the Australian physiology expert, has departed, with the former Lille player Gregory DuPont heading up an operation that includes Alan McCall and will soon comprise a third member.

The appliance of science has been an unheralded factor in Celtic's sustained success under Strachan. This is not the art of psycho-babble but rather the pursuit of physical and mental harmony. While he has embraced advances in the field, he stressed he has not delegated the motivational duties to a sub-committee.

"I'm the psychologist here," he said emphatically. "It's still up to the manager to make his players tick. Fergie was the best. I have met them all but he is the best by far.

"The lads are open-minded about it. Anything, even 2% improvement, is better. I always liked working hard. I trained to get as fit as possible.

"The psychology is to keep going as long as possible and the methods are there to improve that. If you can develop the mind it follows that you develop your ability to keep going. They are intertwined."

He offers a practical example prior to Thursday night's 1-0 win against FC Basle. A brisk run on the hills overlooking the club's picturesque base in Spiez suddenly took on an gruelling dimension as the heavens opened, leaving the players to plough through unforgiving terrain.

"We planned a route early in the morning but it was lashing with rain," he said. "I had to convince them it was part of the character-building process, running in the lashing rain for three hours up to their necks in muck.

"I have gone back to Fergie, the best psychologist there has been. We called it the character run. You would run all day until you drop, get up and go again. Bryan Robson did it all and it didn't do him any harm. If you can refine it with the science of today and combine the both then it can make a difference. The ones who work the hardest still last the longest."

He does not preach the benefits of sports science to his squad but, rather, allows DuPont and McCall openly to discuss and debate the benefits of a more forensic approach to professional sport.

Lee Naylor, having worked previously with Glenn Hoddle and Eileen Drewery at Wolves, has learned to optimise his potential.

"Glenn was great for me and had his own views on psychology but he never forced them on anyone," he said. "He made me a better player and so has the current manager.

"We are all for anything that will make us better individually and collectively.

"Gordon is up there with the best. Does he get into our minds? He has played around with you lot enough. Of course he is the boss and the ultimate psychologist."

Strachan added: "The majority of mistakes are made when you are tired.

"Not just in sport but in any business, the body stops sending signals to the brain when you're tired and you stop feeling as sharp.

"That's why so many goals are lost with two minutes to go. I have never lost the ability to play football but I cannot run about the same way as I did before.

"It is about improving the mind as well as the body but you do have to be careful."

The quest for improvement is not consigned to his squad. "I want to improve all the time," he said. "Once you think I've nothing more to learn' then you might as well chuck it. The trick is to stay in as long as you can and learn from all your experiences.

"It's not a cosmic thing."