Sam Allardyce Would Never Have Gotten Near The Celtic Job Whatever The “Timing.”

Sam Allardyce is probably not a bad guy. He probably doesn’t think he means any disrespect to our club when he talks in the media about how he’d have liked to manage up here “if the timing had been right.” But still, it comes off disrespectful all the same.

What does he mean about “the timing” being right? He means unless the lowliest club in the EPL was interested in his services. He means that in a pinch, with no other options, he would have graced the game up here with his presence.

What arrogance, intentional or not. What utter blindness.

Too many people in England hold to this view that they would love the chance to sample the atmosphere up here for a short time, at the fag end of their careers, as if this was a holiday camp and not somewhere the business is deadly serious.

I think most people realise that Dave Kitson is The Secret Footballer. I read those books a few years ago and he was offered the chance, pretty late in the day, to come up and play for Celtic. He spoke to someone he knows in the game up here, a Scotsman, a Celtic player or ex Celtic player, and he was talked out of the idea pretty damned fast mostly, because as he admits, he would have brought the wrong mentality with him.

It’s big of him to admit that actually. What he was told dissuaded him of any notion that this is an easy gig. He was warned in particular about how every other club in the country sees itself as being in a cup final when they come up against your team and they are all trying, all the time, and wanting to be the one who stops you dead in your tracks.

On top of that, I never like going down the road of people who openly state that they would have worked at both our club and the ones across the city. If you know anything about the game here you know there are major cultural differences at the two teams and anyone who isn’t prepared to pick one or the other certainly isn’t going to succeed.

Celtic would not have entertained the idea of approaching Sam Allardyce, not at any point, not even if the timing had been so right that he sent his agents up here to offer his services for free. He has never been good enough. He has never been the right calibre of manager for Celtic, not in any sense, from his style of football to the expectations he’s worked under.

So the issue doesn’t even arise for me, and I think most Celtic fans would feel the same way. There are too many folk down in England who hold to this view that they’d like to come up here “one day” so that they can “experience the Old Firm.”

I’d suggest they invest in a time machine if they are going to even attempt it … failing that they should stick to watching “the Glasgow derby” on the telly.