Monday report indicates Celtic are handling global search for Director of Football in the correct manner

By John McGinley

February 15, 2021

There was an encouraging Celtic report in today’s Scottish Daily Mail regarding the club’s search for a Director of Football [15/02 print edition, Verdict supplement, page 2].

They rounded up recent stories over the weekend linking Matteo Tognozzi and David Webb to the club, as we discussed on 67 Hail Hail.

But, also in the report, there was a nugget of info that suggests the club is handling the recruitment of a DoF in the correct manner.

Journalist Stephen McGowan reckons Celtic have employed the services of specialists Nolan Partners to draw up a shortlist of candidates to interview.

The Nolan Partners website says: “Our Performance practice helps clients acquire specialist technical/performance talent such as technical and sporting directors, talent identification and scouting specialists, sports medicine and science specialists. This sits alongside our sports and entertainment practices – where we continue to find senior leaders such as chairmen, chief executives and c-suite officers – as a core part of our business.”

The firm has worked with some of the biggest brands in sports including Liverpool FC, the Wimbledon Championships, the Atlanta Falcons and BT.

One of the big concerns for supporters in creating a new sporting director role at the club is that they’d settle for the comfortable or obvious choice. Perhaps someone they had already had business dealings with.

However, this at least shows that they are casting the net a bit further and wider than we might usually expect of Celtic.

That the search is already underway is also good news. It demonstrates that the club won’t wait for incoming CEO Dominic McKay to formally start his new job before making major changes.

No doubt McKay will have some sort of role in the decision-making process, however. Or at least, that’s what should happen!

If we can get a sporting director in sharply to plan out the future of the club, it’ll better prepare us to eventually recruit the kind of manager we need for next season and beyond.

Fingers crossed we don’t mess this one up.

In other news, Kieran Tierney has made a class Celtic admission.