MOTHERWELL, SCOTLAND - FEBRUARY 06: Jens Berthel Askou during a Motherwell press conference at Fir Park, on February 06, 2026, in Motherwell, Scotland. (Photo by Alan Harvey/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Earlier today, another Celtic site put forward what it said was the case for appointing Askou as our next manager.
I thought, “Finally, someone is going to try to convince me that the Motherwell boss has the credentials to be Celtic manager.”
I don’t have to tell you that I have serious doubts he has anything like the CV required to be Celtic boss.
But I’m willing to listen. I’m willing to be convinced.
Sadly, that article made no real attempt to convince me, except by pointing out that Motherwell outplayed the Ibrox club at the weekend. Is that the credential we’re looking for now? Is that the key to giving someone this job? That they can get a result against the club from Ibrox?
Under normal circumstances, I would applaud it. In this case, not so much, because when I look at the league table, I still see a side sitting fourth.
I’ve heard a lot of talk about how Motherwell are playing the best football in the league. But it hasn’t done them any good in terms of challenging for the title or challenging for trophies. It hasn’t made them into a formidable team.
They are having a good season by their own standards, and Askou looks like something of a miracle man to some people because he has gone to Ibrox and got a win.
But it was their first win in six games. While they played very well, they still had a two-goal lead which the Ibrox club was able to claw back.
They say he has proved he can work on a budget. That will certainly endear him to our board. It should not, in any way, inspire the rest of us to believe we’re going to see a better Celtic emerge from this.
Listen, he has assembled a squad of players that did not cost very much and, by Motherwell standards, has done reasonably well with them. That is one way to put it.
Another way to put it is that people are getting carried away.
He has still not done anything exceptional. If he had won a trophy with Motherwell, then you would have a case. Then you would have an argument. But let me say it again. They sit fourth in the league.
That is not the CV of a Celtic boss, and as I’ve said repeatedly on this site, his wider CV contains a title and a domestic cup in the Faroe Islands.
That is his career total in terms of prizes.
Some reports today have suggested that he will not be Motherwell manager when the season starts. The implication is that if we don’t snap him up, someone else will. But I’m willing to bet you this: the teams hovering around him and making him an offer will not be clubs of Celtic’s calibre.
If we lose him, we are not going to lose him to a side on our level. He will go to some mid-tier English Championship side, perhaps, or maybe somewhere abroad. The interest will not come from top clubs, because top clubs want more than a Faroe Islands title winner who finishes fourth in the Scottish Premiership.
This is the same phenomenon that has certain people pushing the idea of Hibs players, Motherwell players and even a 28-year-old Falkirk player we already had on our books.
It is called availability bias.
It means that because this guy is near to home, and because we can see what he is doing, we overvalue him. We compare him more favourably than we should against people in distant lands who we know less about, and who therefore seem like bigger risks.
Because we have seen some of these players perform well in the SPFL this season, we overvalue them compared with all those footballers out there we have never heard of before. It is very limited thinking.
The truth is that Askou has not done anything exceptional. When you look outside Scotland, you can see managers overperforming all across Europe. We are not linked with any of them. We are not talking seriously about any of them.
The reason we are talking about this guy is that he is right here in Scotland. We can see his team every week. But I’ll say it again, because it needs to be said over and over.
His side is fourth.
Not fourth in La Liga or the English Premier League. Not fourth in Ligue 1, Serie A or the Bundesliga.
Fourth in the SPFL top flight.
This is the same kind of thinking that has seen us linked with all manner of poor managers over the years, and all manner of poor players who we knew, in our heart of hearts, would drag the overall standard down. Still, we do this to ourselves. Still, we tie ourselves in knots over options that just aren’t that good.
When it comes to Askou, not a single one of us had heard of him before this season. Not one of us knew the first thing about him. You look at his background, where he came from, where he managed and what he won, and you don’t see a Celtic manager.
So, my question has always been simple.
What is it about what he has done this season, right now, in this campaign, that makes him a Celtic managerial candidate? I get the same answers all the time. Best football in the country. Ability to beat the top teams. Attractive style. Good coaching. Excellent.
His team is fourth in the league.
That is the rejoinder. If someone can navigate their way around that, I’m all ears. I’m listening. I’m keen to hear it.
Make me an argument.
Failing that, let me make you one.
What if I told you that, at the start of the season, they failed to win any of their first five games and managed only one victory in their first eight? What if I told you their longest winning run this season stands at three matches? And what if I said that the so-called best attacking team in the country has scored only 55 league goals compared to Celtic’s 62?
They do have a strong defensive record. In fact, they have the best in the league. As noted earlier, Stephen Welsh has spent the season there and performed excellently. I am not claiming he drives that record on his own, but he has delivered consistent performances in that position.
All of this leads me to a simple conclusion. I do not buy the argument that a handful of good performances turns Motherwell into the best team in the country. I also do not believe it lifts their manager to the level required for the Celtic job. He has done well. Reasonably well. Within clear limits.
But he is not the first manager to reach that level. The bottom line is this. I remain unconvinced. Not that I think any of it matters anyway. Plenty of names are being mentioned, and I will be blunt.
I think we are being led up the garden path.
If we win this title, it will be O’Neill, which I would have welcomed until I sat down and thought about it for longer than two minutes. If we lose this title, there is probably still a 50/50 chance it is O’Neill anyway.
So, all this talk about Askou may not matter in the end.
For all that, it remains a terrible idea, and no one has convinced me otherwise.
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James, I don’t need your to be convinced against JBA, I have my own personal opinion of him and, despite a slim CV, I still consider him to have the nous to become a good (great) Celtic manager. I prefer to rely on my own eyes other than your own and I have liked what I have seen from a JBA inspired Motherwell side. They are organised and highly motivated and I just wonder what he might be capable of with better players at his disposal. Celtic right now are not in any position to pick and choose their next manager, we don’t have that clout, and we have got to be realistic about who is available and who is even approachable. We have to tailor the cloth to suit our needs an I would certainly be willing for us to take a chance with this lad. His CV could get very much better in the near future if he is given that chance.
Very well written Johnny, totally agree. James supported the Nancy appointment. That says it all. We no longer are able to bring in a very good coach from good leagues, we need to focus on who seems to available and knows the league or the surroundings
James no one will care if you are convinced by Askou or not. You could not wait to get Nancy started, could you advise what you seen on his CV that led to your eagerness? People see an organised team playing very good football on a shoestring. I would love to see what your hero Brendan could do with Motherwell, probably leave due to not being financially backed.
I still don’t know why so many people idealised Brendan. Even this clown Nancy, at least moving forward, brought more out of this team. James is so arrogant…
James, Askou may or may not get the job but for you to write him off so easily after your support for Nancy isn’t a good look. If Askou ends up at Celtic Park, he’ll have my full support, I think he is a guy that deserves his chance at a higher level.
You seem intent on keeping the mood downbeat, The GB and most of the support are more interested on lifting the mood for the next 4 weeks. Winning this Title is within reach. Let’s park the negativity and the Post Mortem of a shambolic season until the season ends.
MON and the players need our wholehearted support, not being told they’re not good enough every other day by bloggers like yourself.
I vaguely recall you writing similar stuff about Ange Postecoglou before he came to us.
I’d seriously consider changing your username before the real messiah comes to you!!
He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy.
Sorry James, your wholehearted support for Tisdale (based on at best a questionable track record) and your support for Nancy (on whom you had done your “due diligence”) raises its own questions on your judgement of Askou or on whom ever may be our next manager.
As for “availability bias”, I’m more inclined to think that you are suffering from the belief that the grass is always greener somewhere else, particularly when it comes to Scottish players playing in Scotland for Celtic.
Who IS a Celtic manager?
Great question Stevie.
For me it has to be a manager who comes in who has real proven tactical ability. And be flexible with their tactical set up.
But someone who understands our style. The distinct way we play that their coaching and tactical abilities will fit in with also. I hear too much of a player has to come in and fit this or that tactical style but for me that also goes for the manager too.
And what’s also important is he puts his vision across to the players in a clear professional and understandable way and not some incoherent mess like Nancy.
And someone who knows how to and can develop players, as this is fundamental for us going ahead. We need more out of our youth and we need to develop them better.
Glad you understood what I was asking?
Lots of folk say who they dont want and who isn’t right , so who the hell is.
I would have like the Bodo chap but nae chance of that now
JBA has a better managerial record than Tommy Burns did when he got the Celtic job.
Just leaving that here.
It’s a hobby horse of mine that any manager coming Celtic won’t truly know what it’s like until they’re in situ. Any knowledge about the club and/or Scottish football is a big advantage. Maybe not the be all and end all but it is a definite help.
Ange didn’t have the best of starts but it was clear to us that he had a vision of how we should play. More importantly the players bought into it and the rest is history. That’s not too far away from from how Jens started off at ‘well.
You keep pushing “he’s fourth!” but most people had acknowledged that the last quarter of the season would see a fall off due to the thinness of his squad, so is that such a surprise? Or is the fact that Motherwell are comfortably fourth a strong achievement?
No manager sees the managing Motherwell as the peak of his career. He would surely jump at the chance and he would also know by now what’s expected of a Celtic manager from day one – he would have had a front row seat of the Nancy train wreck.
I’m not pushing for him but I’m not automatically ruling him out. Your stance seems to be completely inflexible here… a bit like how you were when talk of KT’s possible return started surfacing.
And BTW what do those vote icons mean? Funny? Wow?
My stance exactly – he shouldn’t be a shoo-in for the job but neither should he be excluded from the initial shortlist simply because his record is “only trophies in the Faroe Islands” and “only fourth” in the SPFL.
In recent times the Faroe Islands National Team have beaten Greece (home AND AWAY), Turkey, Czech Republic et al so their players must be half decent.
Motherwell are fourth meaning they sit ahead of Hibs, Aberdeen and Dundee Utd et al – clubs who are far far bigger than themselves. And if it wasn’t for Motherwell beating Rangers 3 days ago we’d be sitting THIRD James despite us having more money than the rest of the league combined !!
My only real concern with JBA is that he’s only been here one year – in an ideal world I’d like to watch him for another year at Motherwell to see if/how develops them further and if/how he/they deal with European competition particularly when its fits in between domestic matches. For all Hearts being in the title mix (arguably favourites still) is great for the optics of Scottish football and long may other teams improve the competition, the reality is they have only had to play the league matches as they have had no cup games and no European commitments (40 games in total including what was effectively 4 pre-season games in the League Cup group stages) – c/f Celtic and Rangers who’ve both had 54 games! The same argument can be levelled at Motherwell who’ve played 43 games (including the effectively 4 pre-season League Cup group stage games) so I’d love to see him manage a season with Euro commitments to see how he rotates his team, how he adapts his tactics etc to deal with different opposition etc but he certainly piques my interest both in how his team plays but also how he conducts himself – there’s no “Ferrari vs Honda Civic” type comments !!!
And you are the guy who endorsed Nancy, the guy who most likely cost us the title. It’s time you stopped with your arrogance and ignorance, otherwise you sound like a person who still thinks you are the best oriented guy. Some humility, man..
Post scriptum – not only the title, but another treble
Askou got a lot more out of Motherwell than Rodgers was getting out of Celtic before he left and surely we agree Celtic had the bigger and better squad. Rodgers had one style of play, no plan B and when he didn’t get more expensive players he bailed. I have laughed a few times when James has written about Rodgers genius taking on Edouard when down to ten men at Ibrox. It was no genius, that is what is called rolling the bloody dice, taking a chance, no genius involved.