Strachan led Celtic to comfortable title triumphs in his first two seasons, but there were rumblings of discontent among some supporters over the style of football.

Celtic trail Rangers by four points and thousands of season-ticket holders opted to stay away for the visits of the likes of St Mirren and Falkirk in recent months.

However, Celtic Park is likely to be packed tomorrow for the challenge of in-form Hearts after the Hoops racked up 10 goals at Kilmarnock and Aberdeen.

There are also likely to be home debuts for Barry Robson and Georgios Samaras, who both enjoyed goalscoring starts to their Celtic careers.

The Hoops have scored 58 goals in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League so far this season - just seven short of last season's final tally.

And Strachan believes the resounding away wins are no surprise - as his players have shown attacking promise all season.

"We are just not making mistakes," he said. "If you look at our defeats this year human error has been involved in quite a lot.

"Last year we didn't have a lot, or if we did, we got away with it.

"This year we have been punished and that's been highlighted because Rangers have collected more points.

"If you look at the beginning of the season, we scored five three games on the trot, we were fantastic and played some absolutely terrific football.

"I decided in the summer we had to have more variation in our play and score more goals. We have achieved that.

"If you analyse it, it has all been down to a couple of individual errors cost us five, six, seven points.

"If they weren't there then it would be an absolutely fantastic season.

"But because they are there and Rangers have been playing well, we have had to play catch-up."

Strachan's success has been built on the back of a cut in the wage bill but Celtic's latest financial figures, released today, show the club continues to recover ground.

Days after it was revealed they had entered the top 20 revenue-generating clubs in the world, at 17, Celtic announced half-yearly profits of more than £10million, with debt more than halved to £6.8million.

And Strachan stressed he was happy with the financial backing of chief executive Peter Lawwell.

"We all feel proud if we are achieving results on or off the park," he said.

"There was a lot of gnashing of teeth when (Lawwell) had to make cuts. I understood that when I joined the club so I was ready for that.

"When you think about it, when I first came here, if someone gave me £50million you might not have seen McManus, Maloney, McGeady.

"If I got more millions you might not have seen Caddis, Ryan Conroy. I think it has benefited the club."

With their free-scoring form and financial success coming ahead of next week's Champions League clash against Barcelona, it bodes well at an exciting time.

But Hearts, seeking a fourth successive SPL win, will be desperate to put a spanner in the works by repeating their CIS Cup triumph at Parkhead.

Strachan has taken note of the recent upturn in form at Hearts.

He said: "There seems to be a bit of stability about the club just now.

"It's no surprise they are having good results because they have got good players."