GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - MARCH 16: Peter Lawwell, Chairman of Celtic, Dermot Desmond, Non-Executive Director of Celtic, and Michael Nicholson, CEO of Celtic, are seen in attendance prior to the William Hill Premiership match between Celtic FC and Rangers FC at Celtic Park on March 16, 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Speculation among Celtic fans is rife over who will become the next manager.
It seems that some supporters are expecting a big hitter to arrive with EPL experience stamped on his CV. Forget it, not happening.
Right now it is fairly safe to assume that talks are on going to finalise the departure of Martin O’Neill.
Only the timing and way of words should remain to be concluded.
If Celtic won’t accommodate this they will face a massive backlash from supporters.
The club has squeezed everything possible out of the 74-year-old Irishman. He delivered a title last season despite the club deciding on a course of self destruction.
That was as good as it gets. Only Michael Nicholson knows why O’Neill was given another contract, 12 months with another 12 month option.
WHO SUCCEEDS O’NEILL AT CELTIC?
Kieran McKenna seems the popular choice among Celtic fans. Young, Irish and on the rise he seems one step behind the O’Neill of 2000 that arrived at Celtic from Leicester.
Eddie Howe and Thomas Frank are also getting mentioned.
None of those names will go anywhere near the job of managing Celtic. You can add Arne Slot to that list.
All four of those managers can reasonably expect to be offered an EPL job in the next 12 months.
Salaries start at £6m. And you get to join a functional club where the CEO and a Director of Football know their jobs. They have earned their job based on ability rather than surname or being out promoted internally.
Should an approach be made to McKenna, Howe, Frank or Slot they all have the same reference point.
Brendan Rodgers, manager of Celtic until 27 October 2025.
He delivered 11 domestic trophies out of 13 and a place in the Round of 16 Play Off for the Champions League.
As reward Rodgers was undermined and briefed against from Celtic insiders.
Then to top it off when he was forced into resigning we had the character assassination published on the club website.
Dermot Desmond told fans:
We met with Brendan regularly, including in December last year and at the start of the summer, with regular dialogue in between, to discuss and agree our collective strategy, priorities, and approach. Every player signed and every player sold during his tenure was done so with Brendan’s full knowledge, approval, and endorsement. Any insinuation otherwise is absolutely false.
His later public statements about transfers and club operations came entirely out of the blue. At no point prior to those remarks had he raised any such concerns with me, Michael, or any member of the Board or executive team. In reality, he was given final say over all football matters and was consistently backed in the recruitment process — including record investment in players he personally identified and approved.
When his comments were made publicly, I sought to address them directly. Brendan and I met for over three hours at his home in Scotland to discuss the issue. Despite ample opportunity, he was unable to identify a single instance where the club had obstructed or failed to support him. The facts did not match his public narrative.
Regrettably, his words and actions since then have been divisive, misleading, and self-serving. They have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the club and fuelled hostility towards members of the executive team and the Board. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and unacceptable.
Every member of the Board and executive team is deeply passionate about Celtic and acts at all times with professionalism, integrity, and a shared desire for success. What has failed recently was not due to our structure or model, but to one individual’s desire for self-preservation at the expense of others.
Absolutely. One individual. And 11 months later we all know exactly who that ‘one individual’ is.
The damage done by that statement will linger long in management circles.
Anyone discussing the job will look at how O’Neill was supported to qualify for the Champions League.
And they will also put in a call to Brendan Rodgers to have the real state of play at Celtic confirmed.
With that interest ends for Howe, Frank, McKenna and Slot.
Leaving Scott Brown, Steve Clarke and Neil Lennon eyeing up an unexpected opportunity.
I hope to god it’s not broonie,or Clarke or Lennon,that is massive step backwards, there must be some good young European coaches out there somewhere.
Be lucky if it’s not a coronation of Maloney. Or the manager nobody dares to even mention just in case it causes somebody to consider him…… Gareth Southgate.
Names like Slot, Howe and Frank getting mentioned as possible managers is embarrassing and ridiculous in equal measure.
These guys are all invariably cheque book managers and Celtic is just quite simply not, and never will be a cheque book club.
These guys want guaranteed CL latter stages games and not just a wee diddy Scottish cup and games at Dundee midweek in the pishing rain.
Bottom line is we play in the SPL, sometimes I even forget that myself.
There just simply is no draw for a good manager and we only got BR because of his love for the club and desire to see it do well.
Take him out of the equation and although Ange was successful, virtually every other manager has not been a so called top notch operator.
The absolute best we can ever hope for is getting through qualification for the CL and occasionally making the next round, and it just doesn’t make sense for a club in Scotland to be spending megabucks just to achieve something as small as that.
Even if the suits spent our entire bank balance of 100m it still wouldn’t make the impact we think it would, certainly not in one season.
Anyone else think we are just too big for our own boots at times and have an over inflated view of what everyone else thinks we are rather than what we think we are in world football?
I’ve certainly came to the conclusion that chasing a dream isn’t worth bankrupting the club for, but I do agree we need better people from the top down with modern thinking for the modern game.
Yeah money appears to have been wasted many seasons over on projects that turn to dross with the odd success story but that’s down to the scouting or whoever is signing off or whoever is negotiating the deals….or sometimes not negotiating.
Yes I want Celtic to be successful but I now realise that in today’s game, without EPL type money or a sugar daddy oligarch, we simply have to be what we can be, league champions every year for a stab at CL with the odd cup thrown in.
We just need suits that can deliver that with the advantage we hold already here.
Chasing a dream?, really, chasing a dream ????
At least read the guys article if you can’t read the room ?
As fans we are chasing a dream as far as far as thinking we are good enough for latter stages CL football every season.
Scottish football simply cannot compete anymore, christ we can barely compete with the 2nd tier in English football financially never mind the top leagues.
So yeah, I think it is a dream to think managers like Slot for example would come near us knowing how our suits operate, they wouldn’t risk their reputations on us.
The article was read, and it’s just an opinion which is what these platforms are for.
We need to stand back and actually take stock of where we actually are in world football as a club now and not where we think we should be based on the past.
Results and rankings don’t lie.
Connor Gethins at Clachnacuddin would probably tell them to get to f*ck…
And he wouldn’t be far wrong to be honest !
Someone wrote we’re a ‘parody’ on here yesterday and that’s what we are. Fritzl will flick through his phone and call Broonie, Lennon with Maloney as his fall back option. These are the criteria: 1) cheap, 2) available and 3) yes men.