Gordon Strachan was amusing, interesting and in complete command Compare and contrast with Gordon Strachan on Tuesday. During his own ordeal by television, the new man coped admirably with some inane questions, occasionally glancing over at newspaper journalists to wink or raise his eyebrows. There was no question that he was in command. Smith's successor, Stewart Regan said little, which is how it should be on these occasions. In any case, he had no need to pontificate: Strachan was the focus of everyone's attention and he enjoyed being centre stage again. Afterwards, as he renewed acquaintances with reporters from daily and Sunday newspapers, the atmosphere was more relaxed and Strachan responded well to the informal arrangement. It was more of a conversation than an inquisition. He has never been one to suffer fools gladly: indeed, there were times when his huffiness was such that Stephen Hawking or Sir Timothy Berners-Lee would have been shown the door. There has been a noticeable change in his demeanour since he left Middlesbrough in October 2010, however. Away from the stresses of day-to-day crisis management, he cut a more affable figure, happy to shoot the breeze on just about any subject under the sun. On Tuesday, too, he was an amusing and interesting companion. Whether that lasts much longer than the first, inevitable, setback with Scotland remains to be seen but the signs are that his latest spell away from the game has, along with his grandchildren, provided him with a perspective which may occasionally have been lacking in the past. As for the argument over whether he was the right man for the job, he was, frankly, the only man for the job. With Souness ruling himself out before he had been asked, Joe Jordan re-uniting with Harry Redknapp at Queens Park Rangers and David Moyes and Sir Alex Ferguson outwith the reach (in both a financial and football sense) of the SFA, there were few candidates with a cv which was even remotely as impressive as Strachan's. He spoke on Tuesday of the need to maintain cordial relationships with the media but that is always easy during the honeymoon period. One would like to believe that common sense will still prevail when criticism is forthcoming, as it surely will be. For now, though, Strachan has almost unanimous backing from both punters and pundits. Good luck, Gordon. You'll need it.