Twenty four hours earlier Sir Alex Ferguson was wallowing in the glory of becoming European Champion again. However impressive Gordon's exploits have been, it is surely his mentor down south who should be compared with Big Jock.

The legendary Celtic boss won nine domestic titles in a row and has long been regarded as Scotland's greatest-ever manager, but there must be a case now for Sir Alex to be regarded as at least his equal. There is a temptation to try to match them up trophy for trophy and here Ferguson's success with United in winning the domestic league ten times compares favourably with Jock's impressive haul from a lesser league.

Stein won domestic trophies with Dunfermline and Hibs before he arrived at Celtic but Sir Alex transformed Aberdeen not only into a threat to Celtic and Rangers in winning three domestic titles but also into a side that became a credible force in Europe when they lifted the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1983.

Sir Alex can also now boast two Champions League successes to Jock's one European Cup, but Chelsea were a single penalty kick away from denying United and Celtic were desperately close to making it two in 1970. That night Stein came up against Feyenoord and the unexpected birth of the Dutch as a superpower in the game. They were a surprise, but they wouldn't have been if Jock had the technology available now for Fergie to study his opponents' games in advance.

Every Celtic fan will tell you that the Lisbon Lions were brought together from a ridiculously small radius around Glasgow and cost buttons. Sir Alex's current triumphant squad are drawn from countries all over the planet and assembling it cost close to the GDP of some of them.

As many argue about who is the greater of the two it is not the obvious differences between the former Celtic centre half and Rangers centre forward that are most striking, but the similarities. They were both in the game long enough to straddle eras, but managed to stay successful nonetheless and very few have been capable of doing that.

They both also loved to play football with an attacking flair. The '67 team were a talented, attack-minded bunch who were fearless up against the defensive masters of Inter Milan and Jock wanted his style to win as much as his team. Spool forward 41 years and Manchester United turned up in Moscow and stunned everyone, including Avram Grant, by playing an ultra offensive 4-2-4 in the biggest domestic game in world football.

It was an astonishing gamble and totally against modern thinking to start such a game in any way other than ultra cautiously. If I hadn't been behind the goal at the Luzhniki Stadium wearing a blue and white scarf and waving a Chelsea flag, I would have been openly applauding the man, simply for his philosophy on how the game should be played.

The ploy almost destroyed Chelsea in the first half, and probably should have, but somehow the Blues managed to go into the break level. In the second half Chelsea's power began to tell, but Sir Alex didn't flinch and the full-back Evra, along with the two midfielders, were still encouraged to go forward at every opportunity.

In the centre of the Russian capital I found myself thinking of a quote, indeed a war cry, made famous within the Scottish game by former Celtic and Scotland masseur, the late Jimmy Steele. Eschewing complex tactics, the great friend of both Jock and Sir Alex would call out to us before each game: "Score an early goal and press on regardless boys." That simple statement sums up the attitude of our two greatest managers regarding the game they have helped to shape.

There are other similarities of course; if Sir Alex used the hairdryer treatment on Beckham now and again, then Jock could summon up a full-blown hurricane when he fancied it and I had the dubious pleasure of being on the wrong end of it once. At half time in a Scotland under-21 match in Spain, he burst in on the team talk by our coach Andy Roxburgh. Ignoring him he strode across the dressing room put his face six inches from mine and proceeded to bellow at me for the next two minutes. After giving me a face full of expletives, invective, saliva and advice on my inadequacy he stormed out leaving the dressing room in silence and in shock.

I walked out for the second half in a daze and thinking: "Was I really so bad in the first half to deserve that from the national manager, from a man looked upon with Godlike reverence in the Nevin household?" How on earth was I going to react to this confidence-bursting tongue lashing?' The answer from me was: "Sod it, I'll show the old git." I spent the next 45 minutes running faster, harder and longer than I had ever done in my life. I didn't get by that full-back too often but he wasn't going to forget that night spent chasing me for some time afterwards.

Exhausted at the end I collapsed into my seat on the bus, with the doc checking I was OK and offering oxygen. Just then Jock walked by, ruffled my hair, smiled and said, "Excellent the night wee man" before ambling off up the back of the coach. It had been a test; he wanted to know how I would react to pressure because I was considered slightly odd in that I didn't behave like most players off the pitch. He was getting my measure, not wanting to draft someone into his full squad who might not have the strength of character desired.

It was the purest and best piece of psychology I have ever witnessed in sport and I fell for it hook, line and sinker, even if I passed the test he set. This is another area where he and Ferguson excelled. Both born psychologists who knew, or learned very quickly, how best to motivate and inspire different personalities. Sir Alex has to be a genius here because that perfect mix of fear and admiration is much harder to elicit in a society that is less respectful and with players who have enough money to be able to afford to tell him where to go.

No player does, however, as the great managers somehow make you believe that any move away from them and their club is a step down the ladder, even if there is more money to be made.

In the end it took a serious car crash to affect Stein to any great effect and even after that he still had much to offer. One of the great things he did in those later years was to bring a younger Alex Ferguson into his Scotland camp, and it would be difficult to imagine a more willing student. The question remains, has the student overtaken his master in the end? It is impossible to say but the fact that it is now worthy of debate would probably be enough for the still-living legend in Manchester.

The other question is whether or not he should carry on after Wednesday's zenith. He certainly still has the talent, the desire and the makings of yet another great team that could go on to even greater things. Maybe the only man who could tell him to stop is his doctor. We know what the stress of his own high standards eventually did to Stein and although Ferguson clearly loves the pressure, he is after all only human and the stress must take its toll. There are plenty who would like to see the back of him, but none of them is a United fan and I suspect this is another debate that will run and run as he carries on regardless.