Gordon Strachan has told Celtic fans to stop complaining and trust the club hierarchy to deliver a new manager and a playing squad to win domestic honours again.
The former Scotland boss remains well connected within Celtic with two sons on the pay-roll and regular appearances on Celtic TV.
More than two months after Neil Lennon resigned Celtic appear no closer to appointing a replacement, yesterday the club issued a statement to fans saying little more than don’t worry.
If a manager is announced tomorrow he will have little more than two months to prepare for Champions League qualifiers with Strachan knows how brutal that can be.
In his first match in charge he watched Celtic lose 5-0 to Artmedia Bratislava to crash straight out of Europe at the earliest opportunity. In subsequent seasons Strachan took Celtic into the last 16 of the Champions League.
Assessing the current situation, Strachan told The Herald:
For me, it will make absolutely no difference whatsoever whether the new manager is brought in now or in a few weeks or whenever. It will have no bearing on the Champions League qualifiers or next season at all. Why? Well, because it is almost impossible to get players in just now in any case.
Recruitment is huge, and success for managers mostly depends on recruitment. What we don’t know right now is that there may very well be deals being lined up in the background for players who know what is going on in Celtic’s future.
And of course, the media all want to know what is happening, but I’m not sure that the fans are all getting their knickers in a twist about it. Does any other business tell you what they are going to do? Do Apple tell you beforehand what they’re doing? Do they phone the local tabloid and give them the heads up so they can let the world know? No, they announce it.
We have this notion that the fans need to be consulted on everything. No they don’t. No other business consults anybody. People are saying that Dominic McKay has to come out and say something. Why? Why does he have to say something? If you’ve not got anything of clarity to say right now, then there’s nothing to say.
John Kennedy looks certain to see out the season with Celtic’s last match of the season away to Hibs on May 15.