St Mirren 1 Celtic 5:After presiding over as one-sided a victory as he has done in the past two years as the Celtic manager, Gordon Strachan moved swiftly to dismiss any notion that he is enduring a problematic relationship with Peter Lawwell, the chief executive. Kenny Miller, the striker sold to Derby County by Celtic on Friday, claimed in a Sunday newspaper interview that Lawwell accelerated the 3.7-million deal against the wishes of Strachan.
"The gaffer didn't have the last word on my move, Peter Lawwell did," said Miller, who added that the chief executive had been "insulting" towards him and tried to "scare" him into moving south.
The article also alleges Lawwell told Miller he would not feature in Champions League matches if he opted to remain at Celtic Park and that he called the 27-year-old a "Derby County-standard player".
Miller added: "I wanted to stay and fight for my place at Celtic but Peter Lawwell gave the clear impression I wouldn't even be allowed in the ring."
Strachan, though, was unequivocal: "You cannot force anybody out the door," said the manager. "As an example, Bobo Balde had the chance to go to Fulham or Sunderland and turned them down. I think Peter is magnificent at what he does. He has been a great friend of mine, always will be and we have worked extremely well together, as well as I've worked with anybody."
Life without Miller began in emphatic fashion for Strachan's team, despite the manager resting key players such as Shunsuke Nakamura and Massimo Donati after Wednesday's epic Champions League qualifying victory over Spartak Moscow.
Spartak supplied a considerably higher level of opposition for the champions than St Mirren.
The match was, in truth, won within 25 minutes, by which point the outstanding Scott Brown had already clipped the ball past Chris Smith in the home goal and Scott McDonald had lobbed the exposed goalkeeper to double Celtic's advantage.
An otherwise mundane first half was lit up by a comedy moment featuring Strachan and Dougie McDonald, the fourth official, the latter preventing the manager from entering the pitch to clear medical supplies that had dropped from a physiotherapist's bag.
"He (McDonald) asked me what I was doing," Strachan said with a laugh afterwards. "I asked him if he thought I was going out there to pick mushrooms.
"There was a bottle on the pitch, and I was worried about one of the players cutting themselves on it."
Derek Riordan's corner was headed home by Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, eight minutes after the interval, Riordan's pass to Paul Hartley subsequently deflected into his own goal by Franco Miranda.
Steven McManus rounded off Celtic's scoring with a close-range shot but there was time for the finest goal of the afternoon as Miranda, the Argentinian midfielder, lashed a 25-yard drive beyond Artur Boruc.
Miranda should, however, have been sent off in the closing minutes for violent conduct after clearly raising his hands to Brown. Kenny Clark's decision to issue only a yellow card appeared little more than a sympathy vote towards a beleaguered St Mirren.
ST MIRREN: Smith, van Zanten, Reid, Haining, Potter, Mason (Birchall 61), Murray (Brittain 80), Miranda, Brady, Kean (Mehmet 54), Corcoran. Subs not used: Howard, McCay, Barron, McGinn. Booked: Miranda.
CELTIC: Boruc, Wilson, Naylor, McManus, Caldwell, Sno (Donati 46), Hartley, Riordan, Scott Brown, McDonald (Zurawski 70), Vennegoor of Hesselink (Killen 64). Subs not used: Mark Brown, Nakamura, McGeady, O'Dea.
Referee: K Clark (Scotland).
