Legia Warsaw have appointed the former Celtic Head Scout John Park as their Head of International Recruitment, thus closing the door on a return to Parkhead for the man who unearthed players like Virgil van Dijk for the club.
Park however last year indicated that he would not have been interested in a return to Paradise under the current structure headed by Peter Lawwell with the CEO being heavily involved in all aspects of player recruitment. The very same issue that Brendan Rodgers found hard to stomach.
We covered this in an article on 28 July 2019 which you can read below…
READ HERE…‘Lawwell simply can’t let go’ – Why Celtic don’t have a Director of Football like John Park
Commenting on his new appointment Park said: “I am delighted to be joining Legia Warsaw and I’m looking forward to the challenges in the upcoming months.
“I’ve had many discussions with the president and the club’s coaching staff and, having spoken to them, it was an easy decision to join,” Park stated as reported by Scottish Sun.
“I know that the club and all the people working there have high expectations and ambitions. The obvious goal beyond winning the national trophies is to qualify for the group stage of the European competitions and I hope that with my knowledge and previous experience in this field, I will be able to contribute to that.
“I have been looking for a suitable project for several months and I’d been doing various advisory roles in the meantime, until I decided it was the right time to work for one club.
“I had some interesting job offers elsewhere, but after visiting Legia Training Centre in December, meeting the people working there, valuable meetings at the wonderful Legia stadium, I just felt it was the right choice,” Park added.
“The challenges posed, Legia’s infrastructure, fantastic fans, the city itself and the owner’s ambitions, mean that, in my opinion, we have great opportunities to bring international talents to the club, both to the first team and youth teams.”
And Legia Warsaw owner and president, Dariusz Mioduski, welcomed Park to his club: “John Park is a well-known and respected name in the football world, which is primarily based on many years of experience, knowledge and a great passion for football.
“We spent a lot of time talking about Legia, our goals and challenges and I believe John will be a significant addition to our sports division.
“We have supplemented our coaching team with a strong leader.”