According to the Sunday People as cited by Examiner Live, former Huddersfield Town manager David Wagner has emerged as one of the candidates for Celtic’s top job. The Bhoys have been linked with plenty of managers in the past few months, but the likes of Marco Rose, Roberto Martinez and Andre Villas-Boas pulled out of the race.
Neil Lennon is still the favourite to take over, but Celtic haven’t looked menacing since he took over at the club. Wagner is known for his time with Huddersfield Town, a team that were massive underdogs to even move to the Premier League.
Not only did he take them to the English top flight, but he even kept them in the Premier League for a season against all the odds. The former American international had a tough time this season as Huddersfield stayed rooted on the bottom of the table. In January, his contract with the Terriers was terminated with mutual consent.
In a recent interview with the Times, the 47-year-old indicated that he is ready to return to football management and it is no surprise to us that he has emerged as one of the contenders for Celtic’s job.
What is Wagner’s management style?
Wagner comes from the school of Jurgen Klopp’s pressing style as he used to manage Borussia Dortmund’s reserve side from 2011-2015. Klopp and Wagner even played together as team-mates at Mainz, and they are known to be best of friends.
Wagner will deploy a high pressing style which should suit the Hoops well given the quality they have. Also, the 47-year-old is a good man manager, and that was one of the primary reasons he was able to extract the best out of his players at Huddersfield. He usually deploys a 4-2-3-1 formation which is how Celtic often plays right now. Wagner’s knowledge of continental football can come in handy in setting Celtic back on the map in the European competitions.
A better option than Lennon?
We think that Wagner would be a better option than Lennon at the moment. Celtic might have continued with their winning run since Lennon took over, but they have often lacked ideas. We don’t see Lennon being able to implement fresh ideas and take this team to the next level.
With limited resources, Wagner showed that he could take on the might of the Premier League. Given the quality players which Celtic have, Wagner can bring the fans to their feet with his management style and tactics.
