"He's very good"; Radio pundit talks up Fergal Harkin's credentials for Celtic position

By John McGinley

March 18, 2021

Former Celtic defender Gary Caldwell has been talking up Fergal Harkin’s suitability for the vacant director of football position at the club.

Harkin was one of the first names linked with he behind-the-scenes role at the Hoops, as we discussed back in early February.

It’s thought that Celtic are about to embark on a bold restructuring process and that the Manchester City employee is one of the front runners for the position.

Caldwell is well aware of Harkin’s strengths and knows him well from his time in England.

Speaking on Wednesday’s edition of Clyde 1 Superscoreboard, he said: “Fergal is someone I know well and Fergal would be a great sporting director.

“He’s somebody that’s worked at Man City for a long time. He’s worked in recruitment, he’s worked as a loans manager, and he’s somebody that understands football, the kind of modern-day football in terms of business. Obviously, Man City is a global brand like Celtic is.

“So he is somebody I know well from living near him down in England and he’s the type of person that you need for that type of role.

“He’s been there as that club has grown a huge amount. As he was there they have acquired different clubs all over the world.

“He’s been in that process of building those relationships with different clubs, how the playing philosophy then transfers to different clubs, so he’s very good at understanding that process.”

Fans may be suspicious but Fergal Harkin sounds good for Celtic

Celtic have had very close relations with Manchester City over the last ten years. So bringing in a prominent employee of theirs to fill one of our most important job openings for a while might not go down too well with some supporters.

Celtic Park / (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

However, this doesn’t appear to be a case of just giving the job to someone known to Celtic. Harkin has vast experience in a variety of football industry roles and bringing that expertise to the club should be seen as a benefit.

It remains to be seen who Celtic appoint, but I’m a fan of the Harkin links. That’s not just because of Caldwell’s comments. But they certainly don’t hurt.

In other news, Celtic have been urged to consider Valerien Ismael as manager.