The Men Who Should Be In The Running For The Celtic Job

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Over the next few weeks we’re going to see a long list of names in the press. Some of them will be punts. Some of them will be nonsense.

Others will have a core of truth to them.

The fans want someone box office, and we’re entitled to it after three appointments – Lennon’s included – which have been mediocre at best.

Yes, to a degree his worked out but when we appointed him he had no managerial pedigree to speak of; that was an enormous risk if not an outright scandal.

We should never go down that road again.

Here are six possibilities who ought to already be on our radar.

The first four might sound off the wall, but they are all excellent, all are well within our reach and would be tremendously liked by the Celtic fans for the way they play.

The final two are more conventional names … but the best of the six.

Any one of them would be a great appointment.

All would require ambition on the part of the club.

There are no punts here; every one of them has great experience and some have soaring reputations.

They are all going to wind up at big clubs, and are capable of turning us into one all over again.

Markus Weinzierl: The Man Who Halted Guardiola’s Bayern

Anyone who likes, and knows, European football will have heard the story of Augsburg, a tiny German club who on a budget of only £20 million secured a fifth place finish in the Bundesliga last season and who were, in 2014, the club who stopped Bayern Munich’s 53 game unbeaten run under magician Pepe Guardiola.

The guy who achieved this minor miracle?

Markus Weinzeierl, their boss since 2012.

When he took over them they were in such total disarray that he won only a single match in his first half a season. But he rebuilt the side quickly, and brilliantly, first avoiding relegation and then cementing their place in the league the following year.

In 2014 he steered them to eighth place.

Critics said he’d taken them as far as they could.

The following season he took them to fifth, and into Europe for the first time ever.

This has been a disappointing season for them; they currently sit at 14th, clear of the relegation places but out of contention in Europe. In spite of this his stock remains high; he’s working, after all, with the second lowest budget in the league. As such, he is not considered to have failed this year; indeed the club recently gave him a contract extension to 2019 as he’s already attracted the attention of bigger teams.

He’s an outsider, because some will say he lacks a track record … but he’s not a “punt” by any manner of means.

You’ll be hearing more about this guy in years to come, a lot more.

He’ll almost certainly end up at one of Germany’s top teams and from there … anywhere.

One thing that would scare Celtic fans slightly would be his preferred formation; it’s none other than the dreaded, awful 4-2-3-1 which so frustrated us this season and last.

Yet whereas Deila’s formation relies on three attacking midfielders playing behind the striker, Weinzeieral prefers to play with a main front man and two goalscoring wingers on either side of him, using attacking full-backs to get up the park and allow his wide players to take up positions in the penalty box.

It may look the same, but it sure as Hell doesn’t play the same … last season it was the two wide men who got most of the club’s goals.

Marcelo Gallardo: The Prince Of The River Plate

If you follow South American football, you know that River Plate are one of the biggest clubs on that vast continent.

This owes everything to the work of one man; Marcelo Gallardo.

The club was relegated in 2011, and two coaches – Matias Almeyda and Ramon Diaz – brought them back from the brink and to becoming one of the best clubs in Argentina again … but it was Gallardo, who took over in 2014, who really transformed their fortunes, and they reached the pinnacle by winning the Copa Libertadores – the South American Champions League – last year.

Four years from relegation.

What an achievement that is, and it isn’t his only one.

In fact, Gallardo has secured no less than four continental titles with River Plate, with a playing system that we’d recognise, and accept, here at Celtic Park.

He plays a 4-3-1-2 which often turns into a straight 4-3-3.

He would never dream of playing one up front.

In addition to his success at River Plate, he was a title winning coach in Uruguay first, securing the national league with Nacional in the same year River Plate tumbled down a division.

The respect in which he’s held in world football is vast for a guy who’s still only 40.

His player career was just as impressive as his managerial one; he has league titles in three countries, domestic cups medals in three, an Olympic silver medal and two Pan American Games winner gongs.

He’s an impressive guy, and a sharp, astute, tactician who some say has based his system on that of Guardiola, but is actually more like Mourinho in how he handles team building, media relations and his attention to detail.

He’s a certainty to end up in Spain, but a sojourn in Scotland would not hurt his career prospects one little bit in advance of that.

Jocelyn Gourvennec: The King Of Guingamp

With a single French cup to his name, why in God’s name would we want to take a punt on a guy few people in Scottish football will ever have heard of?

Well, for a start he did it at lowly Guingamp, who he took over when they were in the third tier of French football and who he’s taken in an amazing five year spell to the last 32 of the Europa League.

As a consequence, he’s highly regarded throughout Europe.

Newcastle came very close to appointing him, opting instead to go for a “tried and tested” name in Rafa Benitez.

Not a bad choice, I guess, but Gourvennec would have been inspired.

He has achieved this success with a mix of tactical nous, good football and a psychological approach to management which makes every player feel like he’s a world beater, a talent which Martin O’Neill learned from Brian Clough and adapted himself as a boss, to phenomenal effect at both Leicester and Celtic, and now with the Republic of Ireland.

The King of Guingamp is a hero at his club, but he’s gotten itchy feet at a team who he’s led to silverware but can probably not take much further.

This is his last season at the club, and with his contract up at the end of it the word in France is that he’s looking for a team somewhere – and he’s not ruled out a move abroad – where he can work a long term “project” and build something like a legacy.

That fits beautifully with our club’s overall plan … and with a few tweaks, allowing him the freedom Deila didn’t enjoy and Lennon wanted this could be the perfect fit, an appointment out of the top drawer, and that lays down long term foundations.

Don’t rule it out.

If we have any ambition at all he has to be on the shortlist.

Paul Clement: The Deposed Lord Of Derby. Their Loss Is Somebody’s Gain

There are things that scream at you when you examine Paul Clement.

He’s available right now, for free.

There would be no compensation to anyone as he’s not at a club.

He’s worked at three of the biggest sides in world football.

And at Derby.

But he’s won no trophies. He’s been manager once, at the aforementioned English Championship club, and they sacked him.

So why in God’s name would we consider him?

Four reasons.

First, he’s got the kind of experience most top level managers would absolutely kill for, having had front row seats to the show at Real Madrid, Chelsea and Paris St Germain. He was assistant manager at all three teams and amongst his most ardent admirers are Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti, who’s trusted him at all three clubs.

Secondly, in addition to his assistant manager berths, he’s coached at Blackburn and at the English and Republic of Ireland Under 21 teams. (Indeed, he’s an Under 21 coach at England right now.) He’s also worked at the youth academies at Chelsea and Fulham. He’s even been a scout.

This guy has seen football from every level, and he places special emphasis on youth players.

Third, this guy has been doing this for seventeen years. He’s been involved in football, on the coaching side, since he was 23. He had his UEFA A Coaching License when other guys his age were still trying to break into the first teams at big clubs. No-one can say he hasn’t put in his time or worked for everything he’s got.

Fourth and finally, there’s barely a football writer or expert in England who wasn’t astounded when Derby parted company with him, sitting at fifth in the league and within a few points of the league leaders. It was a travesty of a sacking, and it came only weeks after the Debry chairman had told the media Clement would be at the club for “years to come”, comparing him with Alex Ferguson and talking about the long term vision he had for the team.

He has recently been linked with the job at Swansea … and is certain to land a job soon.

He’s a dark horse – the darkest of all maybe – but worth talking to.

David Moyes: The Legacy Candidate

If Celtic wants a manager who’s got great experience, gravitas and a box-office name, and who’ll see the job as a long-term project with long-term goals, one of which is to build a lasting monument that’ll stand the test of time, there’s one outstanding candidate; David Moyes.

He and Celtic are a perfect fit, made for one another.

His appointment would be our most inspired since Martin O’Neill and would have consequences far into our future.

David Moyes might well be one of the most undervalued managers in football at the moment, based in no small part on what happened to him at Manchester United. Yet what was that? Alex Ferguson left behind an ageing squad, many of whom needed to be replaced. Moyes saw this as a long-term gig, a building process lasting years. Man Utd’s owners gave him eight months. His plans were never properly implemented, his ideas never really evaluated.

No club can make a judgement based on a boss’s long term suitability in eight months unless it’s a total calamity. He was seventh in the EPL when the axe fell, which for Manchester United represents a major reversal. Yet they’re fifth right now, after trusting Van Gaal with hundreds of millions, and they lie only five points in front of Liverpool who are in the Moyes death spot right now.

Improvement? If it is then it’s only a slight one and certainly not one that justifies the enormous sum of money the Dutchman has been allowed to squander.

Moyes, given time, might have turned Manchester United around. This is a three time winner of the League Manager’s Association Manager of the Year award after all. Ferguson picked him for the job specifically; he knew Moyes was a guy who needed the time and freedom to put down his own roots, and he was entirely confident in what those roots would grow into.

What kind of roots could Moyes put down at Celtic?

There’s little doubt he would lead us to a sixth title in a row. With the environment we play in the pressure would be much less and that, in itself, would afford him time.

Some will say the way the fans have reacted to Ronny proves the time might be a lot less than Moyes or others believe; the truth is, a lot of the pressure the Norwegian was under came from a lot of fans not buying into him from the start.

Moyes isn’t Deila. He is more adaptable, his style of football is better and the fans would have much more faith in his long term plan. He would also command the kind of respect amongst the players that Ronny seemed unable to, and he would have a sweeping mandate to clear out of the dressing room of all those who didn’t conform.

He’s a leader. He’s commanding. And most important, he is hungry now, a man with everything to prove, and his Celtic background makes this the perfect moment for him to take over our club and in the process rebuild it and his own career.

And more than any of that, he understands the attraction of legacy.

He is the candidate we want if that’s the plan, if that’s the intention, and it should be.

Yet there’s someone I like even better ….

Brendan Rodgers: The Nearly Man Of Anfield

Neither Brendan Rodgers nor David Moyes has ever won a major title or honour but they’d be my first two choices.

Because both understand the enormity of this job – they are both lifelong Celtic fans, so how could they not? – and have managed at the highest level.

Rodgers is my favourite of the two.

He came closest to winning an EPL title, with a Liverpool side that for one season he lifted above itself.

The style of football was breath-taking. His development of certain players was astonishing. It’s that style that’s most attractive when it comes to Brendan Rodgers getting the job. It’s inconceivable that he’d ever go one up front, for example, or sit back and defend in a cup semi final.

Rodgers produced his brand of football at Swansea.

He conjured up magical performances from their team, securing 11th in the EPL in their first season there, which is a brilliant achievement and one which secured him the Anfield job.

Brendan Rodgers has said that he would walk to Celtic Park to manage the club.

In my view it’s time we hold him to that.

He would require convincing, and he’d require money, but the job of our well-paid CEO is to go out and close deals like this and attract the right calibre of people to the club and Brendan Rodgers is definitely a leading contender for this job and any job that comes up.

Make him an offer he can’t refuse, Celtic.

Bring Brendan Rodgers home.