Chris Sutton can’t get his head around Gordon Strachan’s consultancy role at Celtic.
The losses of Nick Hammond and Peter Lawwell has left a massive hole in recruitment leaving Ange Postecoglou to play a lead role in that while getting to know the players he inherited and a brand new set of opponents.
A Sporting Director or Director of Football would seem to be the obvious solution to co-ordinate the various sections of the club.
Employing a former Celtic, Scotland and Southampton manager to take on that role would seem logical but Celtic’s Strachan statement was keen to stress that there would be no first team involvement. Plus Strachan was staying with his full-time gig at Dundee.
Reflecting on an impressive week for Celtic while the wheels come off across the city, Sutton told Daily Record readers:
They need to stay grounded, they need to keep developing and recruiting. Which makes it bizarre there’s still no head of recruitment or director of football. What on Earth are they waiting for?
Gordon Strachan coming in on a three month consultancy role is a baffling move, especially as he’ll still be employed by Dundee.
Goodness knows how that will work and it’s hard to get his head around what his role will be. Apparently, he’ll be helping behind the scenes with the academy set up and the women’s team.
That’s all very well and good but Postecoglou needs a support network for the first team, which the club are adamant Strachan won’t be going near.
It doesn’t make much sense. Celtic have got themselves on track but this is no time to rest on their laurels as they have yet to set the benchmark.
Since February Dom McKay has been preparing for the Celtic job, in mid-April he arrived to shadow Peter Lawwell ahead of the handover.
The gamble of bringing in a complete outsider has got off to a promising start even if it has already been at the cost of a Champions League place.
Without a coach of his own choice to share some of the workload appointing a senior figure to take responsibility for recruitment would surely be a big step forward allowing Postecoglou to focus on the training ground and first team squad.
