FORMER Celtic manager Gordon Strachan has revealed he tried to teach himself Spanish in a bid to deal with the stress of managing the club.
The former Scotland manager who left his position by "mutual consent" in October, revealed how he wound down when discussing how out-going Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said that he worked seven days a week for the London club and had given everything to the club.
Strachan, who was manager of Celtic for four seasons before resigning in 2009, indicated that he believed Wenger had nothing else but football in his life.
He said: "You have to have a break. I think Sir Alex did things like taking piano lessons and things like that.
"When I was at Celtic, just to get away from the stress, I learnt Spanish every day. I spent an hour learning Spanish between five and six. It was to get me away from the stress and I really enjoyed it.
"It was just doing something to get away from the madness for one hour because it can get to you.
"I never said I was any good at it. I took lessons."
He said on Talksport that he believed Wenger had "nothing else in his locker".
"I spent a couple of weeks with him at Brazil at the World Cup and it was just football talk all the time. Nothing but football. You couldn't take him onto another tangent like music or films. It would be back to [football].
READ MORE: Gordon Strachan leaves Scotland post after failure to reach Russia 2018
"It would be like, 'okay, about the Rod Stewart song'. 'He's a good player, isn't he, what position does he play'. 'Oh for goodness sake, just leave it would you'."
When discussing whether current Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers would be a good fit to replace Wenger, and in particular whether there was a gap between the top flight in England and Scotland, Strachan said: "There is a gap, but there is absolutely no gap in the stress that you get being Celtic manager.
"The other bonus you get with being Celtic manager is you play in the Champions League and you have to deal with the top top teams."
After it was suggested that the pressure and intensity of managing Celtic was astonishing, he said: "It's everywhere. It's everywhere you walk, you cannae breathe. They'll be stopping you, pushing you and pulling you.
"And if you lose a corner kick, hell breaks loose.
"When you are at Celtic, if you can deal with the media that's up there, it's a great ground experience to go anywhere in the world. Apart from maybe Barcelona or Real Madrid where it is really vicious, I think you can deal with anything that comes along."
He also appeared to back Brendan Rodgers as a good fit for the Arsenal job but said he did not think he would jump at the chance of taking it on.
He said he had spent some time with Rodgers and said that he could not be happier.
"I think if you spent time with this club [Celtic] it does get under your skin.
"He wants to see how far he can go and take the club, that's for sure."
Strachan, who won three Scottish Premier League titles in succession from his appointment in Glasgow in 2005. added: "Brendan has done it at Liverpool. Some of the managers being talked about [to replace Wenger] have never been anywhere near winning the Premier League like Brendan was," said Strachan.
"And all the Celtic people will be saying oh shut up. It's not going to go away. Brendan is there.
"They understood that Brendan, if he did a good job at Celtic, which he has done, would get the call somewhere else. It's up to the Celtic people, if it does come, to say, 'we want you here'. "He has done great for them and Celtic have done great for him."
Strachan left Celtic after he lost out on this the 2008/9 championship to Rangers although it was believed he had by then already made up his mind to take what was then his second self-imposed exile from football.
He twice guided Celtic to the last 16 of the Champions League and oversaw a massive reduction in debt.
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