Mourinho Money – Celtic would need to pay him £10-12million per year in wages, Clarke reveals

STEVE CLARKE richly deserved the recognition he got on Sunday night when he was named the PFA Scotland Manager of the Year. The job he has done at Kilmarnock, with them playing on that horrible surface in front of mostly empty stands, has been astonishing.

Clarke was once considered for the Celtic job before it was given to Ronny Deila but it was a close run thing at the time. Now with his stock in the Scottish game much higher having actually managed a club North of the Border, Clarke is strangely an outside to replace Brendan Rodgers as the permanent Celtic manager.

This would have been more of an issue had Neil Lennon not picked up the pieces left by the sudden departure of Rodgers and most of our backroom team, to deliver the title and getting us to the Scottish Cup Final.

The job is almost certainly Lenny’s but of all the candidates mentioned as alternatives, Clarke would have been my preference as ‘a safe pair of hands’ who could have continued the success.

He did get involved in the Cheer Up song that was initially created to abuse Tommy Burns – please remember that and please can we cut it out. It’s THEIR song, it’s evil, we’re better than that…and that probably was a factor in him wishing to get back to England. Clarke spoke from the heart when he condemned their bigotry and in doing so revealed that he was glad that his children grew up down south away from all of this stuff. His family have remained in England and it’s a fairly safe bet that he’ll be looking at moving back down the road if the opportunity presents itself.

So he’s unlikely to be the next Celtic manager but he did, on Sunday evening, have a laugh at the list of potential successors to Rodgers that has come together since Rodgers bolted in the middle of the night. That was of course the day that his close friend from their time together at Chelsea, Jose Mourinho was the latest big name manager to be linked to the Celtic job.

Commenting on the Jose to Celtic story Steve Clarke said: “I did have a little grin. That’s Andre Villas-Boas been linked, Roberto Martinez and Rafa Benitez.

“I’m not sure Jose would come to Scotland. I know he was very impressed and spoke a lot about the Celtic supporters when he was with Porto and they played Porto in Seville. He was amazed at the support that Celtic had.

“He always speaks well of the big Scottish clubs and how big Celtic and Rangers are. But I think he would probably be looking to go to a more high-profile European league.

“And somebody who is going to pay him a little bit closer to £10-£12million per year!” Clarke said to the media, as reported by Scottish Sun.

Yesterday we outlined why Neil Lennon has done enough to be appointed as Celtic manager – it’s really only a matter of time.

Peter Plan, Jose Mourinho, NFL and those paranoid Hibs supporters

Congratulations to Steve Clarke for winning the PFA Scotland Manager of the Year and also to James Forrest, who followed up his success in being voted by you as The Celtic Star’s Player of the Year by winning the PFA Player of the Year on Sunday. The Bhoy is a winner…

About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

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