I fear, I am rapidly losing the will to
live when it comes to following the ante-post market on the Celtic
Manager Handicap. At this rate, there will soon be as many runners as
you get for the Grand National, with most of those entered having as
much chance as Foinavon.
That's my way of saying, the winner
ought to come from the small band of favoured "horses",
but, you never know.
The problem for we punters is – do we
know what the Celtic High Heid Yins: Lawwell, Desmond & Co are
looking for? Of course some attributes are obvious – Ronnie Deila's
successor has to have a proven record of success at a big club, only,
that would eliminate three of the current ante-post favourites: Davie
Moyes, Paul Lambert and Roy Keane.
Eeny
Meeny
Miney
But, I don't see Mo getting the job
Mind you, these three all tick another
box – they have played for the club, although, of that trio, only
Keane perhaps meets the Phil Mac Giolla Bhain and Friends definition
of: "Celtic-minded".
Neil Lennon and Martin O'Neill both
tick the boxes as Celtic-minded and proven track record – with
Celtic, however. Is it such a great idea to bring back a former boss?
Also, with Lenny, would he really want to put himself back into the
Glasgow cess pit of potential off-field trouble, now he has smelled
the roses elsewhere?
When O'Neill was at Parkhead before, he
was dealing with a club prepared to spend big; Celtic are no longer
such a club. Could he cope with a reduced budget? Maybe he is
enjoying the less-stresssful life as an international manager.
Michael O'Neil, the Northern Ireland
manager has been mentioned in despatches, while, again, there have
been calls to bring the Magnificent Seven back, even though he is
currently fire-fighting a crisis of form with his Swedish club.
Celtic have, in recent years, made a
habit of what you might call "left field" appointments –
Wim Jansen, Dr Jo, John Barnes and Kenny Dalglish – might we see
another this time?
Wim Jansen - a left field appointment that worked
How about a pairing of Paul Lambert and
Stevie Clarke – who is much-happier and more-effective as a Number
Two than as a Number One. The troube with this would be, should Bill
Leckie's Euromillions numbers come up, he will want to take Lambert
and Clarke to St Mirren Park as his making Saints great dream team.
Time is not on Celtic's side. Their
European qualifying campaign kicks-off in nine weeks' time. Three of
these weeks will be taken-up by completing this season's league
fixtures, leaving six weeks to get the new guy in-situ and
familiarising himself with his squad, and scouting their European
opponents – while the European Championships are going on.
If I was Peter Lawwell, I would be
thinking along the old Jock Stein lines of boosting the fans' at the
expense of Rangers. Once the final Premiership games are played, the
Scottish media will go into Rangers mode, in the build-up to the
Scottish Cup Final on 21 May.
Peter Lawwell - not much time in which to make an appointment
Friday, 20 May, would be a good day to
announce Ronnie's replacement, knocking Rangers off the back page in
the process.
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