Celtic’s next permanent manager

Watching Johan’s interview with Si Ferry, stating his belief is every 1/2 years he expects Celtic to be in the last 16 of the CL. History doesn’t show that but that’s the sort of ambition I want in our management team, none of this glass ceiling * that Rodgers had us believing.

 

Honestly I think the best option for the job, given the circumstances, is Neil Lennon.

He's not a 'sexy' appointment like Cocu might be, or that Rodgers was, but he's someone we know can get the job done. As pressure mounts on the club as we get closer to 9 and hopefully 10 IAR - he's someone we know can handle that pressure and then some. This isn't a pithy line about wanting someone who 'knows the club', it's more about that fact that the club knows Lennon.

I really believe if Lennon is backed he can make us a bit of a force to be reckoned with. Maybe a little more rough and ready than the team we've seen in the last few years, but that's not always a bad thing - especially in Europe. There are definitely a couple of things that need addressing, but I reckon Lenny will know that.

The problems we've had recently, in my opinion, are firstly that we've had no dynamism at full-back. With Tierney out and Toljan just not up to scratch, we've been stuck with Izzy and Lustig. Great servants to the club, maybe even still decent back-up, but having both in the side is killing us a little bit.

Secondly, with Griffiths out we've lacked an instinctive, natural goalscorer in the side. Someone who will gamble on a cross or make a run in behind. Edouard is great, but he doesn't do those things. He tends to pull away for the cut-back, and like to come short/drift wide and run at people. I think he'd be even more effective playing just off a main striker, maybe a little to the left like we saw at the start of the season when he and Dembele played.

Lastly, we've badly missed Christie whenever he's been out this season, in exactly the same way as we missed Armstrong. Rogic, McGregor and Ntcham all have good qualities, but none of them offer the threat in behind that Christie does.

 

I’d add to that, we badly, badly miss Rogic when he’s out or not on form. Just don’t have anybody else who can link between midfield and strikers and act as a focal point when he isn’t there.

 

Wagner to Schalke. Well bollocks to that.

 

Sorry mate, couldn't respond in any great detail was away collecting the brats from school/nursery.

What I'm saying is that when we got Rodgers - to look at it another way - albeit he had ALMOST won the PL with Liverpool and had taken them into CL qualifying, the season (or part) before we got him was a flop considering the season previous to that was the closest any Liverpool manager had come to winning the league from the last time they did.

And yes, that last season was all too familiar with him having lost Suarez to Barca and replacing him with Rickie Lambert and Mario Bamotelly.

If his stock (at that time) had been so high, there wouldnt have been a section of the Liverpool mob wanting rid.

Much the same as yer Lambert's etc, they did what they did to make them so respected, but they are only judged on the season current, or last. Lambert's was relegation/sacking/relegation/sacking etc etc...

 

Yup.

I think our midfield is actually quite good, but we've not had them all fit and available at the same time often enough. Brown, McGregor, Christie and Rogic are all really valuable players for us and they all offer something different to each other. Ntcham is excellent on his day.

Then if you think we've got Bitton and Eboue in reserve with someone like Henderson coming through, it's a good position to be in going into next season.

 

Going into a CL tie with Rodgers was like walking to the gallows at times. By all means keep a level of realism in what you say, but realise that it is possible to upset the odds if you do the basics well and have a touch of luck.

 

And these are the managers some people in here turn their nose up at. Strange.

 

Exactly mate, if you put that level of expectation and bravery into your team. That mentality is what I love and what all our teams that were great in Europe had.

Don’t beat ourselves in our own heads before anything happens.

 

In all seriousness though, if Lennon is the BEST option that we have at the moment then that is for grim reading. Not that I think Lennon is a horrendous manager or anything, but if that's the level that we're at and can't attract or at least attempt to attract a better calibre manager than Lennon, then there's something wrong.

Like I say, there is AT LEAST a £9m kitty sitting that could readily go toward recruiting.

If, however, we end up with Lennon I won't be particularly happy, but he will receive my utmost backing. As long as he receives the board's financial backing, which is always a divided issue.

Let's be honest though, Lennon is the "safe" option from whatever angle you look at it, but is he genuinely good enough to develop this team and re-tweak it to suit his own style and charge on to win the next league title (nevermind the 10 for now) and get us back into the CL? Well, he has a track record of doing so, as well as a track record of not.

100% agreed though in regards injuries - Lennon never saw the best of Rogic that Rodgers did (thus far) due to him being pretty much a young lad relatively-new to fitba and needing to get up to fitness, but Rodgers took Rogic and elevated him up to new levels - although Rogic is always gonna have issues with injury, and not forgetting the poor for either side of his jet-lag that coincides with having to travel to the other side of the world on international duty with Australia.

If Lennon gets the job then he cannot stand on ceremony with guys like Lustig and Izzy. Both need to go at the end of the season, along with Sinclair.

One thing I will say with Lennon is that he WILL get back a bit of aggression into the side that at times was lacking from even when Rodgers had Celtic playing their best fitba. Also hoping to see some proper set-pieces re-introduced into the team because the set-pieces under Rodgers/Davies/Kennedy were * atrocious, especially from corners which were almost a waste of time under the Snake. As well as hopefully adding some defensive nous in because again, at times under Rodgers we looked like utter wimps at the back, being bullied by even the worst players in the league simply who had a bit of strength about them.

 

Well, the likes of @McGuire was on here in recent days saying he's watched Wagner's Huddersfield team in the PL and said they were pish.

And, myself included, hadn't a clue who Rose was until he was mentioned for the job, and still really don't other than what gets posted on here at times.

 

That's probably how Strachan managed to get us to last 16 mate - even though he knew our team was technically inferior to certain mobs, he probably upped the players' game on those specific nights by man management and giving the players belief.

 

Nah, but managers of their profile. Cocu did an impressive job at PSV but suffered a setback at Fenerbahce. He could tap into the Dutch market which is full of talented players.

Wagner worked miracles at Huddersfield in his first two seasons. Also worked with Klopp for a few years and they share similar ideas, in terms of style of play. He could tap into the German market.

The two of them would excite me much more than Lennon or Moyes etc.

 

We've regressed drastically under Neil Lennon performance wise. He hasn't had a chance to stamp his authority on the team but I just don't believe he is the man to take us forward.

Why can't we go and get a guy along the lines of Wagner or Cocu? It makes much more sense in my opinion.

 

The pressure was on him in the 2010/11 season and we bottled the league. He also bottled/failed in numerous cup matches in his first stint.

If he is the best man for the job then that's * grim.

 

He has stamped his authority on the team, and it's resulted in cross after cross being swung in and a huge decrease in goals scored.

 

Huddersfield weren't bad at all considering the squad at the manager's disposal. They played decent football.

 

In 4/5 years as PSV manager, Cocu won the Dutch league x3, Dutch Cup x1 and Dutch Super Cup x2

Despite his "failure" at Fenerbache, that is some impressive tally in an extremely difficult league.

 

I'm not disputing that buddy, I couldn't really comment anyway as I had never actually saw Huddersfield in any great length, other than one or two wee highlights on MOTD or something.