When it comes to Celtic managerial backroom teams, it’s fair to say the money-men have had too much involvement over the years.
It’s a policy which has always raised an eyebrow from the Celtic supporters. After all, how can you give a manager the proper tools for success if you’re telling them who their number two is going to be?
This has been something that’s been so prevalent in our managerial switchovers stretching back to 2014.
When Celtic started downsizing after Neil Lennon left in 2014, the Hoops appointed Ronny Deila. Deila came from Stromsgodset, a small village outside of Oslo. His number two would be John Collins whilst his number three was John Kennedy. It’s fair to say that was hardly Deila’s choosing.
It was the same again when Neil Lennon was reappointed in 2019. He was given Kennedy as his number two and seemingly wasn’t able to bring in his own staff. Owen Coyle stated last week that he knew for a fact Lennon had been restricted in that regard [Celtic Huddle Podcast].
That followed Tommy Johnson telling the Celtic Huddle podcast that Lennon wanted him in to work on recruitment, only for the higher-ups at Parkhead to squash it. It comes across, at best, as a lack of faith in the manager or his decision-making. Speaking on that pod, Johnson said:
“I did actually go up and meet Peter Lawwell twice when Lenny wanted to bring us [me] in last year. But the powers that be made the decision not to, shall I say. I think Lenny wanted us [me] in to help out with the recruitment and to be someone around that he could speak to.”
Celtic board have shown they can sit back from influencing managerial backroom teams when they want to
In the past, the Celtic board have shown that they can indeed leave autonomy to the manager when they feel it’s right.
When Brendan Rodgers came in post-Deila, he chose to bring in his own number two Chris Davies. He would also bring up Kolo Toure whom he had worked with at Liverpool. Even John Kennedy had to pass an interview in order to be accepted into Rodgers’ team. There was no guaranteed place for him either [The Scotsman].
When Rodgers wanted Damien Duff in after a successful interview, he also bagged his man on that occasion. Celtic have shown that when they appoint a top coach they have it in them to sit back and let him build his own team.
The fact is that telling a top boss who his number two will be or who his first-team coaches will be just isn’t on. It’s something that annoys the elite as it did with Roy Keane back in 2014.
Speaking in his autobiography “The Second Half’, cited by the BBC, Keane said: “There would be one or two restrictions, about staff. They had already picked the man who would be my assistant and they were insisting on him. It didn’t scare me off but it did get me thinking. It wasn’t an ideal start. Were they doubting me already?”
With Celtic being linked with the likes of Eddie Howe and Jesse Marsch, this policy can’t continue. We need to look as attractive as possible in order to make the best hire we can. Telling potential candidates who they’ll be working alongside will only scare the best of them off.
In other news, a Chelsea legend has tipped a former Jose Mourinho assistant for the Celtic job.
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