As the search for a new Celtic manager continues to gather pace, the supporters will be glued to their Twitter feeds looking for any new updates that suggest who the next manager will be.
There have, of course, been plenty of names already suggested this week but when asked if fellow countryman Kjetil Knutsen is the right candidate for the club, former Celtic defender, Vidar Riseth was unequivocal in his answer.
Riseth said [The Herald], “One hundred per cent.
“I know that before he signed his current contract with Bodo/Glimt that he had the chance to go to Bundesliga clubs in Germany and Premier League clubs in England. But he felt that he couldn’t walk away because he had a really good team.
“If Celtic have a chance to sign him up they have to because he is a really good coach. He is definitely the right coach for Celtic. But I think it is going to be really difficult for them because he is really happy at Bodo.”
And what Riseth said next gave me an Ange Postecoglou vibe about the two-time Norwegian champion.
Riseth continued, “The system that he uses at Bodo/Glimt has been a big part of their success, but he also has to pick the right players. He is a manager who can see the good side of every player and put all the players he has together in a system that works good. That is very important for a team to get success.
“One of his great strengths is being able to find the right players. Sometimes he doesn’t go for the big, big names. Knutsen is this type of coach. He finds players who are good in the system he uses and makes it work.
“Everyone in Scotland will remember Lubomir Moravcik. When he came to Celtic nobody had heard about him. But he played brilliant football, scored a lot of good goals and enjoyed great success. He is a legend at Parkhead now.
“Celtic are not able to spend the sort of money on players that the teams they play in Europe can. That is why I think Knutsen is the right coach for Celtic.”
Of course, Riseth is not the first Norwegian to recommend Knutsen to Celtic. Jan Aage Fjortoft was waking lyrical about him earlier this week so it does sound like Knutsen would be the perfect candidate to keep the continuity going at Celtic. Not just on the park, but off it too.
His keen eye for a player certainly suits our player-trading transfer model. But most importantly, he looks for players to fit into the system he likes to play.
Knutsen likes the high-press attacking style that we had become accustomed to under Ange Postecoglou. In fact, we witnessed it first-hand when Bodo knocked us out of the Europa Conference League 5-1 on aggregate in February 2022.
Knutsen certainly looks like the perfect fit for Celtic. But should we look to take him from the Norwegian club, we may have to work extremely hard to get him considering Ajax are strongly linked with him and that he is currently happy in Norway.
In other news, Report: Timeline to hire new Celtic manager claim; Dermot Desmond’s role
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