As Celtic search for our new manager it seems we are either getting more knock-backs than a ‘Rangers’ director asking for a line of credit, have already got someone earmarked who still has a job of work to do this season, or somehow by this stage still have absolutely no idea who we want.

The links have been plentiful but perhaps more bizarrely incredibly diverse, and whilst that could simply be down to plants from Celtic designed to put us all off the scent or all and sundry simply guessing, there has been enough consistency and credibility around a few links to suggest some more notable names have certainly been sounded out at least.

In truth Celtic have been looking for a manager since the Ross County defeat in the League Cup. I’m certainly satisfied that had a rather embarrassing –for the Board – and public show of discontent from a couple of hundred Celtic fans not occurred, Neil Lennon would have been sacked in the aftermath of that result.

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Instead, the board refused to bend to the will of the ‘entitled’ and where a stitch in time may have saved Celtic’s unravelling season, we had to endure a campaign and club coming apart at the seams. We then had the indication a review would be carried out and concluded in January only for the chairman to advise that was ongoing…in February. Then came a second defeat to Ross County and we have Neil Lennon resign and John Kennedy step into his shoes- the man who was likely to be awarded the job this summer had the season been a successful one.

Now we are being advised by Dermot Desmond in a hastily arranged ‘fan led’ Q&A, published for the sole reason an agitator had dared to question and challenge in a newspaper his golfing pals actually read, that ‘there is a process which involves research, investigation, interviewing and negotiation. This process is underway and is taking place privately and when complete, the Board will make a public announcement’ Considering how long we’ve been looking you’d have to say weeks in the jail pass quicker than Celtic’s due diligence.

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Put all that aside you can accept that if it takes a while to get the right man, then the time is worth taking, but is it just me or does this all seem just a little higgledy-piggledy? We still await the CEO to plonk himself into position, we haven’t had anything confirmed as to even what the shell of a structure of the footballing department may resemble, whether it involves a Director of football and a head coach, or a manager without the DOF, or indeed if a new structure will initially employ a DOF and a head coach but with a more experienced man to act as a placeman for a season as we bed everything in.

No-one expects to know the names Celtic are looking at but surely, it’s not beyond reason to at least outline the structure and communicate that to the fans. Perhaps if we write a critical letter to The Times, we’d get more than just lip service.

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And then there are the names we’ve been linked with. To say they vary in styles, approach, experience and success is an understatement. We’ve had Eddie Howe and Jesse Marsch, the progressive coaches with a short but proven track record, Ezno Maresca a youth coach with no experience but with the caveat he’s a highly rated disciple of Pep Guardiola, to the experienced and legendary Roy Keane, who as a player owned the football field but as a manager has been a mixed bag at best and hasn’t held a managerial post since the Arab Spring began and Steve Jobs resigned from Apple.

The worrying thing about all those links is not the men themselves it’s how different they all are, how diverse the choices appear. If those links are credible then it seems Celtic haven’t even settled on a type never mind their man.

Considering Celtic lost to Ross County on the 29th of November and any self-respecting Board would have realised that moment as Celtic’s nadir, you do wonder what our custodians are playing at. Throw in a couple of names that we’ve been told Celtic have at least sounded out in Frank Lampard and Chris Wilder then the consideration Celtic even have an identity in mind seems a stretch.

All that said perhaps the incredible amount of chatter around Roy Keane this week is simply a genius way of unveiling Steve Clarke as Celtic’s new manager post the Euros and ensuring that instead of a collective shrug of uninspired shoulders from the Celtic support, we simply breathe a sigh of relief that it anyone but Roy Keane and shell out for season tickets and the new adidas range in our thousands.

That would of course involve the Celtic board being smarter than I give them credit for. For now, I’d prefer to believe they are that clever, as the alternative, the almighty gamble of appointing Roy Keane, scares the hell out of me.

Niall J

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