Celtic’s managerial position is still up for grabs even though Neil Lennon is close to guiding the Hoops towards a treble. Quite a few names have done the rounds in the past few months, but none of them are realistically joining the Parkhead based club. Lennon is still the favourite to take over the job, but many still feel that there are question marks over him.
That is what former Celtic striker Scott McDonald feels. He was quoted as saying (BBC), ”It’s not been as sharp, as quick; they’ve just been managing to do enough to get through games. The players believed in Brendan Rodgers: in his shape, in his system. They kept believing they were going to get better. So for someone now to come in and tell them different, it’s going to be very difficult.”
”The Celtic fans will be thinking right now, ‘we went and spent £3m on a manager previous to now’ [when Rodgers arrived in 2016]. They do not want to go backwards on that. They want that £3m spent once again to get a top quality manager.”
Why is McDonald right to be sceptical over Lennon’s permanent appointment?
It’s clear that McDonald doesn’t feel that Lennon is a top quality manager. We believe that he is more or less spot on with his assessment as the Bhoys have lacked ideas since the Northern Irish manager took over. They have managed to get results and scrape through on various occasions, but we don’t really see Lennon taking this team to the next level and improving the young players. The recent result against the Hibs showcased the same as the Bhoys were held to a 0-0 draw.
We are not going to take anything away from the job which Lennon has done as an interim manager as he joined the club midway through the season and managed to steady the ship during a turmoil. However, the board needs to be brave and appoint someone fresh who will take this team to the next level.
Who can the board look to target?
Lennon can keep the ship steady. But if the club wants to aspire to improve further, then they need to go out of their way and sign someone like Rafael Benitez who can be up for grabs as his future with Newcastle United is still uncertain. The fans are longing to see Celtic have an impressive run in Europe and given Benitez’s organisation and tactical abilities; he could be the right man to deliver some special results in the Elite European competitions.
