Barry Bannan is a lifelong Celtic fan.
The nimble, left-footed midfielder joined Aston Villa at the age of 14 after impressing in a trial, despite having played youth football for the Hoops.
He went on to spend his entire career in England, remaining in the EFL despite picking up 27 caps for Scotland.
He remained vocal about his support for Celtic throughout his career. In 2015, he joined Sheffield Wednesday, where he has since made over 450 appearances.
In the last two seasons, he played under Danny Rohl at Hillsborough. And with the German now in the hotseat at Ibrox, Bannan has offered his reaction.
Celtic fan Barry Bannan on Danny Rohl to Rangers
Bannan was almost ever-present in Rohl’s teams at Wednesday, starting 40 games last season.
And despite his affinity for Celtic, he has offered his encouragement to the other side of Glasgow with the appointment of their new boss.
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Aged just 36, Rohl was also previously assistant manager to Hansi Flick at Bayern Munich and Germany. He also worked with Ralph Hasenhuttl at Southampton.
Speaking on TalkSPORT, Bannan offered his insight on the man taking on a mighty task at Ibrox.
He said: “It’s going to be a difficult task. I watch Scottish football a lot – I’m obviously on the other half of Glasgow, but he’s going in there with a tough, tough job.
“I’ve been reading that the fans aren’t fully sold on Danny, so he’s going to have to get off to a great start – because you know what it’s like up there with the passion, if you don’t get the results early, you can see with the previous manager that they don’t last long.
“I know him quite well – he’s probably been looking at teams who have been struggling, and he’ll be doing his homework.
“In terms of formations and stuff, he’ll be trying to work out what’s best for that group. We used to change between two or three formations, depending on how it was going.
“He’s a winner at the end of the day, and he’s very very adaptable and he’s not stuck in his ways. He just wants to win games. He’s probably beyond his years in terms of his knowledge of football.”
Celtic’s position compared to Rangers
Celtic are in a spot of bother, having struggled in most of their games this season and lost against Dundee in the Premiership on Sunday.
They are also in need of three points in Thursday’s Europa League meeting with Sturm Graz, after a disappointing start to their European campaign so far.
Despite all that’s going on at Celtic Park, there is a different level of struggle across the city. Russell Martin was sacked after just seven league matches – they have won just one in eight.
The Premier Sports Cup Semi-Final will pit the two against each other in a few weeks. If Brendan Rodgers can’t prepare his side to win that game, questions will need to be asked.
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