Charlie Nicholas today has a pop at Gordon Strachan for the dastardly sin of sticking up Celtic – something that is so alien to so many of our former players earning a crust via the Mainstream Media and reckons that there’s a reason why the former Celtic manager is defending the club.
“The way Gordon Strachan has been talking, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a role for him at Celtic,” Nicholas stated in his latest Daily Express column. “If the club is assessing potential candidates for a technical director or director of football then the likelihood is that he will be under consideration.
“Strachan seems to be the mouthpiece for Celtic just now. He is the one who is coming out in the media and really defending the club,” Nicholas states, no doubt appalled at the concept. “He also seems to know a lot about what is happening behind the scenes and claimed with a fair degree of certainty that his son Gavin will remain at the club.
“Director of football at Parkhead is clearly a job Gordon would be interested in, even if he is doing a similar role at Dundee at the moment,” Nicholas continued. “Bringing Strachan back to the club he managed from 2005 to 2009 would also work for majority shareholder Dermot Desmond because he could be the frontman for him.
“If Strachan is to become director of football then Celtic should come out and announce it – before a new manager is put in place,” the former Sky Sports pundit demanded.
“But would it be the right appointment? “Not for me, because I want modern, fresh appointments that the club can really build on.
“In the wake of the European Super League development, the Champions League could be ripped apart. Celtic need to put a structure and a philosophy in place in which everything is aimed at competing at the top level in Europe,” Nicholas added, forgetting of course that the last time Celtic punched above our weight in the Champions League on a consistent basis it was Strachan who was in charge.
But Nicholas reckons giving Strachan toe DoF job would also have an impact on the decision we are all waiting from from Eddie Howe regarding replacing Neil Lennon as the Celtic manager. Any notion that John Kennedy will get the job surely ended on Sunday at Ibrox.
“I don’t feel the stress or strain of Celtic taking their time to appoint the right manager. Maybe Eddie Howe is still undecided or hasn’t got everything he has asked for yet.
“Or maybe it is simply that he doesn’t want to come in until the end of the season. What I would say is that I am not sure Howe would take the job if Strachan is director of football.
“And if that is the case then Celtic might need to look further down their list. Roy Keane is probably third or fourth choice. If he is to be offered the job he will need others to knock it back. But that call might yet come.”
