Its been two days now since Lennon and Lawwell decided they’d had enough of each other, and a measure of the suddenness with which the parting of the ways came about has been shown in the complete lack of direction shown by the board in the hunt for a successor.
I’ve been asked if I know anyone who’d be interested, and when I said no, they asked if I was free when the players came back from training.
Fortunately for the club, I’m not, but there are one or two out there who could do a job. However, and more worryingly there are several more who have proved they can’t. Which is why they don’t currently have a job.
With Henrik Larsson deciding to honour his contract with Falkenburgs, although that really wouldn’t be an issue if he wanted the job, and Celtic wanted him, then other names must be considered.
Davie Moyes, who struggled to cope with the pressure of at Manchester Utd-well, so they say- but in fairness he never stood a chance there anyway. Fergies team had grown old together, and the youngsters weren’t good enough either. That team needed overhauling, and Moyes should have done it straight away, because the only time as a manager you get your own way is when you get the job.
He’s apparently at the top of the list now, with luminaries such as Tommy Docherty ( Ask your Dad. ) touting him for the job.
“David would be a wonderful choice. In fact, I’d go as far as to say I think David should be the choice.
“If it was down to me, Moyes would be the only name on the list right at this minute until Celtic were told directly by him he didn’t want it. “
Thankfully, its not down to him. Moyes may be a good manager, he may have been unfortunate in his time at Manchester, but he’s not a winner. And thats a crucial requirement for the job.
Lets not even discuss Owen Coyle or Malky Mackay. You couldn’t chuck them into a blender and make a decent manager out of what came out.
Roy Keane isn’t interested, or he is, but that doesn’t matter, because I don’t think Celtic are interested either.
That leaves the likes of Michael Laudrup , who has agreed a pay off with Swansea, and is now free. That would be fine, but Laudrup isn’t one for the long term. since leaving Brondby in 2006, he’s been at four different clubs, and the last thing we need is to be picking another new boss this time next year.
As far as a big name goes, they don’t come much bigger, and it would be worth it to hear him tell Chick Young that his brother was not the best player in the world. Or , indeed, his family. Most of us would be happy enough with Laudrup though, and so far he’s the only candidate-if he is a candidate-that hasn’t elicited groans, whines and screams from the fans.
Except maybe for Oscar Garcia, who in racing terms has appeared on the rails and making a burst for home.
The Daily Mail spoke to him about the job;
” Oscar Garcia declared his interest in replacing Neil Lennon at Celtic on Friday night and insisted he would achieve Champions League progress with a dash of Barcelona style.
The former Barca player, whose sterling work within the famed La Masia youth system was followed by a title triumph for Maccabi Tel Aviv and a Premiership near miss with Brighton, has been added to the short-list drawn up in the wake of Lennon’s resignation.
The 41-year-old, known at Celtic for the way his Barcelona Under-19s performed in home-and-away wins over their Scottish counterparts in the 2011 Next Generation Series, told Sportsmail: ‘For me it’s an honour to be linked to a club like Celtic.
Thats him, bottom right. He is saying “Yippee ! Yippee ! ”
‘They are one of the best and biggest clubs in Europe, so it’s great to have interest. Nobody from the club has spoken directly to me and you would have to ask them why they might be interested.
‘But I know what I can do, what I can achieve, how I want to play, what philosophy I would bring to them. I grew up with the Barcelona philosophy and I would try to play attractive football.
‘I would be confident of taking them into the Champions League. The big objective of a club like Celtic must be to get into the group stages – and then to find the right way to be better, to improve and to see where Celtic can go.’
He wants to know why Celtic would be interested in him ! Completely different and unexpected question from Garcia, which means he is asking what Celtic would want him to do, and then answers it by telling us what he can and is confident of doing.
I know very little about Garcia, but he does have one important thing that a manager needs.
He’s got a song.
Oscar Garcia,
He drinks sangria,
He came from Barca,
To bring us joy,
He’s got stubble,
Like Barney rubble,
So please don’t take my oscar away
As a player, he was known as Oscar, and was with Barcelona for five years until 1999, before moving on to Valencia, Espanyol and Lleida. But his coaching record is what catches the eye. . Wikipedia summarises;
In late 2009 Óscar joined former Barcelona coach Johan Cruyff‘s coaching staff in the Catalonia national team, as the Dutch had just been appointed.[4]
On 22 May 2012 he had his first head coach appointment, signing a two-year contract with Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv FC.[5] Exactly one year later, after leading the club to the national championship after a ten-year drought,[6] he resigned from his post, citing personal reasons.[7]
On 26 June 2013, Óscar was unveiled as the new head coach of Football League Championship club Brighton & Hove Albion.[8] His first win came on 17 August, 1–0 at Birmingham City.[9] On 12 May 2014, following Brighton’s play off semi-final defeat to Derby County, García’s offer of resignation was accepted by the club’s board. The Seagulls had finished sixth in the league table.[10]
Not only is he coming up on the rails, the other jockeys just noticed him and let their shoulders sink…
Peter Lawwell has headed out to Lisbon for tonights Chamions League final, which is as close as he’ll ever get if he doesn’t start showing some ambition.
Now, thats not to confuse ambition with spending. Thats like confusing kindness with weakness.
Keeping one or two of our own players with increased wages as a thank you for remaining with the club is a far better way of building a team, albeit slowly, than paying over the odds for diddies. Thats my idea of ambition.
As it stands, we hear a shortfall of £5m , based on reported season book sales of closer to 30,000 than 40,000 is causing the jitters in the boardroom, which is interesting. Simply because they should be a little more worried about the lack of a management team in place with just a few weeks until the big games start.
Worringly, Lennon and Mjallbys absence, combined with Danny McGrains illness, means that Peter Houston could be installed as caretaker boss.
Which, in turn, would mean our season finishing before a ball is kicked, something that hasn’t happened since the dark days of John Barnes.
Oh, shit. do you think he’ll accuse me of racism ? He’s accused everyone else of it.
The traditional extending of the season book deadline has been announced, so you have another week to renew, or another week to hand it back if we get a dud manager in.
Tonight I might well take in the Scotland -Ukraine match in Burton, which is just up the road from me. Co-incidentally its also where they make beer, which has always been a sort of hobby of mine. Its the Euro under 19 Elite competition, where the young Scots-and theres a few Celts in the team- face England on monday, and Montenegro on Thursday.
Yeah, i might go and watch that.
It’ll take my mind off things.
Stevie Murray rang us to remind us that he was the chap in Fridays diary, which disappeared under the weight of the “Lennons gone” story.
Also in that Diary is a rundown , provided by Saintinasia, of the tv deal that Scottish football signed, compared with other European countries.
Well done to those who signed that. If you haven’t seen it, its here
SaintinAsia. The Scottish tv deal
Neil Doncaster must currently be the most relieved man in world football. Lennons resignation has taken him off the front pages, but we haven’t forgotten him. He’s still a devious incompetent fool.
This old photo shows a potential manager, with what might be one of his coaching team. Who are they ?
Rieper, Schmeichel, Laudrup.
That’s Laudrup, Peter “that nose though” Schmeichel and Marc “chocolate knees” Rieper.
Quality CB when he was fit…
This Garcia gadgie doesn’t sit comfortably with me, it seems he gets his arse out of clubs after 12 months so we’ll get the same shite this time next season.
He may have the credentials but not the stamina IMO.
With Lars Lagerbäck due to retire in 2016 how about we bring him in as manager
with Henrik Larsson as his number 2 ( even if we have to wait until November )
with the King taken over as boss when Lagerbäck retires
BRIAN Laudrup, Peter Schmeichel and Marc Reiper.
Errrr. That’s MICHAEL Laudrup. Doh!
Sorry, but every time I see a Laudrup coupon I keep seeing the sleekit cheating hun bassa.
No to Laudrup as manager!
Murat Yakin
What ,because his brother played for the dead club you would say no?
The guy has a pedigree and a football philosophy which would sit well at Celtic.Bring in his No2 at Swansea ,Weighorst and you have a strong managerial team with European experience knowledge of Celtic behind the scenes ,no brainier for me ,would he come is another question but unless you ask?
I fear Davy Moyes and other non entities being promoted.
Don’t quite get Ralph’s logic here , criticisies Laudrup for jumping clubs then goes on to describe Garcias history of club jumping?
Note the reasons for garcias moves.
Sorry Ralph, Personal. Reasons then a lack of achievement , he will either be a Board Yes Man or we will be in this position next year. But I don’t know the guy so could be totally wrong.
A manager not good enough for brighton ffs please no
as for moyes he,s never won anything,his tactics at everton and surprisingly at the red shite were dull boring,and very negative , just not the celtic way
Sorry guys but its a done deal. Owen Coyle is our next manager
Source? Or just an opinion?
If that is the case, we are entering another Tony Mowbray era. Sincerely hope you got that from the Daily Ranger?
To say you couldn’t make a manager out of mckay n coyle is ridiculous. Coyle bolton apart had a great track record. Mckay will manage this summer , he would be a great fit for Celtic .
Personally id have lambett worked wonders at villa, budget cut by 50 million and kept them up
Lambert is just a MON clone was not in a rush to come back when things were rosy at Villa lucky to survive not due to his management.As an alternative to Coyle ok but suspect he comes out of the same box as Moyes. The SPFL is a given we need a team for Europe and quick.
What about ” me”.? Six cans and a half bottle I’m anybodies. Hh
2 pints and your naebdies…..;-)
Oh so right Charlie. Hh
Slaven Bilic
I’d take Garcia. Proven himself managing teams abroad and would play good football. Would hopefully give more chances to kids in our youth set up.
Also, if story is true about getting a director of football in then that would help Garcia so he could just concentrate on coaching.
Coyle was a disater at wigan and Bolton
My preferred options would be as follows:
1 Paul Lambert-For me has proven he can handle pressure both as a player and a Manager,has proven European Experience and a good knowledge of the game having served under some good Managers.
He knows the Club ,knows the demands placed upon the players and manager for that matter.
The League will be a canter for the next 3 years or so possibly longer so the main pressure comes with the Cups and Europe and I think he would cope with our squad and budget.
2 Michael Laudrup he again has bags of European experience and being Foreign knows the game abroad really well.He tends to set up to play attacking Football with a bit of flair which I think we need to do as the Premier Club in Scotland.
3 David Moyes Has proven beyond any doubt he can produce a decent level of side within a Limited Budget has done at Preston and Everton ..forget the UTD Job he was onto a loser from the get go following Fergies reign.
He also likes to develop and blood the youngsters readilly if he deems them good enough and with the crop we have coming through that is a good thing I think.
Kevin Sheedy the youth coach said Moyes never asked about the kids…was only interested in first team until a crisis
I wouldn’t touch Coyle after he ditched us for Bolton back in 2009. Garcia talks a good game, don’t really know too much about him though. Sadly, I’m not too excited about who the next manager will be after the Mowbray debacle.
Owen Coyle was asked to take the Celtic job the very day he won EPL promotion with Burnley, the non-alcoholic champagne wasnt even done that day when Strachans step down was announced and Oweny was the person Lawwell called.
He asked for some time as he was due to fly away with his family on holiday the next day. Lawwell wanted him to be inplacefor Sunday charity game at Celtic Park, leaving his wife to deal with overseas trip with young family alone, Coyle declined such an invitation. Lawwell went back a few times but chance had gone.
Put together the history of Celtic msnager recruitment(none have been top drawer) and a salary lower than Sallys and any dreams of Laudrup fly out the window.
Its henrik..keane then take ur pick.
Rather see Garcia with Kennedy as his nbr 2 but Garcia just playing publicity games to get that next step up in England.
If we go Director of Football route (and I think we should) then that’s the far more important choice. That’s an appointment you’ll want to keep in the role for years, they’ll set transfer policy, agree youth policy, do transfers and deal with agents (along with Lawwell)….you need someone with football experience but a clever guy with good organisational experience, perhaps even business experience. Ideally someone with Celtic at heart who will be happy in Glasgow for years.
Get that appointment right and you can afford to occasionally get the coach appointment wrong….
Have a read of this….it’s written for Man U but could easily apply to us.
http://www.espnfc.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/14058?cc=5739
Just came to from my 2 pint stumer. What about that Portuguese doll? Hh
Bring Back Green Brigade, interview letters out to Lambert….John Collins and Garcia double act and Henke and Sutton double act…get decision made within a fortnight and start the CL planning
Michael Laudrup being touted for Maccabi Haifa job surely Celtic are a bigger club than this?
Sorry Ralph av been out so just seen your question. Just my opinion but am normally right
Jurgen Klopp is the man…if he doesn’t want it, show him some videos of European nights at CP. i know it’s a dream but with Klopp as the man and Henke as his side kick then you have a dream team of experience…it’s hot here…I might have sunstroke…
Steve Clarke for me