Strachan underwent long-overdue hip replacement surgery last Wednesday, leaving Tommy Burns to take the side for the Bank of Scotland Premier League win over Aberdeen at Celtic Park on Saturday.

The former Coventry and Southampton boss once said: "I do believe if you can manage Rangers or Celtic you can go on to become Prime Minister of Great Britain. I think it's that hard."

And Strachan, who returns to the helm for the trip to Hibernian on Sunday, quipped: "I had two drains stuck in me, morphine going into me as well, plus I had an epidural.

"But the nurses weren't convinced it was one of my least stressful weeks.

"They couldn't believe that when you are the Celtic manager, then that was quite relaxed."

Strachan's recovery was helped by the recruitment of Scott Brown earlier in the week.

Brown, 21, signed a five-year contract with the league champions for a record fee between two Scottish clubs, believed to be around £4.4million.

The Scotland midfielder will be joined by Scott McDonald, who will arrive in the summer from Motherwell for a fee reported to be around £700,000, and the Celtic boss believes both signings will add to an already highly-motivated dressing room.

He said: "They have both had knocks. McDonald was released early on in his career and Brown broke his leg. So they've handled physical and mental knocks.

"You need to be able to cope with that at this club. Everyone needs that character at Celtic.

"When it comes to winning, there is an edge to us."

Strachan did not hesitate to ask the Parkhead board to sanction a record fee for Brown.

He said: "I felt confident that the board had confidence in my choice.

"I also knew there is a limit to what figure we could go to but the board, as they have done before, have done the best they can.

"That's all I can ask for.

"Just like with a player, if the board does the best they can then I can't have any complaints."