Celtic coach will stay at Lennoxtown despite link to Scottish management job

By John McGinley

January 7, 2022

Lee Bullen has been confirmed as the new Ayr United manager at Somerset Park, ending speculation that Celtic coach Darren O’Dea could take up the post.

O’Dea was linked to the position just a couple of weeks ago prior to Christmas, with The Scottish Sun reporting that managing director Graeme Mathie was considering the former Celtic defender.

However, Bullen, who has served as caretaker boss and U23s manager at Sheffield Wednesday during a long coaching stint there, has now finally left the Owls to become his own man at Ayr.

O’Dea stay ensures continiuity at Celtic

For me, this is a good thing for Celtic. O’Dea is valued at Lennoxtown and recently earned a promotion from coaching the U18s side to assisting Tommy McIntyre with the Celtic B team.

Having him around to guide the next generation of talents at Celtic and help bridge the gap to the first team is welcome. He’s someone who has done that in the past, giving players a good perspective on the dangers and pitfalls along the way.

More than that, having continuity at Lennoxtown right now is critical as Ange Postecoglou continues to revamp the football operations at the club.

The Celtic boss has both the first-team and B team training similarly and using similar tactics in matches, with O’Dea firmly a part of that. Changing a key coach right now would only disrupt things.

However, if O’Dea has been linked with this job, it makes sense his name will come up with regards to other opportunities and if he has ambitions to become a manager in his own right one day, there are plenty of clubs in Scotland who would value his services.

In other news, Report: Another midfielder told he can leave Celtic this month; likely destination.