Ferencvaros' Irish coach Robbie Keane is pictured before the UEFA Europa League last 16 second leg football match between SC Braga and Ferencvaros at Municipal stadium of Braga on March 18, 2026. (Photo by Miguel RIOPA / AFP via Getty Images)
So Keane is now the frontrunner. Wow.
When you do this job, it is always worth keeping an eye on what other people are saying. Not because you should take your lead from them, but because it helps you know whether you are becoming a one-person echo chamber, shrieking into the void and pushing ideas that bear no resemblance to what the rest of the world thinks.
Let me be clear first: I do not particularly care what other people write. I am going to write my stuff no matter what. Even if it flies in the face of everything being said everywhere else, I will still write it.
But on an issue like the Celtic manager, you don’t want to make claims about how other people feel unless you actually know how other people feel.
And from looking around, reading comments online, checking other blogs and websites, and listening to podcasts, there is pretty much zero enthusiasm for the idea of Robbie Keane.
Not everybody thinks it is a gross insult to Celtic supporters. Not everybody thinks he lacks a CV which merits being on a list. Not everybody thinks it is, in itself, a terrible idea. But enthusiasm? People actually saying, “Yes, we’ve arrived at the right choice”?
There is very little of that. If any at all.
And this is not normal. It is not normal at all.
I was almost alone in mustering up any enthusiasm for Ronny Deila and Wilfried Nancy, but the operative word there is “almost” because I was not completely alone. There were one or two others out there who said they were excited by the idea of bringing in coaches who might change everything.
Now, I may not like the way the Nancy appointment turned out, and a lot of people may not like the way the Deila appointment turned out, but I can still see the merits in Deila’s appointment even now. Ronny professionalised the operation and Europeanised it in a way that was of huge benefit to Brendan Rodgers when he came in.
But those two appointments aside, there have been vocal constituencies in favour of almost every Celtic managerial appointment I can remember since the turn of the century.
The two Rodgers appointments were greeted with wide acclaim, even if there was some division among parts of the support. Martin’s two appointments, Lennon’s two, these were acclaimed. Ange was different but he didn’t have adherents as much as fanatical fans and they were overwhelmingly positive about his coming here. There was a constituency who knew his work and were ecstatic.
Nobody is ecstatic about this. This is a “meh” possibility even among people who do not have a fundamental problem with it.
That deepens the malaise around Celtic. It deepens the sense that those who run the club and those who support it are pulling in two completely different directions.
You will never get broad consensus on who the manager should be. That is impossible among such a huge support. That is why those on social media who ask the moronic question, “Who do you think should get it then?” don’t deserve an answer. My view is no more valid than yours. Your view is no more valid than the next guy’s.
But we know mediocrity when we see it. We know lack of effort when we see it.
We know a lazy appointment when we see it.
And even if you do not see this as an appointment calculated to offend people, it is certainly not being done to inspire anybody. It is certainly not being done in pursuit of absolute excellence.
Considering how last season went, this appointment had to ring all the bells. It had to inspire people. It had to be the kind of hiring for which at least some supporters were loudly delighted, because those people would then spread that enthusiasm to others.
That is how it usually works.
Nobody wants to be the person standing up and saying Robbie Keane would be a good appointment. Nobody wants to make the positive argument.
That is not because people are timid.
It is because nobody cares to.
The only people who are vocal about this are those who are vocally, venomously and aggressively opposed to it. There is no serious counter-argument on the other side.
When I wrote my piece the other day saying Keane could do this club a service by turning the job down, I was not kidding.
He could do himself a service too. Because the lack of enthusiasm for this idea is obvious. Nobody really wants him.
There is a section of the fan base that will settle for it, of course.
There is always a section that will support anyone Celtic hire, come what may. But they are not getting into X spats or Facebook arguments with those who don’t want this guy anywhere near the building.
When voices rise up against him, these people will not defend him.
Some are not even bothered about the name itself. This is what they expected: a low-key, low-impact, low-ambition appointment from Dermot Desmond’s little black book.
Their view is just an apathetic shrug of the shoulders.
“Aye, that’s about what we thought was going to happen.”
That is dangerous.
That kind of apathy leads people to stay away from games altogether. It leads to empty seats. It leads to people gradually losing the habit because they just cannot be bothered anymore.
This club made a mistake when it started treating the purchase of a season ticket as a vote of confidence. It is not one. It never has been.
I think we can safely say this would not be a popular appointment. The only thing stopping it from being universally unpopular is that a large section of our fan base simply does not care enough to fight it.
They view it as more of the same. Business as usual.
About what they expected.
They had no higher hopes for this process than something like this, and they will get by it because they see no other option.
I am telling you now, that is the most dangerous section of the support for this board of directors. Apathy is far more dangerous than anger.
Anger means people still care. Anger means they are still emotionally invested. Anger means they believe something better is possible and are furious that the club refuses to reach for it.
Apathy is different. Apathy is when people stop expecting better. Apathy is when people stop believing change is coming. Apathy is when people renew, turn up, sit down, watch, leave and feel less every year.
That is what this board is feeding.
They have already done their damnedest to sever the connection between supporters and the club. This appointment would only make matters worse.
If Celtic do this, the consequences will last for years, whatever Keane achieves in the dugout. Because those consequences will go to the heart of what it means to follow this club at all in the future. And they have not grasped that yet.
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Desmond Despot will appoint whomever he wants and there’s fuck all anyone can do about it.
That’s just how it is. I don’t like it but until he and his toadies go , we either suck it up or vote with our feet, and keep our money in our wallets.
In a nutshell.
Keane has done more in his short managerial career than Nancy has done in his and everybody seemed on board with him? You’ve said yourself plenty of times “top managers aren’t coming to celtic” so unfortunately our list of realistic targets isn’t very big. I believe he has won four trophies in two countries since 2023 as a manager. He obviously knows what the club is about (a major criticism of Nancy when he was here was that he DIDN’T seem to understand the job, as you yourself stated). Would Keane be a pretty underwhelming choice, probably yeah, but anyone worth getting excited about simply ain’t coming to us to work for a board who were publicly slated last summer about how it conducts business. If I’m a top manager and I have the chance to go to a club which needs a massive rebuild and influx of players who is known to shaft managers in every transfer window, expected to win three domestic trophies and compete in Europe, where two defeats in a row is a “crisis” and expected to do all this with six loan signings and maybe a permanent transfer or two from which ever continent the club want to sell shirts to, I’m probably saying “Thanks, but naw”. Whoever the club plans to appoint, get it done and let’s start addressing the squad asap because the CL qualifier isn’t a million miles away. This probably won’t be a popular post but hey ho, it would be boring to all have the same opinion. HH
JS1992CFC – maybe not that unpopular. If I hear one more time that we should be going for Knutsen at Bodo – a man that bigger teams in Europe have been unable to tempt from Norway – I’ll scream. We secured MON and BR first time around because of their romantic attachment to the club – we would not have secured managers of the same calibre at that time who didn’t have that attachment to the club.
MON’s equivalent in the EPL is probably someone like Marco Silva at Fulham – no chance of him looking north, he’s off to Portugal by all accounts (not that he has won much silverware…). Does Robbie Keane have enough about him to be a Celtic manager – I don’t know, but I do know if we wait until he is proven he will then be out of our league (quite literally). And he did take his team to Ibrox and win away from home in Europe.
Yes Portojoe! I agree about Knutsen. Bodo are a very well run club from top to bottom. We could learn a lot from them in how they do things but simply taking their manager would be pointless. What i dont understand is, ‘if’ Keane is our top target then why wait this long to speak to him? We really cant afford to let the days and weeks drift by
Now here’s a thing…Over 10 years ago, I wrote to the Board and asked them for answers regarding Resolution12…The 5 way agreement and EBTs…I got a wishy washy reply…so I wrote to them again…and this time, I got no reply…So …apathy or anger..??…I chose anger and gave up my 18 years old Season Ticket…So here’s the question for you James and other supporters who share your view…If RK gets the job…will you all get so angry,that you’ll give up your ST as well…??…I think I know the answer.
That’s a fair challenge Terence Nova, but each to their own. Lots of wishful thinking from James and others who refuse to accept that we don’t own the club (Fergus gave us the opportunity and we collectively sat on our hands). What matters (to use one of James’ favourite words) is ownership and whoever owns the club, owns the boardroom and the strategy. As fans we can either accept that or take the action you yourself took. A third course of action is to tilt at windmills/scream into the wind – might make some feel better but won’t achieve much.
I’m probably along the same lines as JS1992CFC…
If he gets it I’ll still wanna see Celtic win…
Won’t be paying for it again though until Celtic FC officially call out Doncaster as a pathological liar for saying that ‘Rangers’ (Sic) – (deceased c.2012) are ‘the same club’ – Absolutely…
A splaffed fuckin joke about Rory Bremner – Whoever he is – doesn’t cut it !
Celtic fans have the attention span of a Goldfish……there will be no longer lasting effects …..if we keep winning.
We can shout ,scream, march , wave banners it don’t matter….our views don’t count only our money talks and that’s a given.
My apathy kicked during the Delia era and I gave up my season ticket and never returned. A few years ago I started going to the occasional Hibs match as Easter Road is 20 minutes away from my house and I missed watching live football. I’m now a season ticket holder at Hibs and enjoy it. I’m not overly invested, I have low expectations and enjoy the day out with friends. As a footnote, Hibs are actually interested in season ticket holders opinions, not just their wallets. Whilst I miss going to Celtic Park I’m comfortable I’ve made the right decision.
Mike C @ 11.17pm…
Must’ve been pure fuckin amazing for youse at Easter Road v Motherwell when Daizen’s goal was awarded…
PS – Ma wee granny – God rest her – was a Hi-Bees fan !
Bob Kelly ran Celtic as if he owned it for years,and he didn’t, but he had enough shareholders in his pocket to act that way. After 8 years without a trophy and being disliked intensely by the support, in desperation, he decided to ditch nice guy Jimmy McGrory for strong man Jock Stein, and the rest is history.
Desmond is in the same position, he doesn’t own the club but only needs a couple of shareholders to back him and he can act like a dictator.
Football clubs are not Cooperatives, or Trade Unions where every supporter has a vote, we might want them to be more like that, but could you imagine the turnover of commitee members there would be in that scenario.
To rule out Robbie Keane as Celtic manager because he took a job in Israel before Oct 7th 2023 is a bit unfair, we all bought goods and food from Israel for years before 2023, and some people probably still do.We played two talented Israeli players in the years leading up to 2023.
We all had a decision to make in the past 4 weeks whether to renew not renew ST’s, Myself and the other two family members who sit together decided to renew. We don’t like the board, and don’t like most of their recent decisions, but supporting Celtic has been a way of life for too long to give it up. I think most supporters feel that way. Boards of Football clubs are very seldom liked, akthough this Celtic Board seem to go out of their way not to be liked.
We play in a footbal back water these days and anyone thinking that there are managers lining up to come to Glasgow are living in Cloud Cuckoo Land.
James talks about a manager building a successful club over a number of years, If a young foreign manager came to Celtic and won domestically and had a decent run in Europe he would be away within two years to a bigger League. Even Keane if successful would probably move on wthin two or three years.
MON, Maloney and Fotheringham for another couple of years would do for me.
Each to their own micmac…Enjoy your season..I hope we have a great one..What boils my piss ‘though…..is…People buy their ticket … then continue to slag off the Board…Not in my world…Ye canny hiv yer cake etc.
Meant to say…Don’t agree with your last paragraph…Stats and sentiment shouldn’t be confused with reality…We will NEVER catch the breaks that we did…ever again…Our football needs overhauled.
Your article is providing a narrative for those who don’t want to see Keane as the Celtic manager but at the end of the day it’s only your personal opinion, which, of course, you are entitled to. However, I think your diatribe against Keane does you no favours, but just comes across as a spiteful and personal attack.
Let’s be honest here, what exactly has he done to incur such wrath? He managed an Israeli football team! He didn’t serve in the IDF, he didn’t promote Israeli Government propaganda, he managed a football team ffs!!! I am aware that there’s a minority of Celtic fans who do not want Keane but that’s what they are, a minority! As I mentioned earlier, the vast majority of Celtic fans are ambivalent as to who the manager might be, they are only interested in how successful he will be. The majority of Celtic fans are not as invested as you, they just want to come and see a winning team.
As you well know, DD and his cohorts will select the manager they want and there’s nothing we can do about that, the only thing we can hope for is that he will decide to quit someday. What everyone should be doing is making a concentrated effort to rid ourselves of this dictator and not wasting time and effort on spurious attacks on individuals.
What broony said.
Robbie Keane is Irish, a former player and is in Dermot Desmond’s ( thankfully ever dwindling black book of “Celtic Minded” football contacts) No one of any reputation or position in football would go near the Billionaire Despot. Keane resigned because he’d been offered and accepted the Celtic job. The nonsense since has been Celtics cack handed incompetent attempt at News Management ( Remember the PL Road Shows that pre dated NL’s appointment?
🙂 ) Mate of mine ( Sevco supporter but one with a brain, yep he’s the one! 🙂 ) coined it as “Celtic recruit their equivalent of Baz! A good “Staunch” appointment!” Jeez…….