The season is heading towards a climax with all the excitement of a runaway train careering towards a mountain of nitroglycerine. But Gordon Strachan decided yesterday to add a dollop of intrigue to the combustible mix of a run-in that sees the Old Firm fighting desperately over the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title, the SFA and the SPL at loggerheads and Rangers in a European final.

The Celtic manager was talking about the "sleepless" nights he endured helping to save Coventry from relegation by beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 on the last day of the 1997 English Premiership season. When asked how he was sleeping during this nerve-wracking end to the season, Strachan replied: "I'm fine.

I am sleeping too well. It will be self-explanatory in a wee while, but I am sleeping too well. You might find out what I am talking about later on."

This will be enough to fuel speculation that Strachan has reached some sort of calm resolution about his future. But in an earlier conversation he repeatedly referred to assessing the squad's achievements at the end of the season with a view to improving the team. This did not seem to be the conversation of a man who considers his job at Celtic Park is done.

Indeed, Strachan seems to be relishing the dogfight at the top of the table.

He had just finished a conversation with Ian McParland, the Notts County manager who has just saved his side from relegation, before talking to the press.

He commiserated with the trials of McParland, who was at Celtic's training ground at Lennoxtown as part of the course for his UEFA Pro Licence.

"That's horrific compared to this, truly horrific," said the Celtic manager, contrasting the stresses of a relegation fight against a chase for a title. He was pleased about his team's reaction to the realisation that they had to win the last five matches of the season, including two Old Firm games, to have any chance of retaining the title they have won in consecutive seasons.

He bristled slightly, though, when asked about the perception that his team's form has improved. "I'll tell you about this type of form," he said, reflecting on recent victories. "It's not as good as when we drew with Dundee United, got beaten by Aberdeen in the cup, and got beaten by Motherwell. It's not as good as that. That's fact. We have scored goals in the last period so results have got better. The performance level was good throughout that period when we didn't do well with results. It is just that no matter how you perform, the results are the be-all and end-all. Trying to combine the two is the hardest bit."

He has been impressed by how players have met the challenge. "Their attitude has been absolutely first-class, absolutely perfect. There has been a lot of pressure. They've handled it fantastically well. And now we have to go for two more games. That's all we can do. We know if we win the game on Sunday it goes to the last day of the season."

Strachan knows that Hibernian present a considerable obstacle at Celtic Park tomorrow. "The philosophy is still the same," he said of Mixu Paatelainen's tenure at Easter Road after John Collins left in December last year. "They will try to play football. We like to pass the ball as well. We know it is going to be difficult."

Looking to the future beyond the final two matches, Strachan said: "I think we would have to sit down at the end of it and see how we feel about progress.

We have achieved a wee bit in the last month."

He said of the season: "It's been encouraging in a lot of ways. One or two things we could have done better. The squad as a whole is a lot more rounded." Strachan pointed to "human error" for the lost points that gave Rangers the initiative in the league.

He said a title victory would give him great satisfaction.

"I would be proud of the players and what they have had to put with," he said, declining to expand further.

Strachan, who picked up the manager of the month award for April, was also confident that international duty would not deprive Celtic of the services of Scott McDonald, Shunsuke Nakamura and Georgios Samaras for the final match of the season against Dundee United on May 22.

The title winners will go directly into the lucrative group stages of the Champions League but Strachan said that did not provide any extra incentive. "It's pride that is at stake, trust me," he said of the title chase. "It means more than money to people who care."

Strachan insisted he had enjoyed the frantic Champions League qualifier with Spartak Moscow that Celtic won on penalties after a spectacular match. "I would not have liked to miss the Spartak Moscow tie in my career,"

he said. "I just thought the game at Celtic Park was fantastic. It had everything. That was one of the best nights I have had in football."

It was a tremendous night. But Celtic officials may just prefer a smoother progress to the cash-laden stages of the Champions League. They may remember a Bratislava qualifier. But now we really are back to sleepless nights.