One of the names rumoured to be on the list of names in the running to replace Brendan Rodgers is Bodo Glimt boss Kjetil Knutsen, who is high up on the list of preferred candidates in the eyes of the Celtic support, as he was before and after Ange Postecoglou’s time at Celtic.
Knutsen has made his name in recent years due to the sterling work he’s done with the Norwegian side, not just domestically, but in Europe also. 57 year old Knutsen has led Bodo to a host of domestic honours, four Eliteseriens to be exact as Bodo asserted themselves as the premier club in Norway.
In Europe, Knutsen has also impressed, leading Bodo to Europa League semi-finals last year (the first time ever that a Norwegian side had reached the semi finals of a European competition) and this year he has them competing in the Champions League group stage, so his credentials aren’t up for debate, the Norwegian is certainly a talented coach.
What would Knutsen bring to the table in terms of tactical input? We’ve seen his style close up when his Bodo side eliminated a Celtic side led by Ange Postecoglou in our one and only foray into the Conference League, and it left quite an impression on the supporters.
Knutsen like a lot of coaches likes the 4-3-3 formation, with his focus on a solid foundation the back, and he insists his midfield and front three use a high press, demanding his players to be aggressive in winning the ball back.
He also expects his wingers to contribute with their skill to create chances, but also expects his side to get back into a solid 5-4-1 shape when defending to limit the number of clear chances to the opposition.
More interestingly he likes to deploy a defensive midfielder who commands authority whilst keeping in sync with the defenders to form a more solid and compact unit, something we’ve been lacking in recent years.
Knutsen would naturally want to recruit some of his own targets to suit his system, and it would be interesting to see if he would fancy a raid on Bodo if he does indeed land the Celtic Job.
Names like Patrick Berg and Kasper Hogh could be players that Knutsen decides to peruse if he did indeed become the next permanent manager of Celtic Football Club.
He is without doubt an attractive option. It remains to be seen if he is indeed in the running, let’s hope so as he’s clearly the calibre of candidate we should be seeking.
Whether he’d be prepared to work within the ‘unbroken’ business model at Celtic would be a factor both parties would have to be sure on. Knutsen has made himself rich with his deal at Bodo where he essentially develops players then gets a cut of the transfer fee when they are sold on. Celtic would like the first part of that arrangement but probably not the second.
Knutsen could be available at the end of December too. He’s certainly one of the most interesting options that are realistically open to Celtic and perhaps he’d relish the chance of managing a bigger club than the Bodo.
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
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Wouldn’t argue that he would be a fairly popular choice of manager, especially for the longer term of our club.
Certainly would suit the board, who value the player trading model so highly.
Also a great track record in player development, where we still depend upon trying to hit the jackpot in the lower end of the payment for players, as development has been a sticking point within our club for years now imo?
Currently in a very safe job, especially with an artificial surface and up within the artic circle, is possibly a place that wouldn’t be to attractive to lure players to Bodo, but still getting very impressive European results all the same.
Very little chance of him being available for the January window, so potentially will have to see what may develop regarding him, but potentially a name for next season in mind, taking if he’s even interested in ourselves in the first instance?