Chris Sutton has described Nick Hammond’s spell at Celtic as a nightmare.
In midweek it was announced that the Head of Football Operations was leaving the club with a Technical Director or Sporting Director expected to accompany Dom McKay and a new manager.
Hammond worked as a consultant during the summer of 2019 before gaining a permanent job and title in October but Celtic’s transfer activities leave the next regime with a mountain of work to do.
Failure to sell players in the final two years of their contract and bring in adequate replacements is one issue with the dependence on loan signings another weakness.
In mid-July the club faces a tough run of qualifiers to reach the group phase of the Champions League with major reinforcements required if they are to succeed.
Hammond’s legacy could take a while to clear with Sutton straight to the point with his verdict on the outgoing Head of Football Operations.
He told Daily Record readers:
Howe’s recruitment is also going to have to be spot on. In the week where Nick Hammond departed, the importance of that has never been clearer.
As a former goalkeeper himself back in the day, Hammond was anything but a safe pair of hands. As far as recruitment was concerned, he had a nightmare. Some of the signings have been woeful.
Of course the manager gets a final say, but you have to trust the man doing the spotting and it’s intriguing that he wants to take Richard Hughes out of Bournemouth and appoint him.
Looking at where Celtic are right now, Howe has to get the right man in there and someone he trusts.
Managerial stature is everything. Jack Walker took Kenny Dalglish into the job at Blackburn and he would have known that people would fall over themselves to play for the Scottish legend.
You can certainly count me in that bracket and it was the same when Martin O’Neill asked me to go to Celtic.
Hughes has been on the backroom staff at Bournemouth since the early Howe days and has been Technical Director for the last six years, CLICK HERE for full interview and profile.
