Exclusive: Jackie McNamara addresses Celtic managerial search; expects news "soon"

By Euan Davidson

May 5, 2021

There’s an eerie silence from Celtic Park just now, but former captain Jackie McNamara reckons that might not be such a bad thing.

With 70 days passing since Neil Lennon’s exit, John Kennedy’s long-form audition for the Celtic job hasn’t gone to plan. That is, of course, if he even wanted the job permanently, something he’s been cool on since taking interim charge.

It’s natural, of course, that supporters are getting beyond frustrated with the lack of noise from the club. However, according to Jackie McNamara, that could actually be a sign of a busy office. With multiple important job roles to be filled, and a squad overhaul in the offing, Jackie has suggested that we “trust the process”, because the board will be desperate to get this right.

Speaking to 67 Hail Hail, Jackie told us:

“I would imagine that they’re working behind the scenes, because there’s no information. The SLO and the guys doing the social media, they’ll be just as impatient to find out what’s going on.

“We’ve just got to trust the process and hopefully they get the right person in, the right people in. They’re clearly working behind the scenes doing that. I’d imagine it will be soon, because it has to be soon. You have to get the players recruited.

“The fact we’ve not heard anything, I’d imagine they’re trying to get everything done. It is a big decision, you don’t want them to rush it. It’s not just a manager, there’s a lot of things changing, and a lot of players changing this summer.

“There’s a lot of things that need to be right, and hopefully with them taking that extra bit of time, that’ll be the case.”

Celtic supporters / (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

While it’s frustrating, Jackie McNamara is right, it’s a waiting game for Celtic supporters

While previous hirings provide a useful metric of how long Celtic take, there are different factors at play here. For one thing, the majority of us are at home, during a global pandemic. Our reaction to events is far, far quicker than it would be in normal circumstances. The time feels longer, because days in general feel longer.

Equally, there is so much wild speculation about nearly everything in football now, that the flux of gossip means we’re being dragged in different directions, depending on what you read and where you read it.

So, there are factors there. But yes, that doesn’t make any of this the slightest bit more digestible. Especially when so many of us were clamouring for a change in the dugout well before February.

We have no choice but to trust the process, though, at this moment in time. Supposedly, Celtic have a preferred candidate in Eddie Howe, and the finer details are being sorted.

All that said, hurry up.

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