GAVIN STRACHAN insists Celtic’s trip to France for pre-season will be the perfect bonding session ahead of their 10-in-a-row bid.

The Hoops have agreed games against Lyon, Nice and a glamour friendly against French champions PSG during their pre-season camp.

And Strachan, who recently replaced Damien Duff as first team coach at Parkhead, reckons the trip away will be the perfect opportunity for Neil Lennon’s side to prepare for the long and hard season ahead.

He said: “The way the world is now, and with everyone so isolated for so long, any chance to get people together and spend quality time together, is something that we’re all looking forward to. We’re lucky that we’re able to do that.

“I’ve already seen a great spirit amongst the players already so to go away and cement that even more, ahead of what’s going to be an important season, is something that we feel is important.

“It’ll be good for me too, although it’s amazing how comfortable I feel already. It’s only been ten days of actual training so far but I feel like I know all the guys quite well already. But this is a chance to solidify all that.

“But for the players it’ll help them mentally after everything that’s been going on in the world. It’ll be good for the camaraderie and the bonding after everyone has been isolated for so long.

“It’ll be good for everyone’s mental health as much as anything.”

Strachan has now been in his new role a week and with the players having returned to full contact training, he is starting to see the quality on show in the Hoops dressing room.

He continued: “Having come in from the outside, and having seen how everyone works, there is a real continuity there.

“I’m talking about the training sessions, the routines, the standards and the discipline. You can see it’s a well-oiled machine. I’m just finding my place within that.

"It's been great, I've really been enjoying it. I think for anyone joining a new club of this magnitude, in these times, would tell you it's a bit of a whirlwind. You need to get used to a new way of working.

"But everybody has made me feel extremely welcome. The players and the staff have been excellent and as the days have gone by I've been able to do what I do. The players have been able to figure out what I'm all about and that makes it a little bit easier.

“It was the same in my first days at Doncaster and then Peterborough.

“Wherever you go and work there is always trepidation. Clearly it’s magnified here when it’s a club like Celtic. But once you get working and do what you do it’s just football.”

Strachan also revealed that he completed a degree in journalism before following in his father’s footsteps into football coaching.

He added: “My thinking was that I was getting to the end of my career at Notts County. I had had lots of injuries and had to think about what I was going to do at the end of my playing career.

“So I did a degree in journalism and enjoyed it. I just found out that when I stopped playing there weren’t as many opportunities as I had expected.

“I then thought about being a coach, although I wasn’t sure if I’d like it. But I lived it and that’s the direction I decided to go. I haven’t looked back.”