Celtic Invincible expresses his thanks to Hoops as managerial career gets underway

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Former Celtic defender Kolo Toure has thanked all the staff he worked with at Celtic after landing his first role in management with Wigan Athletic.

The 41-year-old was appointed manager of the English Championship last week as he looks to guide them to safety in the second tier.

Toure takes his first steps into management, around five years after his retirement from football, back in 2017.

After spending a year at Parkhead as a player, helping the Bhoys achieve an invincible domestic season, the former Ivory Coast international retired from the game and moved into a coaching role at his nation’s under-23s side.

Just under a month into that role, though, Toure moved back to Celtic, becoming a technical assistant to then-boss Brendan Rodgers.

When the Northern Irishman made the move to English Premier League side Leicester City in 2019, the former Manchester City and Liverpool man joined him as part of his coaching staff at the King Power Stadium.

However, last month, Toure made the decision to start his own managerial career after some valuable experiences at Celtic and Leicester, joining Wigan Athletic.

Speaking in a press conference this afternoon after his appointment, the ex-Celtic man thanked all the staff he had previously worked with in his short coaching career, in particular Rodgers, as he gets set for a new beginning in football.

He said [Daily Record]: “I want to take this opportunity to thank Brendan Rodgers because he is my mentor, really. I have been working and learning from him, and I want to thank him and his assistant Chris Davies and all the people from Leicester City and Celtic because that’s where I really started my coaching career.

“I finished my career as a football player and never had time off. I went straight to coaching with Brendan Rodgers. I’ve been with him for nearly five years now, and it was a process for me. I knew being a good footballer doesn’t guarantee you will be a good coach or manager.

“I felt I had to work with a top manager, which was Brendan, to learn all the skills that a manager needs to make sure he can implement the best quality possible to give to his players, and I’ve been doing that for five years. And when Wigan came, you can’t turn that down when you’ve been waiting for five years.”

Kolo Toure set to begin exciting next step in management.

After picking up plenty of experience in Glasgow and south of the border, Kolo Toure is now preparing to embark upon his next exciting chapter in the game.

That next step is set to get underway this weekend when Toure’s Wigan side take on high-flying Millwall, who sit just outside the playoff spots.

With Wigan currently sitting in the relegation zone, the Ivory Coast international will have some work on his hands to take his team up the table in the second tier of English Football.

But his work at both Celtic and Leicester should have prepped him well for many different situations that are bound to arise.

It is nice to hear how much Toure appreciates that time spent at Parkhead, which was likely a huge learning curve in one of his first coaching roles.

The two-time Invincible with Celtic and Arsenal has had nothing but nice things to say about his time with the club, and it looks to have set him up for his future in coaching.

We wish him all the best of luck as he gets his managerial career underway on Saturday!

In other news, Hibs set to for injury boost as familiar face prepares ahead of Celtic reunion.