It is with a heavy heart, I must announce that TalkSport are at it again, regarding Eddie Howe and Celtic.
In the same way that I shouldn’t write about the Indonesian top-flight, the station’s presenters are once again spouting ill-advised drivel on the Scottish Premiership.
Is it bait? Very possibly, but either way, today’s nonsense on TalkSport cheapened football discourse UK-wide. Andy Goldstein and nobody’s favourite football “expert” Jason Cundy have suggested that the Scottish top-flight is an “egg and spoon race”. Also, that Celtic-linked Eddie Howe is better off moving to Crystal Palace, who by the way, have a manager in place.
Cundy said [TalkSport]:
“For him personally, yes [Palace is a better job than Celtic]. Celtic, y’know… it’s a great stepping stone. Where do you go from Celtic? Name the managers that have left Celtic and gone on to a big club.
“Brendan’s gone to Leicester and done a fabulous job, but where do they go after that? It’s not… y’know?”
“[Winning titles with Celtic is] like winning the egg race, innit? Isn’t it a little bit like that? If you get Crystal Palace into European football, that is a bigger achievement than Celtic winning the title.
“Winning the title to something down here… let’s say he got Crystal Palace to 6th, that’s a bigger achievement than winning the title at Celtic.”
Goldstein added:
“Yeah, I’d agree with that.”
Eddie Howe would be a great move for Celtic, and vice versa
We’re certainly setting the stall today regarding Eddie Howe, but it’d be a great move for both parties. Howe can get his first taste of European football, and turn around a club who are wounded from this season. Nobody’s expecting him to win the Champions League, but he plays good football, has won in a variety of environments and develops young players.
Boxes well and truly ticked.
It’s not like Celtic is a dead end for managers, either. That’s so hilariously misinformed that it borders on parody. In recent decades, Martin O’Neill went to Aston Villa, then he was Ireland manager. Gordon Strachan became Scotland manager. Ronny Deila managing in the MLS might not be “big ticket” for English football reporters, but it’s a nonsense to suggest that managing Celtic is CV kryptonite.
Using Brendan Rodgers as an example also immediately negates any point Cundy was trying to make.
Frankly, Scottish football deserves better than this nonsense. There are plenty of fantastic English football journalists who know far more about the leagues around them. Yet, it’s the shock-jocks and the ill-informed who dominate discourse on social media.
Surely, something’s got to give. Looking at responses, plenty of English football fans were fed up of this utter tripe. Our journalists (in general) don’t talk nonsense about the leagues down South. Why should we have to put up with the same?
READ MORE: Eddie Howe’s most famous moments in management, and why Celtic fans ought to be excited.
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