Where should Celtic turn now?

Article by Tom Shanahan

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With Neil Lennon deciding to step down as Celtic manager the club are now on the hunt for their 17th manager. The question on everyone’s lips though is where will this hunt take them?

Let’s firstly congratulate Neil Lennon on a successive 4 years as Celtic manager. It’s easy to criticise Lennon for not winning as many trophies as he possibly should have, however let’s not forget where Celtic were before Lennon took over from Tony Mowbray.

Celtic were languishing well behind Rangers with a spineless team, who looked incapable of mounting a sustained title challenge. It was Lennon who overhauled the squad and gave the Celtic support a team they could be proud of again. It was only naivety that stopped Lennon’s young hoops from clinching the League in his first full season. Apart from a tough period in Lennon’s second season Celtic have been truly dominant domestically and will continue to be for a very long time.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote that I felt Neil Lennon would stay for at least another season and I still feel that would have been the right decision. Lennon had the opportunity to become only the third Celtic manager in history to win 4 successive league titles after Willie Maley and Jock Stein. He also had the chance to become the first man to win the domestic treble as both a player and manager. However, if Lennon feels he cannot take the club any further then this must be respected.

Maybe it should not come as a surprise though that Lennon has decided to depart. It seems that most managers all over Europe seem to realise a cycle of between four and five years is the maximum they should have at any one club. Even Manchester United have had to realise this fact. Since Jock Stein stepped down in 1978 only Billy McNeill, in his first stint as manager and Martin O’Neill have lasted as long as 5 years as manager. You also have to take into account the personal trauma that Neil Lennon has endured in his time as a member of the Celtic family. Lennon deserves to go and sample a new experience and hopefully he finds somewhere to live his life with more peace and harmony.

Since the news broke that Lennon was not staying on there has been plenty discussion regarding who the next man in charge should be. The bookies have made Henrik Larsson as favourite; however this opportunity could have come too early on in his managerial career. The same could be also said for Jackie McNamara although the type of job McNamara is doing at Dundee United might interest the Celtic board. He has got his young side playing open attacking football similar to what McNamara was part of under the late Tommy Burns. Many of his first team have also came through the youth ranks, which shows he’s happy to give young players a chance and work on a tight budget. With Neil Lennon also assisting Celtic in the search for a new manager maybe it is not unrealistic to see one of his former team mates get the job.

There is also speculation about David Moyes taking over with him now out of work. A difficult period at Manchester United should not detract from the fact he is an experienced manager and hopefully that experience will improve him for his next job. Moyes may believe though that he can attract attention from clubs in wealthier leagues and he has previously stated an interest in managing abroad.

It’s probable that Peter Lawwell and Dermot Desmond have known about Lennon’s decision for some time and already have an idea who they will approach. After the Tony Mowbray debacle I would not expect Celtic to pay much compensation for a target so a manager already out of work could find themselves near the top of the board’s wish list.

With Celtic in the position of almost guaranteed domestic domination maybe now is the time to experiment with a foreign manager once again. Senior members of the squad, such as club captain Scott Brown, should be able to keep the other players motivated during the league campaign which means the incoming manager should have European experience in order to try and cement Celtic as a Champions League club. A manager with a European pedigree could well be what Celtic need in order to rid themselves of the naivety that has plagued most of their European campaigns over the last number of years.

Whoever is fortunate enough to end up as Celtic manager needs to be given enough time to hit the ground running. With the Champions League qualifiers less than two months away a new manager should be named within the next few weeks, with new signings hopefully not too far behind. This summer is going to be more intriguing and exciting for Celtic than most people thought. This is not the end, this is simply a new chapter in the history of this great club.

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