Steve Clarke is the new bookies favourite to manage Celtic next season.
The Scotland boss takes up the unwelcome tag hot on the heels of Eddie Howe and Rafa Benitez with no sign from inside Celtic that anyone is addressing the situation with a managerial review promised more than two months ago.
Since the review was announced Peter Lawwell has stated that he will retire at the end of this season which leaves the club in limbo with an out of touch manager closely attached to an out-going Chief Executive.
Clarke managed Kilmarnock to third place in the SPFL in 2018 before becoming Scotland manager, guiding the squad to the European Championship Finals this summer on the back of two penalty shoot-outs wins.
Now based in the south of England it would be a major upheaval for Clarke to take on the Celtic job with this summer’s European Championships running into next season’s UEFA qualifiers.
Picking up on the latest bookmaker gossip, The Sun reports:
SCOTLAND gaffer Steve Clarke is the new overall favourite with the bookmakers to be named next permanent manager of Celtic.
The former Kilmarnock boss has moved stealthily to the top of the betting ranks with Oddschecker and is no bigger than a 3/1 shot anywhere.
The Celtic manager’s situation is particularly complex, with Neil Lennon still in post and a transition in the front office due to take place this June when Scottish Rugby’s Dominic McKay succeeds Peter Lawwell as Hoops chief executive.
Clarke won’t be short of suitors this summer – having ended 23 years of agony for the Tartan Army by winning Thursday’s Euro 2020 play-off in Serbia.
But he is a loyal man who has vowed that there isn’t a club job in football that would persuade him to walk out on the country ahead of the Euro finals this summer.
He is under contract until the end of the World Cup campaign in the summer of 2022 and has just been rewarded with a substantial qualification bonus for guiding the nation back to their first major finals since 1998.
As a player Clarke started his career at St Mirren before moving to Chelsea in 1986 where he played for more than a decade.
In coaching he has been an assistant to Jose Mourinho, Bobby Robson and Kenny Dalglish while having spells in charge of West Brom and Reading.
