Well, it’s fair to say the Celtic Family is on tenterhooks this morning. The tension is palpable, hearts are racing and suddenly outstanding DIY jobs will get everyone’s full attention, if for no other reason than to occupy the mind as we wait for that long-awaited announcement. Will Mark Burchill be the Sellick man in Eddie Howe’s backroom team or will it be Peter Grant?
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With news Howe’s appointment as Celtic boss is either ‘imminent’ or at an ‘advanced’ stage the only nagging doubt left is the recent news the man himself was carrying out his own due diligence on the club. We can but hope he’s the tyre kicker type rather than the one who brings a pal who likes a good look under the bonnet and gets on his back and examines the undercarriage.
There are of course a few major repair jobs needed but the parts are on order Eddie and the price includes a new CEO and a Director of football – meanwhile you’ll get an extended line of credit to soup that beauty up. This classic after all was running like a dream for nine years, the right man with a willingness to get his hands dirty can get her purring again in no time. Granted she struggles to get over 60 on any given weekend but that’s just been a lack of attention for a few months. With the right parts and a spruce up of the existing components she’ll do 90 plus week in week out with ease on the local roads and get her onto those long European tracks and there’s potential there for top performances. It’s not long since she did a trip to Rome and back and she smashed it Eddie.
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I’ve seen it said the appointment of Eddie Howe would be a statement of intent from Celtic and that’s a term I’d agree with. It’s not so long ago he was in line for the England job and the Arsenal vacancy, so there is no doubt he’s a talented manager and well thought of down south. The work he did with Bournemouth on the south coast is often belittled, yet this week of all weeks we should be aware that miracles happen and what he achieved with the south coast club – going from near liquidation to a ninth placed Premier League position – is up there with the resurrection.
Yes of course there are question marks, no appointment would be any different. He’s been a one club man bar an unsuccessful spell with Burnley, where he appeared keen to move on after only 18 months, but if you’ve been to Burnley for any amount of time that surely shows an admirable level of judgement.
It’s also said Howe is a bit of a homebhoy and that the Glasgow goldfish bowl will be too much for him, but again if you lived on the south coast of England, had cash on the hip and were viewed as a God amongst men down there that’s a life worth living and holding on to – the sun shines with actual warmth from March to October, on this island you find that hard to give up when you have it. But it should be remembered Howe cut the club cord at least in August so the plan was always going to be a new challenge ahead. He’s certainly got his sights on one of those if he wants it.
I’ve also seen people mistake his softly spoken approach and public schoolboy appearance as some sign of weakness, yet this is a man who was a centre half by trade, had his career ended early by injury and became one of England’s top coaches by way of sheer determination and a thirst for knowledge. Howe has mixed it everywhere from the boondocks to the Premier league palaces on Bournemouth’s meteoric rise under his watch. That strikes me as a guy who’s got a touch of the everyman, one not scared of putting his head in where it hurts, overcoming adversity and someone who can get stuck in and build something via his own sweat and tears, whilst and at the same time build a side entertaining to watch and with an accent on flair. That is a Celtic manager if you ask me.
Celtic right now we all know is a club at a low ebb, but we are not in need of Bournemouth type miracles, nor do we need to be resurrected. We need what we may term an overhaul perhaps, but with Howe’s history behind him you’d assume he’d class it as just a bit of fine tuning. I’d have full confidence that he’d do just that.
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If the board can persuade him – and if we can deflect attention a little as he attempts his due diligence – then Celtic are employing a manager of great prestige and one who has yet to reach peak performance. Now then, Mark Burchill or Peter Grant as the Sellick man? I think I’ll wash the motor.
Niall J
