Steve Clarke hasn’t ruled out becoming the next Celtic manager but has made it clear that he won’t be available for the critical European qualifiers.
The Scotland boss is among the favourites to take over from Neil Lennon but is committed to the national side who will play at least three European Championship during June.
At that stage Celtic’s non-internationalists will be back in pre-season training with the first European qualifiers coming up in mid-July.
Celtic haven’t given any timescale for bringing in a new manager but with Season Ticket income crucial it would be highly unlikely that they could delay an announcement until July or later.
Discussing the situation, the Daily Record reports:
Asked if he was joining the Hoops after Euro 2020, the 57-year-old said: “I will be going on a long holiday after the Euros. And I am contracted with Scotland until 2022, when I’ll hopefully be taking us to the World Cup in Qatar.”
Prior to the Scotland job Clarke managed Kilmarnock for two years which was his first job in Scotland since leaving St Mirren for Chelsea in 1986.
Down south he has been assistant manager at Chelsea, Newcastle and Liverpool to some of the biggest names in management, on his own he has been in charge of West Bromwich Albion and Reading.
In January 2007, in the middle of the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign Walter Smith quit his Scotland contract to replace Paul le Guen as manager of Rangers.